Achievements

Earhart added to her celebrity in 1930, when she set a women’s speed record of 181 miles per hour (291 kilometers per hour). In 1931 she set a new women’s altitude record of 18,451 feet (5,624 meters). Still, some women had criticized Earhart for being only a passenger on the 1928 transatlantic flight. Those criticisms stung, and she was determined to prove her worth.

On May 20, 1932,

Earhart set out from New­foundland, Canada, in a twin-engine Lockheed Vega to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight was not easy. Gasoline leaked into the cockpit, the altimeter broke, and a storm buffeted the plane. At one point, the plane plunged 3,000 feet (914 meters) and then began to spin before Earhart could regain control. Never­theless, she landed the plane safely in Ireland about 15 hours after taking off. It was only the second solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean-no one had dupli­cated Lindbergh’s feat until then.

Earhart also set a distance record for women, flying more than 2,000 miles (3,218 kilometers).

Earhart’s trip made her one of the world’s most famous women. She pub­lished a book about the trip called The Fun of It, which furthered her image as a plainspoken charmer. Earhart used the

book to continue her campaign to bring women into aviation.

Her next exploit came the following year. On August 24 and 25, 1932, she flew solo across the United States from California to New Jersey. The flight took a little more than 19 hours, setting a record. The next year, Earhart made the same trip in two hours less time.

In 1935 Earhart became the first pilot to fly solo from Hawaii to California. Later that year, she made the first non­stop flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City and, after a few weeks, carried out the first flight from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey.