Amelia Mary Earhart
Famous first
Amelia Mary Earhart (1897-1937) was first American woman who flew across the Atlantic.
Her early years
Amelia was born in her grand parents’ house. Her parents didn’t have any money, but her grandparents were rich and sent her to the best school. At 20, she decided to study nursing and worked in a hospital. In World War I, when she was 23, she visited an air show and went up in a plane. At that moment she knew that she wanted to be a pilot.
What she did
In 1920, flying was dangerous and people didn’t think it was an activity for women. But Amelia had flying lessons. And a year later she broke her first record. She flew up to 14,000 feet. She married at 34 but never had children. The next year she became the first woman (and the second person) to fly across the Atlantic. She was now famous for travelling around the world. To talk about her experiences, in 1935, when she was 38, she became the first person to fly alone across the Pacific.
Her last flight
When she was nearly 40, Amelia wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world. She began the 29,000 mile flight in Miami on 1st June 1937. On 2nd July she was nearly at the end of her journey, when she and her plane disappeared near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.