Amelia Earhart is arguably the most compelling figure in the history of aviation, and only a part of that is because she died young or, rather, she disappeared. James Dean and Sam Cooke left us too soon, but Amelia vanished, leaving us with great sadness and, in some cases, the faint hope that she might still be out there somewhere.
Earhart famously went missing after failing to find her next fuel stop, tiny Howland Island, in the remote and vast Pacific while on an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. The most likely theory—and the only one with credible proof—is that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, crash-landed in the Pacific after running out of fuel, dying in or shortly after the crash. The most extensive search in American history failed to turn up a single clue, and some searchers continue today to look for the wreckage of her plane.
Earhart’s aviation career was a string of brilliant successes until her demise. She held dozens of aviation records, including some of the most remarkable in flying history. She was the first woman (and the second person) to fly solo across the Atlantic; she was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California, and she established many other point-to-point firsts. Apart from that, she was an author, a lecturer, a magazine editor, a clothing designer and a leader in the women’s movement of the day, while working diligently to establish an identity in the media that underscored the capability of women to succeed in fields previously closed to them.
Even before her tragic disappearance, Earhart had achieved great fame, partly through her ability to use media to promote her brand but even more so because of her remarkable abilities and achievements, and her name and story continue to inspire aviators around the world.
