SUNDAY BRUNCH: 'THE LAST FLIGHT'

Nearing her 40th birthday, she said, “I have a feeling that there is just one more good flight left in my system…” She hoped that it would be a flight around the world. She wanted to be the first woman to do it.

On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed from Miami with great fanfare. They began the 29,000-mile journey heading east. After 29 days of flight, they touched down in Lae, New Guinea. The remaining 7,000 miles would be done over the Pacific.

The plan required landing on Howland Island, located between Hawaii and Australia and 2,556 miles away from Lae. At only 1.5 miles long and half a mile wide, Howland Island was a difficult spot for landing. Special navigation precautions were taken, including establishing radio communication with U.S. Coast Guard ship Itasca off Howland Island.

At 10:00 am, Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae. They encountered problems with overcast skies and rain showers early on. Some witnesses reported that the radio antenna may have been damaged, and other experts suggest that their maps may have been inaccurate.

As they neared Howland Island, they were unable to make sufficient connection with the Itasca or to land on the island. Earhart’s last communication was at 8:43 am, “We are running north and south.”

Though the Itasca began a rescue attempt immediately and the search continued for weeks, nothing was found. Nothing, ever …

On January 5, 1939, Earhart was declared legally dead.

Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviator, author and women’s rights activist. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Her disappearance in 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world is a mystery that continues to intrigue people worldwide even this day.

She would often say:

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity."