Page 23 - Ruth Law

RUTH LAW
DAYTONA'S PIONEER AVIATOR

”I KNEW I HAD TO FLY”

Amelia Mary Earhart
1897-1937

Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, and named
after two grandmothers. Nicknamed, "Meeley," she was
the ringleader while younger sister Grace Muriel was the
follower. Amelia loved the outdoors and the rough and
tumble life it offered. Amelia's father was a claims officer
for the Rock Island Railroad who was transferred to Des
Moines, Iowa, when she was a small child. She saw her
first aircraft at age ten during a visit to the Iowa state
fair.

Amelia kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of
successful women in male oriented fields. In 1920, she
and her father visited an airfield where Frank Hawks (air
racer fame) gave her a ride. After being airborne ten
minutes, she later said, "I knew I had to fly." She
managed to save $1000 and took flying lessons in 1921.
To fit in a man's world she chose a leather jacket, slept
in it to give it a worn look, and cut her hair short to
complete her transformation.

Six months later she purchased a second hand, bright
yellow "Kinner" Airster biplane she called "The Canary"
and flew in 1922 to an altitude of 14,000 feet setting a
world record for female pilots. In 1932 she was the first
woman to fly solo, nonstop coast to coast, and the first
woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. In 1937 she
attempted to fly around the world, completing 22,000
miles before losing contact with U.S. Coast Guard cutter,
Itasca, near Howland Island, on July 2, 1937. Thorough
searches proved futile. She was declared dead January
5, 1939.

HER PLACE IN AVIATION HISTORY
20