Amelia Earhart with her Kinner K1 Airster

It’s 1932 and Amelia Earhart has just completed the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman, exactly 5 years to the day Linbergh did it.

Ms. Earhart departed Newfoundland flying to Europe some 2,000 miles away and landed in a field in Ireland in slightly less than 15 hours.

4 years earlier Amelia Earhart was part of a 3 member crew that made her the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe in an airplane, but her burning desire was to accomplish that feat solo. However, this first flight brought Amelia Earhart a lot of notoriety and she became a famous public figure as a result of this accomplishment.

It was on this day 81 years ago that Amelia Earhart completed her flight in her red Lockheed Vega 5B aircraft adding to her fame. Her red Lockheed Vega 5B was very similar to the “Winnie Mae” made famous by another pilot Wiley Post who set a number of world records with the aircraft which were painted on the side of the aircraft.

A Lockheed Vega Paper Airplane Model

Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega Aircraft

We have duplicated the “Winnie Mae” in a downloadable paper airplane model which is inexpensive and easy to construct. You can find it here on our website: “Winnie Mae Download Paper Airplane“.

But of course Amelia Earhart was not done with her flying adventures, even after being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the U.S. Congress in honor of her solo transatalantic flight in 1932.

Hawaii To California In 1935

Not content with her solo trans-Atlantic flight, Amelia Earhart completed her solo flight from Hawaii to Oakland, CA winning a $ 10,000 prize for her efforts and increasing her public profile and popularity.

This flight followed her trans-Continental flight in 19 hours covering some 2,447 miles in the process in her red Lockheed Vega 5B aircraft.

Amelia Earhart & The Lockheed Vega Video

Amelia Earhart Flies Into History

Amelia Earhart is honored with a stamp in 1963

In 1937 Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan attempt an around the world flight which ended in disaster near Howland Island in the South Pacific.

To this day searchers are still trying to find exactly where she landed (or crashed) in an attempt to recover aircraft debris and discover what happened on that fateful July 2nd, 1937 date.

Like most pilots I find myself wondering exactly what happened during the final hours of her flight, and where she, Noonan and their aircraft ended their lives. Like the mystery of the sinking of the Titanic, searching for Amelia Earhart remains one of the great unsolved mysteries left to solve.

Like most pilots I enjoy learning more about this fascinating women, and think often of her every time I fly on the airlines and see that one of the pilots is a woman.

She would be proud to see what women are now accomplishing.

DVD & “Where’s Amelia Earhart Book

The movie Amelia remains one of our favorite movies which my wife and I enjoy often.

For more research on Where’s Amelia Earhart this book by National Geographic will pique your interest.

In the meantime keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

Please share “Amelia Earhart Lands In Ireland” with your friends using the buttons below. Thanks!