Warrior Women

Amelia Earhart

In honour of the recent discovery of the remains of her airplane, I’d like to tell you about Amelia Earhart. She was not the typical warrior woman. She never had to trudge through the desert looking for water, watch a child die, or even sell her soul to the devil. (Just kidding!) However, she did face obstacles that must have seemed insurmountable to most women (and men.) Earhart spent her early years in Kansas, where she was born, and her teen-age years in Chicago. By 1920, the family had moved to California. And that, my friends, is where Earhart fell in love with flying. She took a 10-minute airplane ride that changed her life. She began taking flying lessons on January 3, 1921 and six months later bought her first airplane. Yes, you read that right. This was a very determined woman, indeed. Earhart’s first flight of note was across the Atlantic Ocean, in 1928. She was not the pilot, Bill Stultz was. She was the map-reader and record-keeper. Nevertheless, it was an amazing accomplishment for the time. As we all know, Earhart went on to bigger and better things. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean; in 1935, she flew solo from Hawaii to California, the first person to do so. Later that same year, she made the very first flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City. She was the first woman to fly across the continental United States and flew solo from Newfoundland to Ireland (her destination was Paris, but she was blown off course.) I’ve just thrown a bunch of dates at you, and that’s all fine and good. But, behind all that, of course, is a woman who worked hard and fought for what she wanted. Just take a moment to think about what she did. And not just once. But over and over again. She was a determined, focused, brave, intelligent, amazing woman! You know what’s coming, don’t you? Earhart’s last flight. It began on June 1, 1937, when she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Miami. Her goal was to fly around the world. She never made it. On July 2, 1937, Earhart and Noonan just… disappeared. She wanted to fly. And she did.

If you want to read more about Amelia Earhart, go here:

http://ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html

Until next time…