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The life and times of Amelia Earhart

Dheeraj Anandh 9 B

Amelia EarhartBorn July 24, 1897

Atchison, Kansas, U.S.

Disappeared July 2, 1937 (aged 39)Pacific Ocean, en route toHowland Island

Status Declared dead in absentiaJanuary 5, 1939 (aged 41)

Nationality American

Known for Many early aviation records, including first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Spouse(s) George P. Putnam

Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of erman American Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867-1930) and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in the town.

Amelia Earhart childhood , was born to……………..

• At the age of three, she was sent to live with her grandmother (her namesake), mainly because the old woman needed company and a distraction from the deaths of her mother, her son, and her daughter-in-law, as well as the poor mental condition of her husband Alfred. The grandparents (or grandmother) raised Amelia during her early childhood. She liked their home in Atchison, Kansas, especially her large bedroom with views of the nearby river, now a museum open to the public. She enjoyed her life with her grandparents: learning to read at five, and secure in a place where it seemed that almost everyone was family.

Her enjoyment

• When she was seven, her father Edwin took the family to the St. Louis World's Fair, where, on riding the Ferris wheel, she learned that she rather enjoyed heights. She learned to build and make things with her own hands, once making a crude roller coaster out of two-by-fours, a packing box, and roller-skate wheels. She was an avid reader, and even as a child read Harper's Magazine for Young People, and the novels of Dickens and Thackeray. One of her favorite poems was "Atalanta in Calydon" by Algernon Charles Swinburne; it's a poem about a warrior maiden, who hunts and kills a boar with Meleager.

Her Education

• From the first grade, she attended the College Preparatory School in Atchison. It was a tiny place, with only about 30 students, housed in a building that used to be a stable. Amelia was bright, but her independent spirit and lack of interest in recitation did not endear her to the teachers. In high school, cheerleading was not enough for her, she wanted to play on the basketball team.

Her Education

• She took her first ride in an airplane in 1920. After her flight with barnstormer Frank Hawks, she said "As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly." Indeed, within a few days, she took her first flying lesson, in a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. Six months later, she bought her own airplane, a yellow Kinner Airster, that she dubbed "The Canary." Like Gabby Gabreski, she was not a naturally gifted pilot, but she persevered, built up her flying time, and even broke the woman's altitude record in 1922.

Flight

• The mid-Twenties were difficult years for Amelia. Her mother finally divorced Edwin, thus ending that part of Amelia's family life. She studied at Columbia for a time, but lack of money compelled her to withdraw. She had a long-term engagement to one Sam Chapmen, but they never married. She was active in aviation and social work, living in Medford, Massachusetts for a time. She flew whenever she could, distributing free passes to a carnival on one occasion, and was active in Boston aviation circles.

Flight

• She became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic on June 18-19, 1928. The flight was the brainchild of Amy Guest, a wealthy, aristocratic American expatriate living in London. Aware of the huge publicity that would accrue to the first woman to fly the Atlantic, the 55 year old Mrs. Guest had purchased a Fokker F7 trimotor from Commander Richard Byrd, to make the flight herself.

Across the Atlantic

• Her family objected, and she relented, as long as the "right sort" of woman could make the flight. The "right sort" would take a good picture, be well-educated, and not be a publicity-seeking gold-digger. The Guest family hired George Putnam, a New York publicist who had promoted Lindbergh's book We, to look for a suitable women pilot. He selected the little-known Amelia Earhart, and introduced her as "Lady Lindy".

Across the Atlantic

• While the flight instantly made her world-famous, she was little more than a passenger in the Fokker tri-motor "Friendship." They took off from Trepassy, Newfoundland, and after a 20 hour and 40 minute flight, landed in Burry Port, Wales. When they went on to London, another huge mob welcomed them. The pilots, Wilmer Stutz and Louis Gordon, were all but forgotten in the media frenzy surrounding the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.

Across the Atlantic

• After Amelia's flight across the Atlantic in 1928 succeeded in attracting even more publicity than her sponsors (Amy Guest andGeorge Putnam) had expected, George organized a cross-country flight and a speaking tour for Amelia.

After Amelia's flight

• While Putnam, a New York publicist, was married at the time, he was attracted to Amelia. He divorced his wife, and he and Amelia married in 1931.

After Amelia's flight

• She was a charter member and first president of the "Ninety Nines," an organization of women in aviation, so named for the original number of members.

After Amelia's flight

• On May 21, 1932, five years to the day after Lindbergh's flight, she took off in a Lockheed Vega, in an attempt to become the second person after Lindbergh (and first woman) to fly solo across the Atlantic. Starting from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, her flight lasted almost 15 hours, when she touched down in a pasture near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. (In fact, the distance from Newfoundland to Ireland being considerably shorter than Lindbergh's route from Long Island to Paris, her flight time was correspondingly shorter than his 33 hours.) Her Vega 5B is on display at the Smithsonian NASM.

After Amelia's flight

• In 1937 Amelia Earhart attempted an around-the-world flight. Flying a custom-built Lockheed Model 10E Electra, equipped with extra-large gas tanks, she would follow a 'close to the Equator' route, thus going one better than Wiley Post's northern, mid-latitude route. In her first effort, in March of 1937, she flew west, but a crash in Hawaii abrubtly ended that trip.

Her Last Flight

• Starting on May 21, 1937 from Oakland, California, in the recently repaired Lockheed Electra, she and her navigator, Fed Noonan, stayed over land as much as possible. After relatively short flights to Burbank, California, and Tucson, Arizona, they next touched down in New Orleans, and then Miami where the airplane was tuned-up for the long trip. From Miami, they flew through the Caribbean, to an enthusiastic welcome in San Juan, and then to Natal, Brazil, for the shortest possible hop over the Atlantic, although, at 1727 miles, it was the longest leg of the journey that they completed safely.

Her Last Flight

• They touched down in Senegal, West Africa; then eastward across Africa (via the dusty Sahal outposts of Gao, N'Djamena, and El Fasher) to Khartoum and then Ethiopia. From Assab, Ethiopia, they were the first to make an Africa-to-India flight, touching down in Karachi (then part of India), a 1627 mile leg.

Her Last Flight

• From Calcutta, India they flew to Rangoon, Bangkok, and then Bandung, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Monsoon weather prevented departure from Bandung for several days. Repairs were made on some of the long distance instruments which had given trouble previously. During this time Amelia had become ill with dysentery that lasted for several days. After a stop in Darwin, Australia, they continued eastward to Lae, New Guinea, arriving there on June 29.

• From Lae, they took off for Howland Island, 2200 miles away in the Pacific. They never arrived.

Her Last Flight

May 20, 1937 Oakland, California Burbank, California 283

May 21, 1937 Burbank, California Tucson, Arizona 393

May 22, 1937 Tucson, Arizona New Orleans, Louisiana

1070

May 23, 1937 New Orleans, Louisiana Miami, Florida 586

June 1, 1937 Miami, Florida San Juan, Puerto Rico

908

June 2, 1937 San Juan, Puerto Rico Caripito, Venezuela 492 out of

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport

June 3, 1937 Caripito, Venezuela Paramaribo, Surinam

610

June 4, 1937 Paramaribo, Surinam Fortaleza, Brazil 1142

June 5, 1937 Fortaleza, Brazil Natal, Brazil 235

June 7, 1937 Natal, Brazil Saint-Louis, Senegal 1727 Transatlantic flight

June 8, 1937 Saint-Louis, Senegal Dakar, Senegal 100

June 10, 1937 Dakar, Senegal Gao, French Sudan 1016

June 11, 1937 Gao, French Sudan Fort-Lamy, F.E. Africa 910

June 12, 1937 Fort-Lamy, F.E. Africa El Fasher, Sudan 610

June 13, 1937 El Fasher, Sudan Khartoum, Sudan 437

June 13, 1937 Khartoum, Sudan Massawa, Ethiopia 400

June 14, 1937 Massawa, Ethiopia Assab, Italian Eritria 241

June 15, 1937 Assab, Italian Eritria Karachi, India 1627

first ever non-stop flight from the Red Sea to India

June 17, 1937 Karachi, India Calcutta, India 1178

June 18, 1937 Calcutta, India Akyab, Burma 291

June 19, 1937 Akyab, Burma Rangoon, Burma 268

June 20, 1937 Rangoon, Burma Bangkok, Siam 315

June 20, 1937 Bangkok, Siam Singapore, Straits Settlements

780

June 21, 1937 Singapore, Straits Settlements Bandoeng, Dutch East In

dies541

June 25, 1937 Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies Surabaya, Dutch East Indi

es310 delayed due to monsoon

June 25, 1937 Surabaya, Dutch East Indies

Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies 310 returned for repairs,

Earhart ill with dysentery

June 26, 1937 Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies

Surabaya, Dutch East Indies 310

June 27, 1937 Surabaya, Dutch East Indies Koepang, Dutch East Indi

es668

June 28, 1937 Koepang, Dutch East Indies Darwin, Australia 445

direction finder repaired, parachutes removed and sent home

June 29, 1937 Darwin, Australia Lae, Papua New Guinea 1012

July 2, 1937 Lae, Papua New Guinea Howland Isla

nd2556 did not

arrive

July 3, 1937 Howland Island Honolulu, Oa

hu1900 planned leg

July 4, 1937 Honolulu, Oahu

Oakland, California 2400 planned leg