Happy Birthday Amelia Earhart!

July 24, 2012      

Brave, courageous, inspirational, and a pilot describe this woman. And even though these adjectives normally reflect characters in great literary works, a real woman reflects this description. Her name flies through the air just as her career. And on this day, in 1897, a young girl was born who grew up to be, -- Amelia Earhart.  

Earhart broke numerous records in aviation. She helped to organize and became vice president of public relations for a new airline, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington Airways. She broke barriers for women when she flew across the Atlantic. Earhart became a force to be reckoned with as she grew up. Her legacy lives on and the mystery surrounding her disappearance will continue to entice audiences of all ages.

On July 2nd, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were flying from New Guinea to Howland Island when they went missing. Many controversies and theories surround her disappearance. Many of those have remained unproven. 75 years later, one group hopes to search for conclusive evidence based on the theory that Earhart and Noonan crash-landed on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) led this $2.2 million dollar expedition earlier this month. Their evidence turned back inconclusive after having trouble with equipment and rough underwater terrain where they believe Earhart’s plane, Lockheed Electra sunk.

                Previous expeditions led by TIGHAR turned up a few artifacts that lead researchers to believe that Earhart and Noon did crash land on the island of Nikumaroro. READ MORE HERE.

                Either way, the story is enticing. And it leaves me to wonder what make Amelia Earhart, the Amelia Earhart? Scrolling through a few articles, I found one interesting fact that comforts a little pack rat like me. Earhart grew up keeping “a scrapbook of newspaper clipping about successful women in predominately male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management, and mechanical engineering” (AMELIAEARHART.COM).

                Happy Birthday Amelia Earhart!