On Friday, President Trump announced that he will declassify details surrounding the fatal last flight of Amelia Earhart.
President Trump shared on Truth Social, “I have been asked by many people about the life and times of Amelia Earhart, such an interesting story, and would I consider declassifying and releasing everything about her, in particular, her last, fatal flight!”
“She was an Aviation Pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and achieved many other Aviation ‘firsts.’”
“She disappeared in the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to fly around the World. Amelia made it almost three quarters around the World before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished, never to be seen again.”
“Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her.”
“Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The National Air and Space Museum shares that Earhart “was the second person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic and the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the United States,” and her flying feats thrust her into the international spotlight.
While working as a Red Cross nurse’s aid in Toronto, Earhart attended her first flying exhibition in 1918. In 1920, she went up for her first flight in California in December 1920, with veteran flyer Frank Hawks. “As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly,” she declared.
Her first instructor was Anita “Neta” Snook who gave her lessons in a Curtiss Jenny. To pay for flight lessons, Earhart worked as a telephone company clerk and photographer.
Earhart soloed in 1921 and bought her first airplane, a Kinner Airster. Earhart began setting records before she earned her pilots license when she set the feminine altitude record of 14,000 feet in 1922.
In 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to receive an official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pilot license.
Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to fly around the world. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were last heard from near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Despite extensive search efforts, neither their bodies nor their wreckage from their plane was ever found, leaving their fate a mystery.
In addition to her feats as a pilot, Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger.
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