Amelia Earhart
- Amelia Mary Earhart was born July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas.
- Lost July 2, 1937, in the vicinity of Howland Island.
- Declared dead January 5, 1939.
Highlights of Earhart's flying career
Source: Ric Gillespie, Earhart Biography.
- 1921
- First flying lesson, January 3, 1921. "Canuck," Curtiss JN4 "Jenny."
- Summer, Kinner "Airster." Two minor crashes.
- Soloed late in the year.
- 1922
- October(?), 1922: altitude record for women of 14,000 feet.
- 1923
- May 16: obtained a pilot's license from National Aeronautic Association, #6017.
- 1924
- Briefly owned another Airster (Lovell, page 47)?
- 1928
- First woman to cross the Atlantic by air; passenger of Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon.
- Purchased British-built Avro Avian.
- August 31--September 14, 1928 New York to California. En route, hit ditch, groundlooped, wrecked landing gear, shattered prop.
- September 30, forced landing, nose-over, broken propeller.
- 1929
- March 29: Department of Commerce Transport Pilot's License.
- July 20: new logbook carried forward 559 hours and 46 minutes.
- July 30: Purchased Lockheed Vega constructor's number (c/n) 10, registered NC6911 with 225 HP Wright J5A Whirlwind engine.
- August: new Vega 1, c/n 36 registered NC31E.
- August 18: Women's Air Derby / "Powder Puff Derby"
- Yuma, Arizona ran off the end of the runway on landing, upended the Vega, bent the propeller.
- Third place: 23+ hours.
- November 22: Used a Vega 5A Executive, NC538M (c/n 107), Pratt & Whitney Wasp, 425 HP, over 3 kilometer course at Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport at a clocked speed of 184.17 mph (set a speed record).
- 1930
- March 17: Bought 425 HP P&W-powered Vega 5 NC7952 (c/n 22).
- June: borrowed the first metal-fuselage Vega DL-1 NC497H (c/n 135) and set three more speed records for women in various load categories for Lockheed.
- September 25: wrecked NC7952 in a nose-over landing accident at Norfolk, Virginia which left the airplane flat on its back, fuselage broken.
- December 19: soloed in 1930 Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro.
- 1931
- Lockheed rebuilt NC7952 using fuselage of (c/n 68) and upgraded it to a 5B with Pratt & Whitney Wasp C engine of 450 HP.
- April 8 unofficial altitude record of 18,415 ft in the Pitcairn autogiro.
- May 29--June 6: New Jersey to California in Beech-Nut Pitcairn PCA-2 NC10780.
- On return trip to the east coast crashed after a rotor-strike on takeoff at Abilene, Texas; reprimanded for
negligence.
- June 22: returned to New Jersey. 11,000 miles covered in 150 hours of flying.
- September: Totaled the Pitcairn by dropping it in from 20 feet (stalled?).
- 1932
- May 20-21: Solo transatlantic flight in NC7952 (P&W Wasp C engine of 450 hp). Landed in Gallagher's field at Culmore near Londonderry in County Donegal. 2,026 miles in 15 hours and 18 minutes.
- July 10: Attempted first woman's non-stop coast-to-coast flight. Landed in Columbus, Ohio, because of clogged fuel line.
- August 24: First woman's non-stop coast-to-coast flight in 19 hours, 7 minutes and 56
seconds.
- 1933
- National Air Race: finished six hours behind the men (hatch cover problems).
- Return non-stop flight to east coast bettered her previous record by two hours.
- 1934
- "Hi-Speed Special 5C" registered as NR965Y (c/n 171) upon which she installed the same Wasp C she had used for the Atlantic and
cross-country record flights and adding a new Hamilton Standard adjustable-pitch propeller.
- 1935
- January 11: NR965Y, Hawaii to Oakland (first ever west-to-east flight? and solo). 18 hours and 16 minutes in the air.
- April 19: Missed Burbank to Mexico City non-stop by 60 miles (got lost).
- May 8: nonstop from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey in 14 hours and 18 minutes.
- August: Bendix race with Paul Mantz. They placed fifth and won $500.
- 1936
- July 21: First flight in X16020 (c/n 1055).
- July 24: Took delivery of NR16020 on her birthday.
- September 4: Bendix Trophy race. Earhart and Helen Richey finished fifth in 16:34:52. They won $500.
- 1937
- March 17: Earhart, Mantz, Manning and Noonan. Oakland to Honolulu in 15 hours and 47 minutes (a new record).
- March 20: Groundloop at Luke Field.
- May 20: Oakland to Tucson, Arizona. Beginning of second world flight.
- July 2, 1937: Failed to complete flight from Lae to Howland Island.