Birth Date and Place
Amelia Earhart was born on July 24,1897 in Atchison Kansas. Atchison Kansas is also known as the America’s Heartland. Amelia spent a majority of her childhood in her grandparents house. Her grandparents lived in a spacious white wood and brick Victorian house.She spent almost 9 months a year with her grandparents, because her mother Amelia “Amy” Otis had married a man that had a bad alcohol problem. This Alcohol problem lead them into money problems, so when times got rough her mother would send Amelia and her younger sister Muriel to their grandparents house. Amelia and her sister were very close and enjoyed going on adventures and exploring in their grandparents neighborhood.They would climb trees and go hunting for rats and other little animals. Their favorite thing to do was to go sledding on a big hill far from their grandmothers sight. Amelia enjoyed belly slamming, which is when she would run really fast and jump on the sled and go down the hill super fast. The girls grandmother did not approve of their belly-slamming.Their grandmother also disapproved of the bloomers worn by both of the Earhart girls. The girls started wearing bloomers because their aunt approved of them. Their aunts name was Margaret, who was a feminist. Amelia did not always act like a proper little girl. She enjoyed trying to be one of the boys. she liked to climb fences and did not wanna wear the dresses that the other girls wore.
Hobbies,Interests, and Activities
Amelia was never one of the girls, she always acted as one of the boys.There was never a day that went by that Amelia was not out on another adventure. She loved to be outside, whenever she was outside she felt as if she were free and nothing could hold her back. Amelia was always considered a tomboy. When Amelia was ten years old her father took her to the Iowa State Fair. this is where she saw her first aircraft. Her father tried to get her to like the idea of taking flight, but one look at the old rusty “flivver” was enough for her.She had no interest in taking flight. Later in Amelia's life her and a friend visited an airfield.One of the highlights for her was the flying exhibition pilot on by a World War 1 “ace” pilot. The pilot saw Earhart and her friend in an isolated clearing and dived at them. Earhart stood her ground as the pilot took the aircraft close to them. Amelia says she believes that the little red airplane said something to her. Earhart could not figure out what it had told her though. In long beach in 1920 Earhart and her father attended an airfield where Frank Hawks gave her a ride that forever changed her life. From that day forward she knew she had to fly,learning how to fly became all she ever thought about. She began working many jobs to try and earn 1000 dollars for flying lessons. January 3, 1921 was the day of her first flying lesson. 6 months from that day she purchased a second hand bright yellow Kinner Airster Biplane which she named the “Canary “. She set her flying ambitions high and on October 22, 1922 she flew the canary to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a world record for female pilots.Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilots license.
Anecdotes
Amelia Earhart the tomboy of her family was always so brave. She never let anyone see that she was scared. Some people say that they think that amelia never was scared.She would always take on any challenge that was thrown her way. One day when Amelia was younger her father had made enough money by working outside the office. He made $100 and spent it all on a family excursion to the worlds fair in St. Louis. That is where amelia saw her first roller coaster. she told her grandparents that the roller coaster was so fast she felt like she was going to fly right out of her seat. As soon as they returned to Kansas , she began to build one of her own. She had one of her neighborhood friend and uncle Carl help with it. She even built a buggy with wheels big enough to fit on the tracks that were constructed out of lumber and nails they found in the tool shed behind the house.She hauled the cart up to the roof and gave her friend the go ahead to push her down the ramp. The first run ended in a crash landing. Amelia crawled out with a torn dress and a cut lip, but wanted to try again. The second run was a success. Amelia said she felt like she was flying.
Career
After Earhart began flying as her job, she started to show up all over the newspapers and magazines. They began reffering to her as “Lady Lindy”. The United press called her “The Queen of the Air”. Soon Amlia was writing books, and posing in pictures for big companie. She posed for products like luggage, Cigarettes and womens clothing, also some sports wear. She had clothes that were apart of her image sold in macy's. She was doing all of the endorsements for only one reason, and that was to earn money to finance her flying. In
1929 Amelia became the first Aviator to promote commercial Air travel. Along with Charles Lindbergh she represented TAT or transcontinental Air Transport. Later her company became Northeast Airlines. She had gained so much fame for her transatlantic flight, but still only focused on being in the air. In august 1928 Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back. Many experienced professional pilots who flew with her said “she was born a flier.”. At the age of 34 Amelia made one of her most memorable flights. May 20, 1932 she flew solo nonstop across the Atlantic. For being the first women to do this she was given the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the french Government. She also received the gold medal of the National Geographic Society from President Hoover. Because of her fame she became close friends with many important people such as Eleanor Roosevelt, and the first lady. After Earhart's bug flight she went on many other solo flights. In 1937 Earhart started planning the round-the-world flight with Fred Noonan. Once they had everything planned it took them three tries to get everything right. On their Final Approach to the Howland Island they started using radio navigation. Soon they realized that the radio connection was bad. The radio connection was bad. The Itasca received strong and clear voices from Earhart but she could not hear them. Noonan and her kept talking to any air landing towers they could. No one able to get a good enough connection. Earhart and Noonan were never able to get ahold of someone. They had no choice but to land somewhere because they were out of gas. The only reason we know this is because Pan American Airways station could hear Earhart, the airlines said “ they must be on land with the aircraft since water would have caused the connection to fail.”. Sporadic signals were reported for four or five days after Amelia had disappeared, but none had any understandable information. Search efforts began about one hour after Earhart's last recorded message. The search efforts lasted until July 19, 1937. As a result of never finding Earhart or the aircraft, Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939. Many people said Earhart was “ shyly charismatic, independent, cool under pressure and courageous.”. Earhart's accomplishments have inspired many female pilots. Today the home where Amelia was born is now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum. No matter how Earhart died she will always and forever be the “Queen of the Air”.
Earhart did not just have one job throughout her life. She had many jobs, but not one was she more passionate about then flying. Amelia was fortunate enough to have grandparents that paid for a lot of things growing up. When they passed they left Amelia's mother a trust. Amelia's mother was paying for her tuition fees and all associated costs for Columbia University. She soon after had to transfer to the Massachusetts Institute of technology because her mother could no longer afford what she was asked to pay. So amelia then began looking for work and found a job as a teacher. Soon after that at the age of 28 she became a social worker in Medford Massachusetts , there she maintained her aviation interest. There she became a member of the american aeronautical society boston chapter . Eventually she was elected as vice president of the group. She left her job as a social worker and became a sales representative for kinner airplanes. On the side of that she wrote local newspaper columns promoting flying. She started to become a local celebrity and was asked to lay out plans for an organization devoted to female flyers. In 1927 Earhart was asked by Capt. Hilton to help him fly across the Atlantic. After the flight Amelia began her official career in Aviation.
Reason for fame, Later life/old age, and Death
After Earhart began flying as her job, she started to show up all over the newspapers and magazines. They began reffering to her as “Lady Lindy”. The United press called her “The Queen of the Air”. Soon Amlia was writing books, and posing in pictures for big companie. She posed for products like luggage, Cigarettes and womens clothing, also some sports wear. She had clothes that were apart of her image sold in macy's. She was doing all of the endorsements for only one reason, and that was to earn money to finance her flying. In
1929 Amelia became the first Aviator to promote commercial Air travel. Along with Charles Lindbergh she represented TAT or transcontinental Air Transport. Later her company became Northeast Airlines. She had gained so much fame for her transatlantic flight, but still only focused on being in the air. In august 1928 Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back. Many experienced professional pilots who flew with her said “she was born a flier.”. At the age of 34 Amelia made one of her most memorable flights. May 20, 1932 she flew solo nonstop across the Atlantic. For being the first women to do this she was given the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the french Government. She also received the gold medal of the National Geographic Society from President Hoover. Because of her fame she became close friends with many important people such as Eleanor Roosevelt, and the first lady. After Earhart's bug flight she went on many other solo flights. In 1937 Earhart started planning the round-the-world flight with Fred Noonan. Once they had everything planned it took them three tries to get everything right. On their Final Approach to the Howland Island they started using radio navigation. Soon they realized that the radio connection was bad. The radio connection was bad. The Itasca received strong and clear voices from Earhart but she could not hear them. Noonan and her kept talking to any air landing towers they could. No one able to get a good enough connection. Earhart and Noonan were never able to get ahold of someone. They had no choice but to land somewhere because they were out of gas. The only reason we know this is because Pan American Airways station could hear Earhart, the airlines said “ they must be on land with the aircraft since water would have caused the connection to fail.”. Sporadic signals were reported for four or five days after Amelia had disappeared, but none had any understandable information. Search efforts began about one hour after Earhart's last recorded message. The search efforts lasted until July 19, 1937. As a result of never finding Earhart or the aircraft, Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939. Many people said Earhart was “ shyly charismatic, independent, cool under pressure and courageous.”. Earhart's accomplishments have inspired many female pilots. Today the home where Amelia was born is now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum. No matter how Earhart died she will always and forever be the “Queen of the Air”.
