FACTS ABOUT AMELIA EARHART

1. The first time she saw a plane, at the 1908 Iowa State Fair, she was not impressed. Years later, during WWI, she volunteered as a nurse’s aide at Toronto’s Spadina Military Hospital.  She hung around with the pilots at the nearby airfield and enjoyed watching their flights.  The bug hit her and she made her first flight as a passenger in 1920.
2. She was a bright, but not persistent student. She enrolled in Columbia University, but dropped out after a year.  Several years later, she tried again with similar results.
3. She got flying lessons from female aviation pioneer Neta Snook. Neta was the first woman to own an aviation business and own a commercial airfield.  She charged Amelia $1 in Liberty Bonds for every minute of flight time.
4. She bought her first plane for $2,000. Part of the money came from her mother’s inheritance.  Her mother Amy had been the first woman to climb Pike’s Peak.  Amelia named the plane The Canary.
5. She held various jobs before becoming an aviatrix. She was a nurse’s aide, telephone operator, tutor, and social worker.
6. She met promoter George Putnam when he arranged for her to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, as a passenger. They formed a political partnership with him building and managing her career.  When he divorced his wife, they got married.  The marriage was more of a business arrangement than a traditional marriage.
7. She was Aviation Editor for Cosmopolitan magazine. She wrote 16 articles, including “Shall You Let Your Daughter Fly?” and “Why Are Women Afraid to Fly?”
8. She has numerous firsts:

–  first woman to fly the Atlantic (1928)

–  first woman to fly the Atlantic solo (1932)

–  first woman to fly across America nonstop (1932)

–  first woman to fly from Honolulu to Oakland, Los Angeles to Mexico City, Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey (1935)

–  first woman to earn the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross

9. She was one of the first celebrities to have her own clothing line. Cotton and parachute silk were used.  She was an accomplished sewer who sewed some of the samples herself.
10. The two-week search for her after she disappeared was the most expensive up to that time. It cost $4 million.

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