(Born July 24, 1897; missing July 2, 1937, declared legally dead January 5, 1939)
Amelia Earhart was a famous aviation pioneer and author who was the first woman
to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross. It was awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation
of The Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots. During an attempt to make a circumnavigation flight of the globe in 1937 in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Amelia Earhart disappeared off the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. To this day,
no trace of the Electra or its occupants has ever been found.
Amelia Earhart just before fatal flight in 1937
Perhaps the last photo ever taken of Earhart’s Electra as it departed New Guinea
A little more about Amelia: Her distress call was heard by a 13 year old girl, a shortwave radio listening enthusiast whose father could not convince authorities that his daughter had the skills to use navigational terminology. The girl is grew old, but never ceased to have nightmares about the unanswered distress calls throughout her life. Recently a compact and other personal items and the remains of bones have been discovered at the point where Amelia’s report said she had crashed.