worldand she would travel the longest possible distance, 29,000 miles, following a route aroundthe equator. Frederick Noonan, a former Pan Am Airlines navigator was chosen as theflights navigator because he was familiar with the Pacific area. The plane chosen for theflight was the Lockheed Electra 10E. The first leg of their journey would be fromOakland, California to Hawaii on March 17, 1935. In Hawaii, Amelia had an accidentduring take-off from Luke Field near Pearl Harbor. A great deal of damage was done tothe plane.On June 1, 1937, Amelia and Frederick Noonan left Miami, Florida to once againbegin their around the world flight. After many stops in South America, Africa, the India,and Southeast Asia, they arrived at Lae, New Guinea on June 29. About 22,000 miles ofthe journey had been completed and there were 7,000 miles more to go, all of them overthe Pacific Ocean. Photos taken at Lae show Amelia looking very tired and ill.On July 2, 1937 at 00:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), Amelia and Fredericktook off from Lae with 1,000 gallons of fuel, allowing for 20-21 hours of flying time. Their intended destination was Howland Island, a tiny piece of land a few miles long,twenty feet high, and 2,556 miles away. The Coast Guard cutter Itasca was stationed nearHowland Island and was assigned to communicate with Amelias plane and guide her tothe island. Several short radio transmissions were received by the Itasca, but they wereunable to get a fix on her location because the radio contact had been too brief. At 19:30GMT, almost twenty hours into the flight, the following transmission was received fromthe Electra; KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you, but cannot see you...gasrunning low... . After six hours of trying to communicate with the Electra, all contactwas lost.A search by the Navy and Coast Guard was organized and no physical evidence ofthe Electra or of Amelia Earhart or Frederick Noonan was ever found. Over the years,...
