Amelia Earhart

From a Kansas farm, a bright, precocious girl named Amelia Earhart grows up with a curious mind and a passion for flight. She and her sister, Pidge Earhart, build a simple play aircraft, hinting at the daring that will shape her future.

As America enters World War I in 1917, she is a college student working in a doctor’s office and decides to join the war effort by becoming a nurse. One night, on a break with a coworker on the roof, she spots an airplane and the spark of aviation is reignited.

In 1921, Earhart begins training with the pioneering female flight instructor Neta Snook. The same year she purchases her first aircraft, a Kinner Canary, with her father’s blessing, even as he struggles with alcoholism. In 1924, she and her mother undertake a cross-country road trip from Los Angeles to Boston, during which she alternates between rough patches and moments of joy, and later works at a children’s orphanage to fund her flying passion.

In 1928, while still at the orphanage, she is invited to become the first woman to fly the Atlantic in a fixed-wing aircraft, the Fokker “Friendship.” She flies as a passenger, with pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot Lou Gordon at the controls. Later that year, she pilots her own Avro Avian on a coast-to-coast flight, drawing regional recognition. She marries George Palmer Putnam, a wealthy publicist who helps propel her career and becomes part of a sometimes strained but enduring bond, and she grows close to his son David Putnam. This marriage enables her to buy an expensive high-performance red Lockheed Vega, with which she plans the solo Atlantic flight.

On May 20, 1932, she leaves Newfoundland to attempt the solo transatlantic crossing. Her fame from a series of record-breaking flights and her partnership with a trusted adviser, Paul Mantz, push her toward an even more ambitious challenge: a round-the-world flight in 1937. Her disappearance with navigator Fred Noonan during the final legs of the flight triggers a massive, though ultimately inconclusive, search and cements Earhart’s status as an aviation icon.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 11:39