Amelia Earhart's Last Flight

Amelia Mary Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Born in Atlantic Ocean. Born in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. In 1928, Earhart became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane (accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz) for which she achieved celebrity status. In 1932, piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, Amelia made a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, becoming the first woman to achieve such a feat. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment.

Amelia Mary Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Born in Atlantic Ocean. Born in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. In 1928, Earhart became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane (accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz) for which she achieved celebrity status. In 1932, piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, Amelia made a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, becoming the first woman to achieve such a feat. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. In 1935, Amelia became a visiting faculty member at Purdue University as an advisor to the aeronautical engineering program and a career counselor to women students. During an attempt at becoming the first female to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Amelia and navigator Fred Noonan planed world tour flight in 1937. Lost at sea, the two were last seen in Lae, New Guinea, on July 2nd, 1937, on the last land stop before Howland Island. She is presumed to have lost her life in the Pacific during the circumnavigation, just three weeks prior to her 40th birthday. Nearly one year and six months after she and Noonan disappeared, Amelia was officially declared dead. Investigations and significant public interest in their disappearance still continue over 80 years later. Below you will find a map and detailed timeline of her last flight in 1937.