On This Day In History: Amelia Earhart’s First Solo Ocean Flight – On Jan 11, 1935

On January 11, 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first aviator to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California.

Earhart completed a 2,400-mile trip from Wheeler Field in Hawaii to Oakland Airport in California. At a cruising speed of 140 to 160 mile per hour, her journey took 19 straight hours.

This transoceanic flight had been attempted by many pilots and Earhart’s flight was considered routine, with no mechanical breakdowns. It is said that in her final hours, she even relaxed and listened to “the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera from New York.”

She was met by a crowd of fans who knew she was the first person ever to fly more than 2,000 miles over the ocean.

Two years following her famous Hawaii flight, she took off on the first ever trip around the world. Aided by an on-board navigator, she would hop country to country around the equator. She got as far as New Guinea, in the South Pacific. Somewhere in the 2,500 mile stretch of ocean between Lae, New Guinea and Howland Island she radioed Howland she was running out of fuel.

An intensive search was conducted by three countries; the search failed. Amelia Earhart has never been found.