On this day in aviation history, 128 years ago (July 23, 1897), aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas. The daughter of Edwin Stanton Earhart and Amelia Otis Earhart, she was the eldest of their two children. Amelia later attended Hyde Park School in Chicago, Illinois, graduating in 1916. After high school, she served as a nurse’s aide with the Red Cross and went on to study medicine at Columbia University. However, she left the program after one year, driven by a desire for greater opportunities.
That opportunity came on December 28, 1920, when Earhart took her first airplane ride with pilot Frank Monroe at an airfield in Long Beach, California. The 10-minute flight sparked a passion for aviation that would shape the rest of her life. Staying in Long Beach, she began flight training at Kinner Field under the instruction of Mary Anita Snook. On May 16, 1923, Amelia became the sixteenth woman in the United States to earn a pilot’s certificate from the National Aeronautic Association.
Earhart went on to make numerous historic flights. On June 18, 1928, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, co-piloting the Fokker F.VIIb/3m “Friendship” (registration NX4204) alongside Wilmer Lower Stultz. Then, on May 20–21, 1932, she completed a solo transatlantic flight in her Lockheed Vega 5B, traveling from Newfoundland to Ireland. The 2,026-mile journey lasted 14 hours and 56 minutes, cementing her status as one of aviation’s foremost trailblazers.
A proud member of the Ninety-Nines, a global organization of licensed women pilots, Amelia also ventured into fashion, launching her own line of wrinkle-resistant clothing — a practical innovation for pilots frequently climbing in and out of tight cockpits. Tragically, on July 2, 1937, while attempting to fly around the world, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Though their fate remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries, Amelia Earhart’s legacy endures. She broke barriers, inspired generations, and paved the way for countless women to follow in her flight path.
