May 23, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, most people know Amelia Earhart for the mystery surrounding her disappearance over the Pacific Ocean—but far fewer know the incredible accomplishments she achieved during her lifetime. In this astonishing story, we'll tell the story of the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, the first woman to fly solo coast to coast across the United States, and the first person, man or woman, to fly solo from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American stories, and we talk about everything
here on this show, and history is one of our
favorite subjects, and all of our history segments are brought
to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, where
you can go to study all the things that matter
in life, all the things that are beautiful in life.
And if you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come
to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go
(00:31):
to Hillsdale dot edu. That's Hillsdale dot edu. Take it away. Faith.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
From a young age, Amelia Earhart had a sense of adventure.
Her and her younger sister Grace would run around and
play outside wearing bloomers attire, not normal for n little girls.
Earhart went against the grain of traditional gender roles. She
played basketball, took an auto repair course, and briefly attended college.
(01:11):
And in December nineteen twenty, Earhart took her first airplane
ride in California with famed World War One pilot Frank Hawks.
From then on she was hooked. Here is history curator
Dorothy Cochrane.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
From the time Amelia was young, she knew that she
wanted to do something different. She became enamored with aviation
and set her sights on that. Amelia Earhart learned to
fly from NEDDA Snook, one of the rare female instructors
of the era. She took a number of odd jobs
just to be able to afford her flight lessons, and
she drove trucks and she was a photographer. Shortly after
(01:49):
taking her first flights, she began record setting.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Amelia had many interests prior to her aviation accomplishments. She
had been a pre med student, nurses aid during the
outbreak of the Spanish flu, telephone operator, truck driver, social worker,
and writer. But she loved aviation, and when she was
twenty five, she bought her first airplane in nineteen twenty two.
(02:13):
That year, she set a woman's altitude record, the first
woman to fly above fourteen thousand feet. As her fame grew,
she was soon dubbed Lady Lindy after Charles Lindberg, known
as Lucky Lindy after Charles Lindberg's solo flight across the
Atlantic in nineteen twenty seven, Pilot Amy Guest expressed interest
(02:35):
in being the first woman to fly or be flown
across the Atlantic Ocean. After deciding that the trip was
too perilous for her to undertake. She offered to sponsor
the project, suggesting that they find another girl with the
right image. While at work one afternoon in April nineteen
twenty eight, Earhart got a phone call from Captain Hilton H. Rayley,
(02:58):
who asked her would you like to fly the Atlantic?
On June seventeenth, nineteen twenty eight, Earhart accompanied the pilot
Wilmer Stultz, and co pilot and mechanic Louis Gordon on
the flight, nominally as a passenger, but with the added
duty of keeping the flight log. Stoltz did all the
flying had to I was just baggage, like a sack
(03:21):
of potatoes, Earhart said, Maybe someday I'll try it alone.
She was inspired. Earhart consistently worked to promote opportunities for
women in aviation. In nineteen twenty nine, after placing third
in the All Women's Air Derby, the first transcontinental air
race for women, Earhart helped to form the ninety Nines,
(03:44):
an international organization for the advancement of female pilots, which
still exists to this day. As of twenty eighteen, there
were one hundred and fifty five ninety nine chapters across
the globe. In five years she had accomplished at the
great solo transatlantic flight still called to her, and on
(04:05):
May twentieth, nineteen thirty two, Amelia Earhart climbed into her
single engine Lockheed Vega five B taking off from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland.
She was attempting to be the first woman to make
the flight. Her plan was to fly into Paris. However,
due to some technical and weather complications, things changed. Here
(04:28):
is Amelia Earhart recounting her trip.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I took off the famous Harbor Grace runway at dusk
about seven thirty. I believe I flew for a couple
of hours while the sunset lasted, and then two more
hours as the moon came up over a bank of clouds.
I had fair weather for four hours. Then I ran
(04:56):
into a storm, which was one of the most severe
I have ever been. I milled around in the storm
for probably an hour, and with difficulty, kept my course.
I had been troubled with my exhaust manifold burning through
all night. A weld broke shortly after I left Harbor Grace,
(05:22):
and I could see the damage increasing as the night
wore on. I found specific thunderstorms, probably three or four
hundred miles off the coast of Ireland. I believe I
saw land first about the middle. I decided to come
down anyway in the best available pasture. I got down
(05:47):
without any trouble and taxied to the front door of
a surprised farmers cottage. After receiving a real Irish welcome,
I took a paramount plane to London and there received
a real English welcome.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
In just under fifteen hours and about two thousand miles later,
she landed north of Dairy, Northern Ireland. She had made history.
After her great Irish welcome, she was off to London.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I've done it.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Those were Lady Lifty's words when she got out.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Of her million in the field near the little village
of Carnwall, and all the villagers cheereda isn't she amazing?
She doesn't look as though she just battled with the
elements for two thousand miles and one of the most
wonderful flights ever made.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
After staying the first night in Londonderry, she flew on
as a passenger next day to London. At Henworth, the
American ambassador is present to greet her. Still in her
flying kit, since she carried no change of clothing and
had only twenty dollars in her pocket. And now from
the American embassy where she is staying, she emerges on
the morrow to go shopping and to provide herself with
feminine garments to replace the masculine attire in which she
(07:10):
made her historic flight.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Even after such a great feat, people were still concerned
with her not so feminine appearance, but that did not
downplay the outstanding accomplishment of this solo transatlantic flight. Her
welcome home to New York was the stuff of celebrities.
All New York turned up to greet her. Mayor Walker
honored and welcomed her.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
You remember that some five years before you took off,
when Colonel Lindbergh made his solo flight across the Atlantic
and coined the aeronautical weed, that it remained of the
masculine gender for some five years thereafter until you took off.
And it seems to me as if you have at
(07:54):
last cleaned up that aeronautical we and taken the sex
out of it measure, you are truly and indeed welcome
in the city of New York.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
She had taken the sex out of the accomplishment, it
was now something anyone could do. As the first woman
to fly solo non stop across the Atlantic, Earhart received
the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, which is a military
decoration awarded for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in
an aerial flight. She also received the Cross of Knight
(08:32):
of the Legion of Honor from the French government and
the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President
Herbert Hoover.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
I'm sure, Huck, and this is fucking.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
It gives me a very great deal of pleasure to
present you with this rarely conferred medal. Whole of America
is proud of you and your performance.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
I do thank you, since Shirley, my ex life was
not worth so great an honor.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Amelia Earhart, as humble as ever, Her journey did not
end there. In fact, later that year, she became the
first woman to fly across the US, starting in Los Angeles, California,
and landing in Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
It took me about nineteen hours and a few minutes
to make the trip. I wish I could have done
it faster.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Never satisfied and always competing against herself Amelia Earhart had
flown her way into history. I'm Faith Buchanan and this
is our American stories.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
And great job on that, Faith, and what a story,
my goodness. The accomplishment is the distinguished flying Cross and
the first woman to ever get it. And she got
that from Congress, and when she got an award from
the President the United States said I feel my exploit
was not worthy of such an honor. And when you
listen to her, and that was her. We love doing that,
(10:08):
bringing you the actual voices of people. I particularly love
those old audio reels. Is it's just well it's not
perfect audio, but my goodness, who cares? It's real. And
she was the first to fly across the United States
as well, nineteen hours and a few minutes. And when
I asked about that accomplishment, she said, I wish I
would have done it faster. And always the competitor, a
(10:31):
deep competitive zeal and nature. This amazing story here brought
to us, as always by the great folks at Hillsdale College.
Here on our American Story
This is our American stories, and we talk about everything
here on this show, and history is one of our
favorite subjects, and all of our history segments are brought
to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, where
you can go to study all the things that matter
in life, all the things that are beautiful in life.
And if you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come
to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go
(00:31):
to Hillsdale dot edu. That's Hillsdale dot edu. Take it away. Faith.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
From a young age, Amelia Earhart had a sense of adventure.
Her and her younger sister Grace would run around and
play outside wearing bloomers attire, not normal for n little girls.
Earhart went against the grain of traditional gender roles. She
played basketball, took an auto repair course, and briefly attended college.
(01:11):
And in December nineteen twenty, Earhart took her first airplane
ride in California with famed World War One pilot Frank Hawks.
From then on she was hooked. Here is history curator
Dorothy Cochrane.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
From the time Amelia was young, she knew that she
wanted to do something different. She became enamored with aviation
and set her sights on that. Amelia Earhart learned to
fly from NEDDA Snook, one of the rare female instructors
of the era. She took a number of odd jobs
just to be able to afford her flight lessons, and
she drove trucks and she was a photographer. Shortly after
(01:49):
taking her first flights, she began record setting.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Amelia had many interests prior to her aviation accomplishments. She
had been a pre med student, nurses aid during the
outbreak of the Spanish flu, telephone operator, truck driver, social worker,
and writer. But she loved aviation, and when she was
twenty five, she bought her first airplane in nineteen twenty two.
(02:13):
That year, she set a woman's altitude record, the first
woman to fly above fourteen thousand feet. As her fame grew,
she was soon dubbed Lady Lindy after Charles Lindberg, known
as Lucky Lindy after Charles Lindberg's solo flight across the
Atlantic in nineteen twenty seven, Pilot Amy Guest expressed interest
(02:35):
in being the first woman to fly or be flown
across the Atlantic Ocean. After deciding that the trip was
too perilous for her to undertake. She offered to sponsor
the project, suggesting that they find another girl with the
right image. While at work one afternoon in April nineteen
twenty eight, Earhart got a phone call from Captain Hilton H. Rayley,
(02:58):
who asked her would you like to fly the Atlantic?
On June seventeenth, nineteen twenty eight, Earhart accompanied the pilot
Wilmer Stultz, and co pilot and mechanic Louis Gordon on
the flight, nominally as a passenger, but with the added
duty of keeping the flight log. Stoltz did all the
flying had to I was just baggage, like a sack
(03:21):
of potatoes, Earhart said, Maybe someday I'll try it alone.
She was inspired. Earhart consistently worked to promote opportunities for
women in aviation. In nineteen twenty nine, after placing third
in the All Women's Air Derby, the first transcontinental air
race for women, Earhart helped to form the ninety Nines,
(03:44):
an international organization for the advancement of female pilots, which
still exists to this day. As of twenty eighteen, there
were one hundred and fifty five ninety nine chapters across
the globe. In five years she had accomplished at the
great solo transatlantic flight still called to her, and on
(04:05):
May twentieth, nineteen thirty two, Amelia Earhart climbed into her
single engine Lockheed Vega five B taking off from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland.
She was attempting to be the first woman to make
the flight. Her plan was to fly into Paris. However,
due to some technical and weather complications, things changed. Here
(04:28):
is Amelia Earhart recounting her trip.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I took off the famous Harbor Grace runway at dusk
about seven thirty. I believe I flew for a couple
of hours while the sunset lasted, and then two more
hours as the moon came up over a bank of clouds.
I had fair weather for four hours. Then I ran
(04:56):
into a storm, which was one of the most severe
I have ever been. I milled around in the storm
for probably an hour, and with difficulty, kept my course.
I had been troubled with my exhaust manifold burning through
all night. A weld broke shortly after I left Harbor Grace,
(05:22):
and I could see the damage increasing as the night
wore on. I found specific thunderstorms, probably three or four
hundred miles off the coast of Ireland. I believe I
saw land first about the middle. I decided to come
down anyway in the best available pasture. I got down
(05:47):
without any trouble and taxied to the front door of
a surprised farmers cottage. After receiving a real Irish welcome,
I took a paramount plane to London and there received
a real English welcome.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
In just under fifteen hours and about two thousand miles later,
she landed north of Dairy, Northern Ireland. She had made history.
After her great Irish welcome, she was off to London.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I've done it.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Those were Lady Lifty's words when she got out.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Of her million in the field near the little village
of Carnwall, and all the villagers cheereda isn't she amazing?
She doesn't look as though she just battled with the
elements for two thousand miles and one of the most
wonderful flights ever made.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
After staying the first night in Londonderry, she flew on
as a passenger next day to London. At Henworth, the
American ambassador is present to greet her. Still in her
flying kit, since she carried no change of clothing and
had only twenty dollars in her pocket. And now from
the American embassy where she is staying, she emerges on
the morrow to go shopping and to provide herself with
feminine garments to replace the masculine attire in which she
(07:10):
made her historic flight.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Even after such a great feat, people were still concerned
with her not so feminine appearance, but that did not
downplay the outstanding accomplishment of this solo transatlantic flight. Her
welcome home to New York was the stuff of celebrities.
All New York turned up to greet her. Mayor Walker
honored and welcomed her.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
You remember that some five years before you took off,
when Colonel Lindbergh made his solo flight across the Atlantic
and coined the aeronautical weed, that it remained of the
masculine gender for some five years thereafter until you took off.
And it seems to me as if you have at
(07:54):
last cleaned up that aeronautical we and taken the sex
out of it measure, you are truly and indeed welcome
in the city of New York.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
She had taken the sex out of the accomplishment, it
was now something anyone could do. As the first woman
to fly solo non stop across the Atlantic, Earhart received
the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, which is a military
decoration awarded for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in
an aerial flight. She also received the Cross of Knight
(08:32):
of the Legion of Honor from the French government and
the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President
Herbert Hoover.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
I'm sure, Huck, and this is fucking.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
It gives me a very great deal of pleasure to
present you with this rarely conferred medal. Whole of America
is proud of you and your performance.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
I do thank you, since Shirley, my ex life was
not worth so great an honor.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Amelia Earhart, as humble as ever, Her journey did not
end there. In fact, later that year, she became the
first woman to fly across the US, starting in Los Angeles, California,
and landing in Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
It took me about nineteen hours and a few minutes
to make the trip. I wish I could have done
it faster.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Never satisfied and always competing against herself Amelia Earhart had
flown her way into history. I'm Faith Buchanan and this
is our American stories.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
And great job on that, Faith, and what a story,
my goodness. The accomplishment is the distinguished flying Cross and
the first woman to ever get it. And she got
that from Congress, and when she got an award from
the President the United States said I feel my exploit
was not worthy of such an honor. And when you
listen to her, and that was her. We love doing that,
(10:08):
bringing you the actual voices of people. I particularly love
those old audio reels. Is it's just well it's not
perfect audio, but my goodness, who cares? It's real. And
she was the first to fly across the United States
as well, nineteen hours and a few minutes. And when
I asked about that accomplishment, she said, I wish I
would have done it faster. And always the competitor, a
(10:31):
deep competitive zeal and nature. This amazing story here brought
to us, as always by the great folks at Hillsdale College.
Here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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