Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, US. Amelia Earhart's background is described as White American. Growing up, the family was middle class — railroad-lawyer father whose alcoholism sent the family into decline and frequent moves. A ten-minute ride at an air show; she drove a truck and sorted mail to pay for flying lessons.

Born

1897 · Atchison, Kansas, US

Roots

White American

Family

Middle class

Railroad-lawyer father whose alcoholism sent the family into decline and frequent moves.

Education

Columbia University (pre-med, left); nurse's aide in WWI Toronto

Started with

A $10 ride

A ten-minute flight at a 1920 air show; odd jobs paid for lessons with pioneer aviator Neta Snook.

Affiliations & societies

The Ninety-NinesDocumented

Co-founded the international organization of women pilots in 1929 and served as its first president.

Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1. 1920 · age 23
   The ten-minute flight

   "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly."

2. 1921 · age 24
   Working for lessons

   Truck driver, photographer, mail sorter; buys her first plane, a yellow biplane called The Canary, within a year.

3. 1928 · age 30
   Across the Atlantic — as a passenger

   The first woman on a transatlantic flight; she calls her own role "a sack of potatoes."

4. 1932 · age 34
   Solo across the Atlantic

   The second person after Lindbergh; lands in an Irish pasture.

5. 1935 · age 37
   Hawaii to California

   The first person to fly the route solo.

6. 1937 · age 39
   Vanishes over the Pacific

   Disappears near Howland Island during the world-flight attempt; the search is the most expensive in US history to that point.