Amelia Earhart： A Brief History (School Friendly)

Amelia Earhart was a pioneer of aviation and along with other records she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Earhart was born on July 24th 1897. She was often referred to as a tomboy growing up because some of her favorite hobbies included things which were not considered ladylike in the early 1900s such as climbing trees, hunting and collecting bugs and frogs on adventures with her sister. When she was seven years old Amelia made her own roller coaster with the help of her uncle and sister by attaching a homemade ramp to the roof of their family's tool shed. Despite crashing spectacularly it didn't frighten Amelia who told her sister that it was just like flying. However when ten-year-old Amelia saw a real plane for the first time at the 1907 Iowa State Fair she didn't think it was anything special, later describing the biplane as a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting. It wasn't until she became an adult that Amelia Earhart would discover her fascination with flying when she and a friend visited a flying exhibition in Toronto, Canada. The pilot flew low over their heads and instead of running Amelia stood her ground and she felt herself being called to a career in aviation saying I did not understand it at the time but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by. On December 28th 1920 Amelia had her first trip in a plane it was only 10 minutes long but it changed her life. By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground I knew I had to fly. From that moment on Amelia did everything she could to make her dream a reality working a variety of jobs until she saved enough money for flying lessons and on January 3rd 1921 she had her first flying lesson with a female pilot named Nita Snook. In order to fit in with the other pilots Amelia cut her hair short and even slept in her new pilot's jacket to give it a worn appearance for fear that she would be judged for being inexperienced. Six months into her flying lessons she bought her own plane a bright yellow biplane which she called the Canary. She used this plane to set the altitude world record for female pilots by reaching 14,000 feet in the air and on May 15th 1923 Amelia Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license in the United States. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and just a year later Amelia was chosen to become the first woman to make the trip. She was given the title of captain but in her own words she was just baggage. She didn't get to fly the plane and she wasn't being paid. Despite this Amelia still agreed. She wrote to a friend when a great adventure is offered to you you don't refuse it that's all and on June 18th 1928 after almost 21 hours in the air the plane landed in Wales and Amelia Earhart made history as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. She became an instant celebrity even getting the nickname Lady Lindy after Charles Lindbergh. Amelia was the best known female pilot in America and she used this success to further the careers of other women in aviation by co-founding an organization called the 99s that helped women get pilot's jobs and kept a record of women's aviation achievements. Not satisfied with simply being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Amelia wanted to make that flight again but this time she would fly the plane herself. On May 20th 1932 she set off from Newfoundland Canada to fly the Atlantic alone. The flight was dangerous. Bad weather meant that she sometimes couldn't see where she was flying but she made it, cutting her flight shorter than planned and landing in a cow pasture in Ireland. The flight took 15 hours and 18 minutes and was only the second solo flight across the Atlantic. The first by a woman and the longest non-stop flight by a woman, 2,026 miles. In 1937 Amelia set out on her most daring record attempt yet to become the first person of any gender to fly around the world at its widest point. The trip was 29,000 miles and would take over a month to complete. After her first attempt failed due to problems with their plane Amelia and her navigator Fred Noonan took flight on June 1st 1937. The pair made a number of stops on their journey including South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia before landing safely in New Guinea on June 29th 1937. They had travelled about 22,000 miles and her reports of the countries, people and cultures she had seen made front page news all over the world. Just 7,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean remained before they would set the record. They set off for their next stop on July 2nd 1938 but Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were never seen again. There are a number of theories as to what happened to the pair. Some think their plane crashed into the ocean, some think it's possible they landed on an uninhabited island and survived for a short time but after the largest search effort in history no trace of Amelia, her navigator or their plane was ever found. She was 39 years old. Amelia Earhart was world famous in her time and her bravery, passion and independent spirit along with the mysterious circumstances of her death has meant that she's become a lasting icon. She inspired thousands of female pilots to chase their dreams and to this day is a reminder that with determination you can achieve anything.