On this Day in History: Amelia Earhart

For decades, the mystery of Amelia Earhart has captured the interest of people around the world.  She was an inspiration to many and continues to live on in modern culture.  Today marks the 76th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's final flight.

Amelia Earhart was a world renowned celebrity, breaking aviation records and gender barriers.  In her last endeavor, Earhart ambitiously attempted a flight around the world.  While others had already successfully circled the globe, Earhart was attempting to make the trip on a longer route, traveling 29,000 miles around the equator.  After completing 22,000 miles of the journey, Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick J. Noonan departed from Lae, New Guinea towards Howland Island On July 2^nd, 1937.  After failed radio communication with the USCGC Itasca, they were never seen again.  Only one hour after receiving their last communication with Earhart, the Itasca started the search for the missing plane and crew.  In an unsuccessful search that would last until July 19, 1937, the Navy and Coast Guard spent an unprecedented $4 million dollars scouring the Pacific islands for signs of Earhart, Noonan and the Lockheed Electra 10E.

Theories on what happened on that ill-fated trip have fascinated the world and the mystery lives on just as strongly today.  Recently there has been speculation that sonar images retrieved by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery show what could be the remains of a plane on the ocean floor by the island of Nikumaroro.  

It’s also been suggested that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan lived as castaways on the island Nikumaroro, which is being investigated now that 45 new photographs were found in an unlabeled box by Matthew O'Sullivan, in the New Zealand Air Force Museum’s archives.  

Whether we are close to unearthing the truth of what happened on July 2, 1937 or just reaching yet another dead-end, the inspiration of Amelia Earhart lives on.  Stop by the Dick Smith Library to learn more about this inspirational woman.  Just a few of our titles include:

Amelia Earhart : the legend of the lost aviator

by Shelley Tanaka

Curriculum Collection

TL540 .E3 T36 2008

Sky pioneer : a photobiography of Amelia Earhart

By Corinne  Szabo

Curriculum Collection

TL540.E3 S97 1997

Lost star : the search for Amelia Earhart

By Randall Brink

General Stacks

TL540 .E3 B72 1995

Still missing : Amelia Earhart and the search for modern feminism

By Susan Ware

General Stacks

TL540.E3 W37 1993