Amelia Earhart Biography

Amelia Earhart was a feisty, young girl when she saw her first airplane. Little did she know that her small interest in planes would develop into a full-on passion. Amelia grabbed the hearts of people around the world when she became the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Other than just being an aviator, she was a pioneer and an author. Amelia is a symbol of perseverance and power to American women. Still today she is one of the world’s most celebrated and respected aviators.

At the age of eleven years old is when Amelia saw her first airplane. The plane did not make much of an impression on her at this time. She described it as “a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting. It wasn’t until almost a decade later that Amelia became seriously interested in aviation. She was at an air show in Toronto and one of the pilots had apparently gotten bored or wanted to stir things up a bit. That pilot swooped toward the ground right where Amelia and her friend were standing. The crowd around Amelia grew scared and ran away, but Amelia stood her ground. Something inside of Amelia clicked and she said, “I did not understand it at the time, but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by (Stone 15, 25).

In December of 1920, Amelia’s life will be changed forever. Her father, Edwin Earhart, arranged for her to go on her very first plane ride with a pilot named Frank Hawks. In her book The Fun of It, Amelia wrote, “As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly… ‘I think I’d like to learn to fly,’ I told the family casually that evening, knowing full well I’d die if I didn’t” (Family of Amelia Earhart 1).

Soon after this, Edwin took her to Kinner Field in Los ...

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...n located (Stone 112, 113, 114).

For the next sixteen days, Amelia would become the focus of the largest rescue attempt ever made for one lost aircraft. Some 250,000 square miles, an area as large as Texas, was searched. The search party involved sixty-five airplanes, ten ships, and 4,000 men. All of their efforts would prove pointless. No trace of Amelia or her plane was ever found. Her dissappearance would only greaten her fame (Family of Amelia Earhart 2).

There are countless theories today about what exactly happened to Amelia and her plane. One theory was that Amelia had really been on a spying mission and her plane had either crashed while she was carrying out this mission, or she was captured by the Japanese. It’s up to you what you choose to believe. But none of the theories change how Amelia impacted the world. Her legacy will live on forever.