On This Day In 1937

July 2nd 1937:

The Lockheed aircraft carrying legendary American aviator Amelia Earhart and her copilot Frederick Noonan was reported missing on this day in 1937.

In 1928, the 30-year-old Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1932 she became the first female pilot to cross it solo.

In 1937, she set off around the world, but she disappeared near the end of her global journey somewhere between New Guinea and Howland Island in the remote South Pacific. Radio operators picked up a signal that she was low on fuel--the last the world ever heard from maverick aviator.

During Christmas vacation in 1917, she visited her sister in Toronto. World War I had been raging and Earhart saw the returning wounded soldiers. After receiving training as a nurses's aide from the Red Cross, she began work with the Volunteer Aid Department at Spadina Military Hospital. When the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic reached Toronto, Earhart was engaged in arduous nursing duties, including many night shifts, at the Spadina Military Hospital.

Earhart visited an air fair in conjunction with the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. One of the highlights of the day was an air show put on by a World War I "ace". The pilot overhead spotted Earhart and her friend, who were watching from an isolated clearing, and dived at them. "I am sure he said to himself, 'Watch me make them scamper,'"Earhart later said. Earhart characteristically stood her ground, swept by a mixture of fear and exhilaration. As the aircraft came close, something inside her awakened. "I did not understand it at the time," she said, "but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by".

Born July 24th 1897 in Atchison Kansas. Missing July 2nd 1937. Declared deceased January 5th 1939.