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Essay / Contributed by Amelia Earhart's Last Flight
There is nothing special about flying around the world, George Putnam told his wife Amelia. People have already done it (Earhart 73). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Yes, Amelia replied, but no one has ever done it at the equator, where the distance around the earth is greatest (Earhart 73). On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan left Miami, Florida, bound for California to sail around the world. The first destination was San Juan, Puerto Rico. From there they would travel to the northeastern tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa and the Red Sea. The flight to Karachi (then part of India) was another first: no one had ever flown non-stop from the Red Sea to India. Before. From Karachi, the Lockheed Electra flew to Calcutta on June 17. From there, they continued to Rangoon, Bangkok, Singapore and Bandung. The monsoon prevented departure from Bandoeng for several days. It was June 27 before Earhart and Noonan could leave Bandung for Port Darwin, Australia. Earhart reached Lae in New Guinea on June 29. At this point they had covered 22,000 miles and had 7,000 more to go. The next stop was Howland Island, a small piece of land that would be their resupply stop en route to the Hawaiian island. Islands. It was 2,556 miles from Lae and surrounded only by ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Itasca was on the island maintaining radio contact. At first everything seemed to be going well. Earhart radioed that she was making good progress and was within 100 miles of the island. She later radioed: KHAQQ is hanging on [calling] Itasca. We need to be on top of you but we can't see you. . .the gas is starting to run out. . . (Lovell 283). After several more messages, she gave what she believed to be her location, then the radio went off. The cutter Itasca, a battleship, an aircraft carrier with all its planes and four destroyers searched for 16 days, they never found a trace of the missing Lockheed Electra or its brave pilot and navigator. Amelia Earhart was an aspiration for all women. She proved that just because she was a woman didn't mean she couldn't have a successful career like the men of the time. She wrote a note to her husband saying: “Please know that I am fully aware of the dangers. . .I want to do it because I want to do it. Women should try to do things the way men have tried. When they fail, their failure should only be a challenge to others (Earhart 228). Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay While conducting this research, there are several things I learned. I didn't know Amelia Earhart. There are several theories about what happened to him. Some of these include: a spy mission authorized by President Roosevelt and was captured, she deliberately plunged her plane into the Pacific Ocean, she was captured by the Japanese and forced to broadcast to American GIs like Tokyo Rose during World War II, and she lived for years on a South Pacific island with a native fisherman. Either theory has not been proven to be true. What happened to Amelia Earhart still remains a mystery..