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In 1928, Amelia Earhart received a call from Captain Hilton H. Railey asking her to join pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon on a flight from America to England. Although she was only a passenger, Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic, on a plane called the Friendship, on June 17-18, 1928. On May 20-21,1932, Earhart crossed the Atlantic on her own, establishing a new transatlantic crossing record of 13 hours, 30 minutes. Several years later, she became the first woman to successfully complete the hazardous flight from Hawaii to California. In June 1937, Amelia began her flight. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan set out in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra to fly around the world. They departed from Miami, Florida to South America, and then across the South Atlantic Ocean to Dakar, Africa. After crossing the Sahara desert, they flew to Thailand, Singapore, Java, and Australia. However, after departing Lae, New Guinea for Howland Island, the U.S. Coast Guard lost contact with the plane. They received a final message on July 2 at 8:45 a.m., and Earhart's tone was described as frantic. The U.S. Navy searched extensively but never found a trace of the aviators or the plane. The mysterious disappearance of Earhart and her plane has raised considerable speculation throughout the years. Some believe that the two were captured and executed by the Japanese. Others speculate that President Roosevelt sent Earhart on a secret spy mission. However, none of the many theories for her disappearance have ever been confirmed.
AMELIA EARHART LINKS:
The Official Site of Amelia Earhart
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