On This Day In History: Amelia Earhart, Most Famous Female Pilot – Disappeared Over The Pacific Ocean – On July 2, 1937

AncientPages.com - On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart,  the most famous female pilot, disappeared without a trace over the Pacific Ocean.

Earhart's last communication was at 8:43 a.m.: "We are running north and south."

American aviator/pilot Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) standing by her Lockheed Electra dressed in overalls, with Fred Noonan getting into the plane in the background. Parnamerim airfield, Natal, Brazil.- No restrictions

Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24, 1897, and she did not take her first flight until 1920.

Her first airplane ride was an incredible sensation, and she quickly began to take flying lessons. She wrote, "As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly."

Earhart borrowed money from her mother to buy a two-seat plane. She got her U.S. flying license in December 1921; by October 1922, she had set an altitude record for women of 14,000 feet. In 1923, Earhart received her international pilot's license - only the 16th woman to do so. She was becoming famous for her aviation achievements.

After flying across the Atlantic as a passenger in 1928, Amelia Earhart's next goal was to achieve a transatlantic crossing alone. In 1932, exactly five years after Charles Lindbergh's fantastic solo nonstop flight, Earhart became the first woman to repeat the feat, but she still wanted to achieve more.

In one of Amelia Earhart's last transmissions, the U.S. Navy Radio in Honolulu heard a garbled Morse code: "281 north Howland - call KHAQQ - beyond north ... won't hold with us much longer ... above water ... shut off."

She decided that her next trip would be to fly around the world. In March 1937, she flew to Hawaii with fellow pilot Paul Mantz to begin this flight. Earhart lost control of the plane on takeoff, sending the aircraft to the factory for repairs.

In June, she went to Miami to begin a flight around the world, with Fred Noonan as her navigator.

No one knows why, but she left important communication and navigation instruments behind. Was it because she wanted to make room for additional fuel for the long flight?

Earhart and Noonan reached New Guinea in 21 days, but Earhart was tired and ill.

Last flight

During the next leg of the trip, they departed New Guinea for Howland Island, a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. July 2, 1937, was the last time Earhart and Noonan communicated with a nearby Coast Guard ship.

The U.S. Navy conducted a massive search for Earhart and Noonan that continued for more than two weeks. Unable to accept that Earhart had simply disappeared and perished, some of her admirers believed that she was a spy or was captured by enemies of the United States.

The Navy submitted a report following its search, including maps of search areas.

They never found the plane with Earhart and Noonan. No one knows what happened, but many believe they got lost, ran out of fuel, and died.

Amelia Earhart was less than a month away from her 40th birthday.

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