Amelia Earhart, By Daniele Kieraite

Amelia-Earhart (source Marlies Dekkers)

“There’s more to life than being a passenger.” This quote belongs to Amelia Earhart, first woman, who in 1928 flown over the Atlantic Ocean and is titled to be the first person who flown above the both of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Amelia Earhart was born on 24th of July in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. The biggest challenge in her early life was father’s Edwin Earhart’s battle with alcoholism, which was the reason why Amelia and her sister Muriel spent most of their childhood in an upper-middle-class maternal grandparents’ home. Edwin also had difficulties with finding and keeping a stable job position, which made family constantly change their place of living. Father’s incapacity of taking care of the family influenced Amelia’s perspective of becoming a strong and independent woman who is able to provide for herself. “The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.”

In December of 1920’s Earhart took her first ten minutes plane ride at a Long Beach air show with known World War I pilot Frank Hawks. This experience ignited her passion for the aviation. “As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly.” In order to fulfill the deepest desire of becoming a pilot and being able to pay for the flying lessons, Amelia tried plenty of jobs, such as a photographer, truck driver and filing clerk at the Los Angeles Telephone Company. In January of 1921 woman began taking flying lessons with a pioneer female aviator Anita Snook. Earhart tried to gain as much knowledge as she could about flying and was often spending her time at the airfield. Some significant changes in her appearance also occurred, as Amelia cut her hair shortly imitating other women aviators. In the summer of the same year female bought her first airplane, a secondhand Kinner Airster, which was nicknamed "The Canary". By the end of the year, December, Amelia Earhart passed her flight test and gained a National Aeronautics Association license. Two days after woman took a part in her first flight demonstration at the Sierra Airdrome in Pasadena, California. The first Amelia’s achieved record was on the 22nd of October in 1922, when she became the first woman to fly alone above 14,000 feet. In 1932, Earhart became the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. On the 20th of May female pilot left Newfoundland, Canada in a red Lockheed Vega 5B plane and came a day later, landing in a cow field near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. YouTube channel British Movietone managed to have a short video footage of the original interview with Amelia Earhart of that special occasion.

When Earhart reached the US, she was the first woman who received the Distinguished Flying Cross award for bravery and an exceptional accomplishment during an aerial flight. In 1935 female was the first person, who flew solo from Hawaii to the US mainland.

Besides flying, Amelia Earhart was involved in other activities like advertising chances for women in aviation, helping to form a global Ninety-Nines organization that was aimed to support female pilots improvement and became the first president of it in 1930. This organization still remains active and stands for women flyers in 44 countries. Earhart also worked in the media industry as an associate editor in Cosmopolitan magazine. She used this position for promoting commercial air travel. Later woman advertised Transcontinental Air Transport, better recognized as Trans World Airlines (TWA) and had a vice president position of National Airways that flew routes in the northeast. In 1935 Amelia Earhart became a part of the faculty in Purdue University and worked there as a female career consultant and technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics.

As a person Earhart presented herself as an elegant and shy woman to the public, who had an extraordinary talent and courage. Personally Amelia craved to differ from other people. Woman also had her own sense of style, as she was making clothes for herself. She was a clever and qualified pilot, who never stressed too much but did not manage to be a magnificent pilot. During the first decade of the century Earhart’s skills helped her to keep up with the aviation but when technologies evolved by radio and navigation equipment, female still flown guided by her instinct. Amelia knew her disadvantages and tried to enrich her skills but permanent advertising and touring did not give her enough time to keep up. Celebrity status had some benefits, as Earhart recognized the power of her voice and used it to inspire other women to step up and overcome gender inequality. “I’ve had practical experience and know the discrimination against women in various forms of industry. A pilot’s a pilot. I hope that such equality could be carried out in other fields so that men and women may achieve equally in any endeavor they set out.” Amelia Earhart was once married to George P. Putnam, who was a publisher of her autobiography. Before marriage Earhart wrote a letter to her spouse Putnam, where she said: “I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me, nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly.”

Amelia Earhart might intuitively felt about a tragic shift in her life as she once told: “As far as I know I’ve only got one obsession—a small and probably typically feminine horror of growing old—so I won’t feel completely cheated if I fail to come back.” The horrific event took place on the 19th of July in 1937 when Earhart and her second navigator Fred Noonan were claimed to be lost at the sea. Mysterious disappearance was explained by the US government as a crash into the Pacific Ocean; however, there are many conspiracies. By her career achievements and strong personality Amelia Earhart will always be remembered as a source of an inspiration.

(References:)

https://www.biography.com/explorer/amelia-earhart

https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/amelia-earhart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BgAKnpK7p4&ab_channel=BritishMovietone