On This Day In History: Amelia Earhart’s First Solo Ocean Flight – On Jan 11, 1935

AncientPages.com - On January 11, 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first aviator to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California.

Earhart completed a 2,400-mile trip from Wheeler Field in Hawaii to Oakland Airport in California. At a cruising speed of 140 to 160 miles per hour, her journey took 19 straight hours.

On This Day In History: Amelia Earhart's First Solo Ocean Flight – On Jan 11, 1935

 Photo of Amelia Earhart in 1935. Earhart played herself in a radio dramatization of her Honolulu to Oakland flight. The program aired in three segments on NBC Radio - Public Domain

Many pilots had attempted this transoceanic flight, and Earhart's flight was routine, with no mechanical breakdowns. In her final hours, she even relaxed and listened to "the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera from New York."

She met a crowd of fans who knew she was the first person ever to fly more than 2,000 miles over the ocean.

Two years following her famous Hawaii flight, she took off on the first-ever trip around the world. Aided by an onboard navigator, she would hop from country to country around the equator. She got as far as New Guinea, in the South Pacific.

Somewhere in the 2,500-mile stretch of ocean between Lae, New Guinea, and Howland Island, she radioed Howland she was running out of fuel.

Three countries conducted an intensive search; the search failed. Amelia Earhart has never been found.

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