On this day in history, January 11, 1935, aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart embarked on her journey to become the first pilot to successfully fly solo from Hawaii to the continental United States.
The daring flight across the vast Pacific Ocean has claimed the lives of 10 aviators. She earned $10,000 from a promoter in Hawaii for her deadly feat.
The pilot also hoped to facilitate a future in which commercial air travel would bring the world closer together.
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“I just wanted this flight to make a contribution,” Earhart said of the then-unprecedented transoceanic journey.
“We can only hope that one more pass over that part of the Pacific will give us a little more clarity on the path that future air services will inevitably take.”
Amelia Earhart is pictured after her first flight from Hawaii to California on January 12, 1935. She was the first pilot to successfully fly this route. (Photo credit: © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
She flew from Honolulu to Oakland and landed the next day, where she was greeted by a crowd of about 10,000 people celebrating her accomplishment.
“While some said it was a publicity stunt by Earhart and her Hawaiian sugar plantation advocates, it was a dangerous 4,408-mile flight that had already claimed the lives of several people,” the National Air and Space Museum wrote.
“Earhart's nearly 19-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean covered 600 miles more water than Charles Lindbergh's famous transatlantic trip.”
She traveled in a small single-engine Lockheed 5C Vega. It was the beginning of an incredible era in air travel for this famous American pilot.
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According to the National Air and Space Museum, “Later that year, Earhart made record-breaking flights from Los Angeles to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey.”
She also placed fifth in the 1935 Bendix Race, a transcontinental race sponsored by the Bendix Corporation, which achieved great fame in the 1930s and 1940s.
Amelia Earhart at Oakland Airport, March 12, 1937. The pilot went missing over the Pacific Ocean just four months later. Carl Bigelow/Oakland Tribune, published November 24, 1961. (MediaNews Group/Oakland Tribune via Getty Images)
Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24, 1897, and achieved fame as one of America's bravest pilots in her 30s. She was also one of the few women in the rapidly growing but still male-dominated profession of flying airplanes.
She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 and received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress.
On this day in history, August 15, 1935, entertainer Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash.
Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan mysteriously disappeared on July 2, 1937, near Howland Island, a small coral reef near the equator, about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. She was about to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.
Earhart continues to captivate people's imaginations today.
Just last year, she was honored at the U.S. Capitol and recognized in National Statuary Hall, along with Dwight D. Eisenhower, as one of two Americans to represent the great state of Kansas.
Western Wireless Receiver, Type 7, Ser. No. 141. Amelia Earhart used this Western Wireless Type 7 radio receiver on her solo nonstop flight from Hawaii to Oakland in a Lockheed 5C Vega in 1935. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images (via Getty Images))
Earhart is one of only 11 women in this group of 100 Americans (two in each state in the Union).
Sculptor George Lundeen said of the bronze statue of Earhart, “I photographed her standing there staring at the sky with her eyes slightly squinted as a gentle breeze blows.'' Told. …As if she was preparing to fly. ”
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Meanwhile, the Acheson Amelia Earhart Foundation announced last year, on the eve of the 88th anniversary of the Hawaii-to-California flight, that the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum would open in April 2023.
The new Atchison attraction is “the first museum to combine STEM and historical storytelling to celebrate Earhart's world-renowned legacy as a pioneering aviator and innovator,” the foundation said in a statement.
Lawmakers watch the unveiling of a statue honoring Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 27, 2022. The Amelia Earhart statue is one of 11 women represented. 100 statues from the National Statuary Hall Collection. (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Ms. Earhart's incredible 19-hour solo journey from Honolulu to Oakland is one of many that excited Americans at a time when flight evoked images of freedom, control of destiny, and the pioneering spirit at the heart of the nation. Just one of those flights.
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“Amelia Earhart captivated the world with her extraordinary courage, unwavering perseverance, and bold determination to pursue her dream of flight in the face of adversity,” said Acheson Amelia Earhart Foundation Founder and President. Karen Seeberg said.
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