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 Amelia Earhart (1897-1937?) |
Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing as of July 2, 1937), daughter
of Edwin and Amy Earhart, was an American aviator and noted early female pilot
who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational
flight in 1937.
Early life
Earhart was born in her grandfather’s home in Atchison, Kansas. Amelia’s grandfather
was Alfred Otis, a former federal judge and a leading citizen in Atchison who
reportedly was not satisfied with her father Edwin’s own success as a lawyer,
which is said to have contributed to the break up of her family. Some biographers
have speculated that this history of disapproval and doubt followed Amelia throughout
her childhood as a tomboy and into her adult flying career.
As a girl she is said to have spent long hours playing with her little sister
Muriel (‘Pidge’) along with climbing trees, “belly-slamming” her sled downhill
and hunting rats with a rifle.
At the age of ten (1907), in Des Moines, Iowa, Amelia saw an airplane at the
Iowa State Fair. She later described it as “