Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was born on 1897, in Kansas. She was a very brave woman who had the courage to do things that others would be too scared to try.  She was one of the first female pilots during a time when it was very unusual for women to fly in planes.  Amelia always loved flying ever since her father took her to the runway when she was little. Amelia’s family discouraged her from flying.  Amelia played basketball, took an auto-repair course and went to junior college. She served as a Red Cross nurse in Toronto, Canada. She started to watch pilots from the Royal Flying Corps train at a local airfield in Toronto. After the war, she went to Columbia University to study to become a doctor. She did not finish because her parents made her move to California with them in 1920. She went on her first plane ride in California and started taking flying lessons. She bought her first plane in 1921 and got her pilot’s license in 1923. 

In 1928, she won the chance to try to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.  She was a passenger on a seaplane that crossed the Atlantic.  She became famous after this, and went on a tour across the United States to talk about her flight.   She was a very involved in working for women to have equal rights.  She flew in many air races and worked hard to have women pilots be able to have separate records. She married George Palmer Putnam in 1931 and she also set a world record for going up 18,415 feet in an autogiro. On May 20,1932, she flew across the Atlantic Ocean by herself.  It took her 14 hours and 56 minutes. She was awarded the Cross of Knight of the French Legion and the Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society for being the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic.  In 1935, she became the first pilot to fly alone from Hawaii to California and from Los Angles to Mexico City. On June 1, 1937, Amelia and her navigator left Miami to try to fly around the world. They flew 22,000 miles in a few weeks.  On July 2, they left Lae, New Guinea, and were trying to reach Howland Island. They never made it. Amelia radioed that they were running out of fuel and they were never seen again. The government declared her dead on January 5, 1939.  Recently, someone discovered bones on an island in the Pacific that might be Amelia Earhart’s. Her death remains a mystery.

Amelia Earhart is my hero because she did what she loved, followed her dreams, and flew across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart did things that no other woman had the courage to do. She got in a plane and actually flew. She was an amazing person. Amelia did amazing things to make the world a better place. Look at the world now -more women are flying than back then. She did what she loved and all that matters is that she was happy. That is why I love Amelia Earhart.