By Carmen Menéndez NB EOI Avilés

Amelia Earth was born on July 24,

1897 in Kansas (E.E.U.U.).

She worked as a nursing assistant in

the hospital of Canada during the

Second World War.

Amelia received her first class of

aviation from Anita “Neta” Snook.

In 1921 ,she bought her first

airplane, called “Canary”, and wiht it she

went beyond a height of 4270 metres.

In 1923 she got her pilot license

of International Aeronautic

Federation, she was the 16 th woman

who got the license.

In 1929 she founded an

organization of women aviators

called “Ninety Nines” (International

Organization of Women Pilots), today

in force.

She was the first woman that

crossed the Atlantic Ocean; she

made a transatlantic flight from

Terranova to Gales, with three people

more: George P.Putnam, Wilmer B.

Stultz and Louis E. Gordon. This way,

after 21 hours of piloting, she was

proclaimed the first woman that did

it.

She was married with G. Putnam,

he was the publicist who

accompanied her in her first trip.

Together they planned another trip

more ambitious: to be the second

woman that crossed the Atlantic

Ocean alone.

In 1932 she had to do an

emergency landing on farm of

Ireland.

The U.S. government awarded her

the golden medal of the National

Geographic Society and the

Distinguished Flying Cross.

In 1937 Amelia was 40 years old ;

she raised one last challenge: Being

the first woman to fly around the

world.

17 March, 1937 she started the first

stage of trip from Oakland, California,

to Hawaii, with two more people Fred

Nooan and Harry Manning but when

they were taking off near Pearl Harbor

they had problems, and the flight had

to be cancelled. Her airplane “Electra”

has to be sent to California to repair it.

She decided to fly to the East only

with F. Noonan.

21 May, 1937 Amelia headed from Los

Angeles to Florida

1 Jun, 1937 both Nooan and Amelia took

off from Miami and one month later they

were in the island Howland in the Pacific

Ocean, the third stage of her challenge.

But her airplane never arrived in the island.

Her body was never found nor her airplane,

so there are a lot of theories about her

missing and some even talk of conspiracy.

The official version of EEUU is that Amelia

and Nooan were out of fuel and crashed in

the middle of the ocean.

Her disappearance remains a mystery