Amelia Earhart 

     The year was 1932. Amelia Earhart was flying alone from 

North America to England in a small one-engine airplane. 

At midnight, several hours after she had left Newfoundland,

she ran into bad weather. To make things worse, her

altimeter failed. ( The altimeter shows the height of the

plane above the ground.) At night, and in a storm, a pilot is

in great difficulty without an altimeter. At times, her plane

nearly plunged into the Atlantic Ocean.

     Just before daylight, there was further trouble. Amelia

noticed flamed coming from the engine. Would she be able

to reach land? There was nothing to do except to keep

going and to hope. Amelia Earhart did reach Ireland, and

for the courage she had shown, she was warmly welcomed

in England and Europe. When she returned to the United

States, she was honored by President Hoover at a special

dinner in the White House. From the time on, Amelia Earhart

was famous.

    What was so important about her flight? Amelia Earhart

was the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean alone, and

she had  set a record of fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes.

   In the years that followed, Amelia Earhart made several

flights across the United States, and on each occasion she

set a new record for flying time. In 1935 she became the

first person ever to fly from Hawaii to the continental United

States. In the same year she also became the first person

to fly without stopping from Mexico City to Newark, New 

Jersey, just a few miles from New York City. Amelia Earhart

made these flights to show that women had a place in

aviation and that air travel was useful.

    In 1937 she made plans to fly around the world. It was to 

be her last long flight. She wrote in a letter to her husband,

" Women must also try to do things, as men have tried,"

Amelia Earhart's last words were heard on July 2, 1937, as

 she flew over the Pacific Ocean. She could send messages

over her radio, but she could not receive any. "Circling….

cannot see island… cannot hear you…please answer… 

And finally, "Gas low…" and then, silence.

    Amelia Earhart had almost succeeded in completing

her trip around the world. Although she was only thirty-nine

years old when she died on that Pacific flight, she had made

a place for herself in the history of aviation.from "Progressive

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