| Summary: | Amelia Earhart was an aviation pioneer and female icon. Born to a privileged family in Kansas in the United States, Amelia grew up a tomboy. It was no surprise that when her father, Edwin took her to an air show, Amelia was hooked. She took numerous part time jobs, and borrowed money from her mother's inheritance, in order to pay for flying lessons and buy her first plane. But Charles Lindberg's record-breaking flight across the Atlantic awakened in Amelia, a daring need for adventure on a massive scale. She caught the attention of high profile publisher of adventure books, George Palmer Putnam who gave Amelia Earhart the chance to equal Lindbergh's Atlantic feat. The successful crossing in 1928 brought Amelia instant fame. But what Putnam's publicity downplayed, was the fact that Amelia was only a passenger! Determined to make her name on merit, Amelia set a host of other flying records across the US, from city to city and coast to coast. She also helped establish the first women's pilot association, The Ninety-Nines. But harbouring doubts about the validity of her position as America's greatest female flyer, in 1932 Amelia made the trip across the Atlantic again - this time, alone. With Putnam by her side as her husband as well as her business partner, Amelia's celebrity was sky-high. She marketed her own fashion line and helped promote commercial air travel in America. Amelia's real passion however, was flying. After another American pilot, Wiley Post, successfully completed two round-the-world flights, Amelia recognised a perfect opportunity to end her stunt flying career at the top. She would attempt her own record breaking trip; travelling the widest point of the earth, around the equator. It was a huge undertaking. The 29,000 mile journey had never been attempted by man or woman. In June 1937, Amelia set off from Oakland California, arriving in Papua New Guinea within a month, after travelling 22,000 miles. Only a refuelling stop, on the tiny Howland Island, stood between Amelia and Navigator Fred Noonan, before Hawaii, and the final Pacific hop home to California. But a catalogue of errors would mean that neither Amelia, Noonan or her plane were ever seen again. Frantic searches in the weeks following her disappearance failed to shed any light on Amelia's fate. Conspiracy theories followed and frequent searches continue to this day as people try to crack the unsolved mystery, but it is the legacy of Amelia Earhart's extraordinary life that continues to inspire generations of women. Amelia Earhart is part of the insightful BBC history series Extraordinary Women. This episode follows the life of the explorer and aviator and her inspiring record breaking flights.
|
|---|
