Amelia Earhart -Julianna Trefethen

Amelia Earhart. Was born July 24th 1897. She grew up in Atchison Kansas close to the Missouri river.  Her parents went against the views of the day and allowed Amelia and her sister Muriel to play boys games. Their Mom even had outdoor cloths made for them. They went sledding in the winter and called it "Belly Flopping". Her family traveled constantly and she attended 6 high schools before graduating. This travel created what she called "Threads" that led her eventually to aviation. She served as a nurse in Canada during WW1. The hospital was next to the airfield that she liked to visit often. After the war she briefly attended Columbia University and then her parents asked her to come back to Califiornia. She went back and went with her dad to an airshow. There she took her first ride in an airplane.  "As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly. I think I'd like to learn to fly,' I told the family casually  that evening knowing full well I'd die if I didn't. 'Not a bad idea' said my father just as casually. 'When do you start?'"
After learning to fly she went back east to live with her Mom and sister in Boston. But College did not work out and she began working with immigrant families helping them learn English. In 1928 she had a break. Amy Phipps Guest was looking for a woman pilot to travel across the Atlantic. It was billed as the first flight with a woman passenger and made headlines. A seaplane was selected and named Friendship. It was piloted by Wilmer Stultz. Amelia sat behind the Pilot taking notes about her experience. This even launched her flying career to new heights. She met George Putnam during this experience. He owned the large publishing house in America. They were later married in 1931. She continued to be a high profile pilot flying in the 1929 "Powder Puff Derby". The Derby featured the most famous women pilots of the day. Amelia took third place.  Spurred on by her success and fame she decided to fly across the Atlantic again but with herself at the controls and alone. Leaving from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland in her lockheed vega she landed in Londonderry Ireland some thirteen hours later.  It is said she drank Tomatoe juice during the flight. Maybe that's were the saying "I could have had a V8 " came from.
She returned to a Ticker tape parade in New York and President Hoover gave her the NAT GEO special society medal. In 1935 she began her goal of being the first woman to fly across the Pacific Ocean. She flew from Californina to Hawaii and back. Then she flew to South America and back across the Atlantic to Africa. Across Africa to te Middle East and on Australia and New guinea.
Leaving New Guinea July 2 she and her mechanic Fred Noonan took off for a tiny speck of an island called Howland Isle. They never arrived. Search parties looked but found no remains. Though rumors had it she was captured by the Japanese in WW2 no proof has been presented and the mystery remains. I would like to be the person who solves this mystery.

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