The Life, Loves, Losses and Triumphs of Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was born July 24th in 1887.  While her birth was uneventful her life most certainly was not.  She was not like all the other "regular" little girls who liked dressing in fancy dresses and wearing ribbons in their hair .  With her bow always askew Amelia chose other pastimes that usually little boys enjoyed such as fishing, sledding and tree climbing (.  She was always up for adventure.  It is no surprise then that her favorite books were based on warrior maidens such as "Atlanta of Clarydon" written by Algonon Charles Swinburg.  There is a line from this poem that no doubt spurred Amelia on in her philosophy that girls could do anything boys could do as this warrior maiden fought with bow and arrows.  "Come with bows bent and emptying of quivers Maiden most perfect; lady of light" (Swinburg).  

"As soon as we left the ground I knew I had to fly", this was Amelia's comment after being a passenger on her first flight at the age of 20.  Whatever her life was going to be up until that point became dim and her sights were set on air travel.  She had only recently been exposed to the world of pilots after being sent ". . . to watch how they [the pilots] controlled their planes" (Butler 84).  She had learned how to control horses at the stables and they hoped that watching the pilots would give her that much more insight.  It instead ignited in her that strong desire to control something much bigger than a horse. 


Amelia's chance would come sooner rather than later.  It was only 5 days after her first flight that she took her first aviator's class and only 6 months until she bought her first airplane "The Canary"(Acepilots).

While Amelia was not the best pilot at that time, or even close to the best for that matter, she had a lot of pluck to her and determination.  It is not surprising then that with this little plane Amelia set her first record for women.  Reaching an altitude of 1,400 feet. 


Around this time Amelia's notoriety was beginning to grow.  The attention that was drawn to her spurred on a man by the name of George Putnam, who would later become her husband.  He had been looking for a woman to be the first lady to cross the Atlantic Ocean.  A pilot was chosen and the flight was undertaken.  Amelia Earhart was an instant hero and the entire crew came home to a ticker-tape parade in New York City (ameliaearhart.com).  Of course, as was to be expected, Amelia was not satisfied to just being the first woman passenger to cross the Atlantic. So, " on May 20, 1932, five years to the day after Lindbergh [Charles Limbergh] , she took off from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Paris" (ameliaearhart.com). While she did not reach her destination of Paris, she landed in Ireland and earned the title of being the first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic.                                

Amelia conquered many more feats, including being the first person to fly from Los Angeles to Mexico City and then back to Neward, New Jersey.  Not just the first woman, but the first person.  It was sometime after this incredible feat that Amelia decided to conquer the biggest trip of them all.  A flight around the world.  If she had completed this flight, she would have become the first woman to fly to around the world.  However, midway through this flight, between New Guinea and Howland Island.  Less than 5,000 miles from accomplishing her goal, Amelia vanished, never to be seen again.  It is assumed that she died but many theories have risen up.  Some say that she was on a secret mission for World War II and was captured by the Japanese, while others say that she crash landed on an island and lived there the rest of her life.  While this mystery may never be solved, we do know that Amelia Earhart will never be forgotten.  

Works Cited:

1- Butler, Susan. East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. 1st ed. Cambridge: De Capo Press, 1997. 84. Print.

         2-"Biography." The Official Website of Amelia Earhart. Family of Amelia Earhart,      Web. 21 Nov 2010. <http://www.ameliaearhart.com/>.

         3-"Amelia Earhart." Ace Pilots. Ace Pilots, Web. 21 Nov 2010.  <http://www.acepilots.com/index.html#top>.

        -4 Lewis, Joan. "Amelia Earhart Quotes." Women's History. About.com Web. 21 Nov 2010. <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/amelia_earhart.htm>.

    5 Krystek, Lee. "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight." Virtual Exploration Society. Museum of Unnatural History. Web. 21 Nov 2010.<http://www.unmuseum.org/earhart.htm>