Bollywood Actor Sanjay Dutt 1959

Sanjay Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian Hindi film actor and politician. Dutt, son of Hindi film actors Sunil and Nargis Dutt, made his acting debut in 1981. Dutt was born on 29 July to Bollywood actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis. He was educated at the Lawrence School Sanawar. Dutt married actress Richa Sharma in 1987. Sharma died of brain tumor on 10 December 1996. The couple have a daughter, Trishala, born in 1989, who lives in the United States. Dutt's second marriage was to model Rhea Pillai in 1998. They divorced in 2005. Dutt married Manyata (also known as Dilnawaz Sheikh) in 2008, after two years of dating. On 21 October 2010, he became a father to twins, a boy named Shahraan and a girl named Iqra.

Born	Sanjay Sunil Dutt 29 July 1959 (1959-07-29) (age 51) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Sanju Baba Munna Bhai Raghu Bhai Baba
Occupation	Film actor, Film producer, Comedian
Years active	1971, 1981–present
Spouse	Richa Sharma (1987–1996) (Deceased) Rhea Pillai (1998–2005) (Divorced) Manyata Dutt (2008–present)
Children	Trishala, Shahraan, Iqra
Parents	Sunil Dutt Nargis Dutt

Film career

As a child actor, Dutt appeared in the 1971 film Reshma Aur Shera, starring his father. He appears briefly as a qawali singer in his first film appearance. Dutt made his Bollywood movie debut with Rocky in 1981. He went on to act in many 1980's films including Vidhata, Jeeva, Naam and Taaqatwar.

In the 1990s Dutt acted in films such as Sadak and Khoon Ka Karz. He starred in the 1991 movie Saajan for which he was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award. In 1993 he starred in the movie Khal Nayak for which he earned his second Filmfare Best Actor Award nomination. In 1999's Vaastav: The Reality, he finally won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award.

In the 2000s Dutt acted in many films such as Mission Kashmir, Jodi No.1, Hathyar, Kaante, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, Dus, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Dhamaal, Blue (2009), All The Best: Fun Begins and Knockout (2010). During this time he got several more nominations and awards. Now he is all set to make his debut as a producer with the film Rascals, and Khotey Sikkey under the banner of Sanjay Dutt Productions Pvt Ltd.

Illegal possession of arms

Due to terrorist interactions, and supposed weapons possession, on 19 April 1993, Sanjay was arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA). He spent 16 months in jail as an undertrial until he was granted bail in October 1995 by the Supreme Court of India.

In November 1993, a 90,000-page long primary chargesheet was filed against the 189 accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case including Sanjay.

In March 2006, when framing muthar charges against extradited Abu Salem and co-accused Riyaz Siddiqui in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, the prosecution said that Salem delivered 9 AK-56 rifles and some hand grenades to actor Sanjay Dutt at his Bandra house in the second week of January 1993.

On 13 February 2007, the special branch of Mumbai police arrested Abdul Qayyum Abdul Karim Shaikh, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim and wanted by Mumbai Police Special Task Force for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts from Mumbai. Qayuum had been named by Sanjay Dutt in his confessional statement. Sanjay had said that he met Qayuum in Dubai in September 1992 and bought a pistol from him. According to CBI, the pistol was sold to Sanjay at the instance of Dawood's brother Anees Ibrahim.

On 31 July 2007, Dutt was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment for illegally possessing weapons. At the same time, Dutt was also "cleared of terrorism conspiracy charges in the blasts" related to the 1993 bombings. According to The Guardian, "The actor claimed he feared for his life after the notorious "Black Friday" bombings, which were allegedly staged by Mumbai's Muslim-dominated mafia in retaliation for deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes a few months earlier. But the judge, Pramod Kode, rejected this defence and also refused bail." Dutt was immediately taken into custody and sent to Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail. As the sentence was pronounced, Dutt was "visibly shocked and was seen shivering and holding back tears".

On 2 August 2007, Sanjay Dutt was moved from Arthur Road jail in Mumbai to the Yeravada Jail in Pune. On 7 August 2007, Dutt appealed the sentence. Later, on 20 August 2007, the Supreme Court of India granted Dutt interim bail. He was released after Yeravada Jail authorities received a copy of the court's bail order. The bail was valid until the time the special TADA court, which sentenced Dutt on 31 July, provides a copy of its judgment to him. Dutt was released from jail on 23 August. On 22 October 2007 Dutt was back in jail but again applied for bail. On 27 November 2007, Dutt was granted bail by the Supreme Court. He currently has an appeal for an acquittal pending. In January 2009, Dutt announced that he would contest the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on the Samajwadi Party ticket. However, he withdrew his candidacy in March 2009 after the Supreme Court refused to suspend his conviction.

International humanitarian initiatives

On 16 December 2008, he was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for IIMSAM - the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition. He will be promoting the use of Spirulina to help the organization's advocacy and endeavor against malnutrition and hunger. His role will also support IIMSAM's efforts to secure the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by mainstreaming the use of Spirulina to eradicate malnutrition, achieve food security and bridge the health divide with a special priority for the developing and the least developed countries.

Filmography

1980s

Year	Film	Role	Awards
1981	Rocky	Rakesh/Rocky D'Souza
1982	Vidhaata	Kunal Singh
1982	Johny I Love You	Raju S. Singh/Johny
1983	Main Awara Hoon	Sanjeev 'Sanju' Kumar
1983	Bekaraar	Shyam
1984	Mera Faisla	Raj Saxena
1984	Zameen Aasmaan
1985	Jaan Ki Baazi
1985	Do Dilon Ki Dastaan	Vijay Kumar Saxena
1986	Mera Haque	Prince Amar Singh
1986	Jeeva	Jeeva/Jeevan Thakur
1986	Jalwa	Himalya Chand
1986	Naam	Vicky Kapoor
1987	Naam O Nishan	Inspector Suraj Singh
1987	Inaam Dus Hazaar	Kamal Malhotra
1987	Imaandaar	Rajesh
1988	Jeete Hain Shaan Se	Govinda
1988	Mohabbat Ke Dushman	Hisham
1988	Khatron Ke Khiladi	Raja
1988	Kabzaa	Ravi Varma
1988	Mardon Wali Baat	Tinku
1989	Itihaas	Karan
1989	Taaqatwar	Inspector Sharma
1989	Kanoon Apna Apna	Ravi
1989	Hum Bhi Insaan Hain	Bhola
1989	Hathyar	Avinash
1989	Do Qaidi	Manu
1989	Ilaaka	Inspector Suraj Verma

1990s

Year	Film	Role	Awards
1990	Zahreelay	Raaka
1990	Tejaa	Tejaa/Sanjay
1990	Khatarnaak	Suraj/Sunny
1990	Jeene Do	Karamvir
1990	Krodh	Vijay/Munna
1990	Thanedaar	Brijesh Chandar (Birju)
1991	Yodha	Suraj Singh
1991	Sadak	Ravi
1991	Qurbani Rang Layegi	Raj Kishen
1991	Khoon Ka Karz	Arjun
1991	Fateh	Karan
1991	Do Matwale	Ajay 'James Bond 009'
1991	Saajan	Aman Verma/Sagar	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
1992	Jeena Marna Tere Sang
1992	Adharm	Vicky Verma
1992	Sahebzaade	Raja
1992	Sarphira	Suresh Sinha
1992	Yalgaar	Vishal Singhal
1993	Sahibaan	Prince Vijay Pal Singh
1993	Khal Nayak	Ballu	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
1993	Kshatriya	Vikram Singh
1993	Gumrah	Jagan Nath (Jaggu)
1994	Zamane Se Kya Darna
1994	Insaaf Apne Lahoo Se	Raju
1994	Aatish	Baba
1994	Amaanat	Vijay
1995	Jai Vikraanta	Vikraanta
1995	Andolan	Adarsh
1996	Namak	Gopal
1996	Vijeta	Ashok
1997	Sanam	Narendra Anand
1997	Mahaanta	Sanjay 'Sanju' Malhotra
1997	Dus	Captain Raja Sethi	Incomplete film
1997	Daud	Nandu
1998	Dushman	Major Suraj Singh Rathod
1998	Chandralekha	Cameo	Telugu film
1999	Daag: The Fire	Karan Singh
1999	Kartoos	Raja/Jeet Balraj
1999	Safari	Captain Kishan
1999	Haseena Maan Jaayegi	Sonu
1999	Vaastav: The Reality	Raghu	Winner, Filmfare Best Actor Award
1999	Khoobsurat	Sanju

2000s

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
2000	Khauff	Anthony/Vicky/Babu
2000	Baaghi	Raja
2000	Chal Mere Bhai	Vicky
2000	Jung	Balli
2000	Mission Kashmir	SSP Inayat Khan	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
2000	Kurukshetra	A.C.P Prithviraj Singh
2000	Raju Chacha	Gafoor	Special Appearance
2001	Jodi No.1	Jai
2002	Pitaah	Rudra
2002	Hum Kisise Kum Nahin	Munna Bhai
2002	Yeh Hai Jalwa	Shera	Uncredited
2002	Maine Dil Tujhko Diya	Bhai-Jaan
2002	Hathyar	Rohit Raghunath Shivalkar/Raghunath Namdev Shivalkar
2002	Annarth	Iqbal Danger
2002	Kaante	Jay Rehan 'Ajju'	Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award
2003	Ek Aur Ek Gyarah	Sitara
2003	LOC Kargil	Lt. Col. Y. K. Joshi
2003	Munnabhai M.B.B.S.	Murli Prasad Sharma (Munna Bhai)	Winner, Filmfare Best Comedian Award
2004	Plan	Mussabhai
2004	Rudraksh	Varun
2004	Rakht	Rahul
2004	Deewaar	Khan
2004	Musafir	billa bhai
2005	Tango Charlie	Squadron Leader Vikram Rathore
2005	Parineeta	Girish Babu	Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award
2005	Dus	S. Dheer
2005	Viruddh... Family Comes First	Ali
2005	Shaadi No. 1	Lukhwinder Singh (Lucky)
2005	Ek Ajnabee		DJ Special appearance
2005	Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!	Yamaraj M. A., Himself
2005	Shabd	Shaukat Vashisht
2005	Mohabbat Ho Gayi Hai Tumse
2006	Zinda	Balajeet Roy
2006	Tathastu	Ravi Rajput
2006	Anthony Kaun Hai	Master Madan
2006	Lage Raho Munna Bhai	Murli Prasad Sharma (Munna Bhai)	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
2007	Eklavya: The Royal Guard	Pannalal Chohar
2007	Nehlle Pe Dehlla	Johnny
2007	Sarhad Paar	Ranjeet Singh
2007	Shootout at Lokhandwala	Shamsher Khan
2007	Dhamaal	Kabir Nayak
2007	Om Shanti Om	Himself	Special appearance in song Deewangi Deewangi
2007	Dus Kahaniyan	Baba
2008	Woodstock Villa		Special appearance in item number Kyun
2008	Superstar	Himself	Special Appearance
2008	Mehbooba	Shravan Dhaliwal
2008	Kidnap	Vikrant Raina
2008	EMI – Liya Hai Toh Chukana Parega	Sattar Bhai
2009	Luck	Musa
2009	Aladin	The Ring Master
2009	Blue	Sagar
2009	All The Best: Fun Begins	Dharam Bhai

2010s

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
2010	Lamhaa	Vikram
2010	Toonpur Ka Superrhero	Narrator
2010	Tees Maar Khan	Narrator
2010	No Problem	Yash
2010	Knock Out	Veer Vijay Singh
2011	Chatur Singh Two Star	Chatur Singh	Post Production
2011	Double Dhamaal	Kabir
2011	Ready	Marriage magistrate / Divorce lawyer	Special Appearance
2011	Rascals		Filming
2011	Agneepath		Filming
2011	Power		Filming
2011	Koochie Koochie Hota Hai		Filming
2011	Department		Pre-Production

Indian Actress Ayesha Jhulka 1975

Ayesha Jhulka (born 28 July 1975 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India) is a Bollywood actress. She is the daughter of Wing Commander Jhulka, an Indian Air Force Officer. During her career, she has worked with major stars like Mithun Chakraborty, Govinda, Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan, Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Shahrukh Khan etc.

Born	Ayesha Jhulka July 28, 1975 (1975-07-28) (age 35) Srinagar, Kashmir, India
Occupation	Film actress
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Sameer Vashi

Jhulka made her debut in 1991 with Kurbaan opposite Salman Khan, which turned out to be hit. She got two popular hits in 1992, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander with Aamir Khan and Khiladi with Akshay Kumar. She was a new happening star in Bollywood. 1993 was also good for her, as her films Dalaal and Rang were hits. Though Dalaal was a hit at the box office, Ayesha was having problems with its maker because of a certain scene in which they used her body double. Jhulka filed complaints with the Cine Artistes Association and the Film Producers Association. Out of the three controversial scenes, two were subsequently deleted. But it made her hugely upset as she always played the girl next door kind of roles.

In 1993, she was part of two more average successes Waqt Hamara Hai and Meherbaan. She was praised for films Balma and Sangram, in which she played major roles along with Ajay Devgan and Karishma Kapoor. In the meantime, she also had an affair with Akshay Kumar. She was all set to marry Armaan Kohli and decided to leave films after her bad experience with Dalaal. She completed all her assignments, but her relationship with Armaan came to an end, so was Ayesha's bright career.

Among her 1994's releases Jai Kishan did quite well, but others were flops. Now there were no movies in her hand. She did a few second cameos in Akele Hum Akele Tum, which was her only release of 1995. Besides that Promos of her film Kisi Se Dil Laga Ke Dekho with Shahrukh Khan and Madhoo were on air in the same year. But that film could not see the light of the day.

After a gap, she returned to movies in 1996, with hit Masoom. Her other film with Mithun called Suraj did quite well in masses, but it did not help her much. After the success of Masoom, She got two important films Vishwavidhata and Ghoonghat. In both the films, she was having roles with substance, but both films flopped at the box office. She did a cameo in Kamal Hasan's Chachi 420, even though film did well and also received positive reviews, all she was getting were films opposite Mithun or with struggling newcomers by that time.

She had two major films in 1999, Kohram, in which she got the role which was offered to Rani Mukherji and a delayed film called Hote Hote Pyar Ho Gaya with Jackie Shroff and Kajol. Her career could not shine like before, but small films kept coming her way including regional Punjabi films like Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khas, which did well abroad. She got films with good roles like Samvedna (a film based on homosexuals), Amma (in which she played role of 60 year old woman,waiting for her husband) and Janani, but apart from Janani other two films could not be released.

In the meantime, she got married to construction tycoon Sameer Vashi. She played supporting but important roles in Run (2004), Socha Na Tha (2005) and Umrao Jaan (2006). Recently, She started play production and produced plays like Purush and Prakriti.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1983	Kaise Kaise Log	Pooja
1990	Meet Mere Mann Ke
1991	Kurbaan	Chandra Singh
	Haye Meri Jaan	Neelam
1992	Mashooq	Nisha Rai
	Khiladi	Neelam Choudhury
	Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar	Anjali
	Anaam	Meghna
	Kohra	Nisha
1993	Kaise Kaise Rishte
	Balmaa
	Sangram	Pallavi(saathi)
	Dalaal	Roopali
	Rang	Pooja
	Waqt Hamara Hai	Ayesha
	Dil Ki Baazi	Arti
	Aulad ke Dushman	Shalu Kumar
1994	Brahma
	Ekka Raja Rani
	Jai Kishen	Anita
	Maha shaktishali
1995	Akele Hum Akele Tum		Friendly Appearance
	Aashique Mastaane	Malti
1996	Masoom	Chanda
	Muqaddar
1997	Chachi 420	Ratna	Special Appearance
	Vishwavidhata	Radha Khanna
	Judge Mujrim	Dancer/Singer	Special Appearance
	Suraj
	Ghoonghat
1998	Dand Nayak	Naina
	Barood	Dancer
1999	Purush
	Phool Aur Aaj		Special Appearance in song "Main Gaaon Dil Gaaye"
	Hote Hote Pyar Hogaya	Shobha
	Kohram: The Explosion	Sweety
2000	Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khaas	Channi
	Shikaar	Anju Gupta
2001	Hadh: Life On the Edge of Death
	Censor	Shakeela
2002	Amma	Roopa
2003	Aanch	Devangi M. Thakur
2004	Run	Shivani
2005	Socha Na Tha	Viren's bhabhi
	Double Cross: Ek Dhoka	Sonia
2006	Jackpot
	Umrao Jaan	Khurshid
	Janani
2009	Keshyog
2010	ADA...A Way of Life

Women Pilot Amelia Earhart 1897 - 1939

Amelia Mary Earhart (play /ˈɛərhɑrt/ air-hart; born July 24, 1897; missing July 2, 1937, declared legally dead January 5, 1939) was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart joined the faculty of the world-famous Purdue University aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation. She was also a member of the National Woman's Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

Born	July 24, 1897(1897-07-24) Atchison, Kansas, U.S.
Disappeared	July 2, 1937 (aged 39) Pacific Ocean, en route to Howland Island
Status	Declared dead in absentia January 5, 1939(1939-01-05) (aged 41)
Nationality	American
Known for	First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and setting many aviation records.
Spouse	George P. Putnam
Signature

Early life

Childhood

Amelia Earhart as a child

Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (March 28, 1867) and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in Atchison. This was the second child in the marriage as an infant was stillborn in August 1896. Alfred Otis had not initially favored the marriage and was not satisfied with Edwin's progress as a lawyer.

Earhart was named, according to family custom, after her two grandmothers (Amelia Josephine Harres and Mary Wells Patton). From an early age Earhart, nicknamed "Meeley" (sometimes "Millie") was the ringleader while younger sister (two years her junior), Grace Muriel Earhart (1899–1998), nicknamed "Pidge," acted the dutiful follower. Both girls continued to answer to their childhood nicknames well into adulthood. Their upbringing was unconventional since Amy Earhart did not believe in molding her children into "nice little girls." Meanwhile their maternal grandmother disapproved of the "bloomers" worn by Amy's children and although Earhart liked the freedom they provided, she was aware other girls in the neighborhood did not wear them.

Early influence

A spirit of adventure seemed to abide in the Earhart children with the pair setting off daily to explore their neighborhood. As a child, Earhart spent long hours playing with Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle and "belly-slamming" her sled downhill. Although this love of the outdoors and "rough-and-tumble" play was common to many youngsters, some biographers have characterized the young Earhart as a tomboy. The girls kept "worms, moths, katydids and a tree toad" in a growing collection gathered in their outings. In 1904, with the help of her uncle, she cobbled together a home-made ramp fashioned after a roller coaster she had seen on a trip to St. Louis and secured the ramp to the roof of the family toolshed. Earhart's well-documented first flight ended dramatically. She emerged from the broken wooden box that had served as a sled with a bruised lip, torn dress and a "sensation of exhilaration." She exclaimed, "Oh, Pidge, it's just like flying!"

Although there had been some missteps in his career up to that point, in 1907 Edwin Earhart's job as a claims officer for the Rock Island Railroad led to a transfer to Des Moines, Iowa. The next year, at the age of 10, Earhart saw her first aircraft at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Her father tried to interest her and her sister in taking a flight. One look at the rickety old "flivver" was enough for Earhart, who promptly asked if they could go back to the merry-go-round. She later described the biplane as “a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting.”

Education

The two sisters, Amelia and Muriel (she went by her middle name from her teens on), remained with their grandparents in Atchison, while their parents moved into new, smaller quarters in Des Moines. During this period, Earhart received a form of home-schooling together with her sister, from her mother and a governess. She later recounted that she was "exceedingly fond of reading" and spent countless hours in the large family library. In 1909, when the family was finally reunited in Des Moines, the Earhart children were enrolled in public school for the first time with Amelia Earhart entering the seventh grade at the age of 12 years.

Family fortunes

While the family's finances seemingly improved with the acquisition of a new house and even the hiring of two servants, it soon became apparent Edwin was an alcoholic. Five years later (in 1914), he was forced to retire and although he attempted to rehabilitate himself through treatment, he was never reinstated at the Rock Island Railroad. At about this time, Earhart's grandmother Amelia Otis died suddenly, leaving a substantial estate that placed her daughter's share in trust, fearing that Edwin's drinking would drain the funds. The Otis house and all of its contents, was auctioned; Earhart was heart-broken and later described it as the end of her childhood.

In 1915, after a long search, Earhart's father found work as a clerk at the Great Northern Railway in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Earhart entered Central High School as a junior. Edwin applied for a transfer to Springfield, Missouri, in 1915 but the current claims officer reconsidered his retirement and demanded his job back, leaving the elder Earhart with nowhere to go. Facing another calamitous move, Amy Earhart took her children to Chicago where they lived with friends. Earhart made an unusual condition in the choice of her next schooling; she canvassed nearby high schools in Chicago to find the best science program. She rejected the high school nearest her home when she complained that the chemistry lab was "just like a kitchen sink." She eventually was enrolled in Hyde Park High School but spent a miserable semester where a yearbook caption captured the essence of her unhappiness, "A.E. – the girl in brown who walks alone."

Earhart graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1916. Throughout her troubled childhood, she had continued to aspire to a future career; she kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management and mechanical engineering. She began junior college at Ogontz School in Rydal, Pennsylvania but did not complete her program.

During Christmas vacation in 1917, Earhart visited her sister in Toronto. World War I had been raging and Earhart saw the returning wounded soldiers. After receiving training as a nurse's aide from the Red Cross, she began work with the Volunteer Aid Detachment at Spadina Military Hospital. Her duties included preparing food in the kitchen for patients with special diets and handing out prescribed medication in the hospital's dispensary.

1918 Spanish flu pandemic

When the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic reached Toronto, Earhart was engaged in arduous nursing duties including night shifts at the Spadina Military Hospital. She became a patient herself, suffering from pneumonia and maxillary sinusitis. She was hospitalized in early November 1918 owing to pneumonia and discharged in December 1918, about two months after the illness had started. Her sinus-related symptoms were pain and pressure around one eye and copious mucus drainage via the nostrils and throat. In the hospital, in the pre-antibiotic era, she had painful minor operations to wash out the affected maxillary sinus, but these procedures were not successful and Earhart subsequently suffered from worsening headache attacks. Her convalescence lasted nearly a year, which she spent at her sister's home in Northampton, Massachusetts. She passed the time by reading poetry, learning to play the banjo and studying mechanics. Chronic sinusitis was to significantly affect Earhart's flying and activities in later life, and sometimes even on the airfield she was forced to wear a bandage on her cheek to cover a small drainage tube.

Early flying experiences

At about that time, with a young woman friend, Earhart visited an air fair held in conjunction with the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto. One of the highlights of the day was a flying exhibition 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,'" she said. Earhart stood her ground as the aircraft came close. "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."

By 1919 Earhart prepared to enter Smith College but changed her mind and enrolled at Columbia University signing up for a course in medical studies among other programs. She quit a year later to be with her parents who had reunited in California.

L–R: Neta Snook and Amelia Earhart in front of Earhart's Kinner Airster, c. 1921

In Long Beach, on December 28, 1920, Earhart and her father visited an airfield where Frank Hawks (who later gained fame as an air racer) gave her a ride that would forever change Earhart's life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly." After that 10-minute flight (that cost her father $10), she immediately became determined to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, including photographer, truck driver, and stenographer at the local telephone company, she managed to save $1,000 for flying lessons. Earhart had her first lessons, beginning on January 3, 1921, at Kinner Field near Long Beach, but to reach the airfield Earhart took a bus to the end of the line, then walked four miles (6 km). Earhart's mother also provided part of the $1,000 "stake" against her "better judgement." Her teacher was Anita "Neta" Snook, a pioneer female aviator who used a surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck" for training. Earhart arrived with her father and a singular request, "I want to fly. Will you teach me?"

Earhart's commitment to flying required her to accept the frequently hard work and rudimentary conditions that accompanied early aviation training. She chose a leather jacket, but aware that other aviators would be judging her, she slept in it for three nights to give the jacket a "worn" look. To complete her image transformation, she also cropped her hair short in the style of other female flyers. Six months later, Earhart purchased a second-hand bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she nicknamed "The Canary." On October 22, 1922, Earhart flew the Airster to an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 m), setting a world record for female pilots. On May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license (#6017) by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

Legacy - Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was a widely known international celebrity during her lifetime. Her shyly charismatic appeal, independence, persistence, coolness under pressure, courage and goal-oriented career along with the circumstances of her disappearance at a young age have driven her lasting fame in popular culture. Hundreds of articles and scores of books have been written about her life which is often cited as a motivational tale, especially for girls. Earhart is generally regarded as a feminist icon.

Earhart's accomplishments in aviation inspired a generation of female aviators, including the more than 1,000 women pilots of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who ferried military aircraft, towed gliders, flew target practice aircraft, and served as transport pilots during World War II.

The home where Earhart was born is now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum and is maintained by the Ninety-Nines, an international group of female pilots of whom Amelia was the first elected president.

A small section of Earhart's Lockheed Electra starboard engine nacelle recovered in the aftermath of the Hawaii crash has been confirmed as authentic and is now regarded as a control piece that will help to authenticate possible future discoveries. The evaluation of the scrap of metal was featured on an episode of History Detectives on Season 7 in 2009.

Records and achievements

• Woman's world altitude record: 14,000 ft (1922)
• First woman to fly the Atlantic (1928)
• Speed records for 100 km (and with 500 lb (230 kg) cargo) (1931)
• First woman to fly an autogyro (1931)
• Altitude record for autogyros: 15,000 ft (1931)
• First person to cross the U.S. in an autogyro (1932)
• First woman to fly the Atlantic solo (1932)
• First person to fly the Atlantic twice (1932)
• First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross (1932)
• First woman to fly non-stop, coast-to-coast across the U.S. (1933)
• Woman's speed transcontinental record (1933)
• First person to fly solo between Honolulu, Hawaii and Oakland, California (1935)
• First person to fly solo from Los Angeles, California to Mexico City, Mexico (1935)
• First person to fly solo nonstop from Mexico City, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey (1935)
• Speed record for east-to-west flight from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii (1937)

Books by Earhart

Amelia Earhart was a successful and heavily promoted writer who served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan magazine from 1928 to 1930. She wrote magazine articles, newspaper columns, essays and published two books based upon her experiences as a flyer during her lifetime:

• 20 Hrs., 40 Min. (1928) was a journal of her experiences as the first woman passenger on a transatlantic flight.
• The Fun of It (1932) was a memoir of her flying experiences and an essay on women in aviation.
• Last Flight (1937) featured the periodic journal entries she sent back to the United States during her world flight attempt, published in newspapers in the weeks prior to her final departure from New Guinea. Compiled by her husband GP Putnam after she disappeared over the Pacific, many historians consider this book to be only partially Earhart's original work.

Memorial flights

Two notable memorial flights by female aviators subsequently followed Earhart's original circumnavigational route.

• In 1967, Ann Dearing Holtgren Pellegreno and a crew of three successfully flew a similar aircraft (a Lockheed 10A Electra) to complete a world flight that closely mirrored Earhart's flight plan. On the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, Pellegreno dropped a wreath in Earhart's honor over tiny Howland Island and returned to Oakland, completing the 28,000-mile (45,000 km) commemorative flight on July 7, 1967.
• In 1997, on the 60th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's world flight, San Antonio businesswoman Linda Finch retraced the final flight path flying the same make and model of aircraft as Earhart, a restored 1935 Lockheed Electra 10E. Finch touched down in 18 countries before finishing the trip two and a half months later when she arrived back at Oakland Airport on May 28, 1997.

In 2001, another commemorative flight retraced the route undertaken by Amelia Earhart in her August 1928 trans-continental record flight. Dr. Carlene Mendieta flew an original Avro Avian, the same type that was used in 1928.

Other honors

• Amelia Earhart Centre And Wildlife Sanctuary was established at the site of her 1932 landing in Northern Ireland, Ballyarnet Country Park, Derry.
• The "Earhart Tree" on Banyan Drive in Hilo, Hawaii was planted by Amelia Earhart in 1935.
• The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship Awards were established in 1938.

"Earhart Light" on Howland Island in August 2008

• Earhart Light (also known as the Amelia Earhart Light), a navigational day beacon on Howland Island (has not been maintained and is crumbling).
• The Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarships (established in 1939 by The Ninety-Nines), provides scholarships to women for advanced pilot certificates and ratings, jet type ratings, college degrees and technical training.
• The Purdue University Amelia Earhart Scholarship, first awarded in 1940, is based on academic merit and leadership and is open to juniors and seniors enrolled in any school at the West Lafayette campus. After being discontinued in the 1970s, a donor resurrected the award in 1999.
• In 1942, a United States Liberty ship named SS Amelia Earhart was launched (it was wrecked in 1948).
• Amelia Earhart Field (1947), formerly Masters Field and Miami Municipal Airport, after closure in 1959, the Amelia Earhart Regional Park was dedicated in an area of undeveloped federal government land located north and west of the former Miami Municipal Airport and immediately south of Opa-locka Airport.
• Amelia Earhart Airport (1958), located in Atchison, Kansas.
• Amelia Earhart Commemorative Stamp (8¢ airmail postage) was issued in 1963 by the United States Postmaster-General.
• The Civil Air Patrol Amelia Earhart Award (since 1964) is awarded to cadets who have completed the first 11 achievements of the cadet program along with receipt of the General Billy Mitchell Award.
• Amelia Earhart Residence Hall opened in 1964 as a residence hall for women at Purdue University and became coed in 2002. An eight-foot sculpture of Earhart, by Ernest Shelton, was placed in front of the Earhart Hall Dining Court in 2009.
• Member of National Women's Hall of Fame (1973).
• Crittenton Women’s Union (Boston) Amelia Earhart Award recognizes a woman who continues Earhart’s pioneering spirit and who has significantly contributed to the expansion of opportunities for women. (since 1982)
• Earhart Corona, a corona on Venus was named by the (IAU) in 1982.
• The Amelia Earhart Birthplace, Atchison, Kansas (a museum and historic site, owned and maintained by The Ninety-Nines since 1984).
• UCI Irvine Amelia Earhart Award (since 1990).
• Member of Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1992).
• 3895 Earhart, a minor planet discovered in 1987, was named in 1995 after her, by its discoverer, Carolyn S. Shoemaker.
• Earhart Foundation, located in Ann Arbor, MI. Established in 1995, the foundation funds research and scholarship through a network of 50 "Earhart professors" across the United States.
• Amelia Earhart Festival (annual event since 1996), located in Atchison, Kansas.
• Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award, Atchison, Kansas: Since 1996, the Cloud L. Cray Foundation provides a $10,000 women’s scholarship to the educational institution of the honoree’s choice.
• Amelia Earhart Earthwork in Warnock Lake Park, Atchison, Kansas. Stan Herd created the 1-acre (4,000 m²) landscape mural in 1997 from permanent plantings and stone to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Earhart's birth. Located at 39°32′15″N 95°08′43″W / 39.537621°N 95.145158°W / 39.537621; -95.145158 and best viewed from the air.
• Amelia Earhart Bridge (1997), located in Atchison, Kansas.
• Greater Miami Aviation Association Amelia Earhart Award for outstanding achievement (2006); first recipient: noted flyer Patricia "Patty" Wagstaff.
• On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Amelia Earhart into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
• USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6) was named in her honor in May 2007.
• Amelia Earhart full size bronze statue was placed at the Spirit of Flight Center located in Lafayette, Colorado in 2008.

Earhart Tribute at Portal of the Folded Wing; note error in birthdate.

• The Amelia Earhart General Aviation Terminal, a satellite terminal at Boston's Logan Airport (formerly used by American Eagle, now unused)
• Amelia Earhart Dam on the Mystic River in eastern Massachusetts.
• Schools named after Amelia Earhart are found throughout the United States including the Amelia Earhart Elementary School, in Alameda, California, Amelia Earhart Elementary School, in Hialeah, Florida, Amelia Earhart Middle School, Riverside, California and Amelia Earhart International Baccalaureate World School, in Indio, California.
• Amelia Earhart Hotel, located in Wiesbaden, Germany, originally used as a hotel for women, then as temporary military housing is now operated as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District Headquarters with offices for the Army Contracting Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.
• Amelia Earhart Road, located in Oklahoma City (headquarters of The Ninety-Nines), Oklahoma.
• Earhart Road, located next to the Oakland International Airport North Field in Oakland, California.
• Amelia Earhart Playhouse, at Wiesbaden Army Airfield.

Theories on Amelia Earhart's disappearance - Amelia Earhart

Many theories emerged after the disappearance of Earhart and Noonan. Two possibilities concerning the flyers' fate have prevailed among researchers and historians:

Crash and sink theory

Many researchers believe the Electra ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan ditched at sea. Navigator and aeronautical engineer Elgen Long and his wife Marie K. Long devoted 35 years of exhaustive research to the "crash and sink" theory, which is the most widely accepted explanation for the disappearance. Capt. Laurance F. Safford, USN, who was responsible for the interwar Mid Pacific Strategic Direction Finding Net, and the decoding of the Japanese PURPLE cipher messages for the attack on Pearl Harbor, began a lengthy analysis of the Earhart flight during the 1970s. His research included the intricate radio transmission documentation. Safford came to the conclusion, "poor planning, worse execution." Rear Admiral Richard R. Black, USN, who was in administrative charge of the Howland Island airstrip and was present in the radio room on the Itasca, asserted in 1982 that "the Electra went into the sea about 10 am, July 2, 1937 not far from Howland". British aviation historian Roy Nesbit interpreted evidence in contemporary accounts and Putnam's correspondence and concluded Earhart's Electra was not fully fueled at Lae. William L. Polhemous, the navigator on Ann Pellegreno's 1967 flight which followed Earhart and Noonan's original flight path, studied navigational tables for July 2, 1937 and thought Noonan may have miscalculated the "single line approach" intended to "hit" Howland.

David Jourdan, a former Navy submariner and ocean engineer specializing in deep-sea recoveries, has claimed any transmissions attributed to Gardner Island were false. Through his company Nauticos he extensively searched a 1,200-square-mile (3,100 km²) quadrant north and west of Howland Island during two deep-sea sonar expeditions (2002 and 2006, total cost $4.5 million) and found nothing. The search locations were derived from the line of position (157–337) broadcast by Earhart on July 2, 1937. Nevertheless, Elgen Long's interpretations have led Jourdan to conclude, "The analysis of all the data we have – the fuel analysis, the radio calls, other things – tells me she went into the water off Howland." Earhart's stepson George Palmer Putnam Jr. has been quoted as saying he believes "the plane just ran out of gas." Susan Butler, author of the "definitive" Earhart biography East to the Dawn, says she thinks the aircraft went into the ocean out of sight of Howland Island and rests on the seafloor at a depth of 17,000 feet (5 km). Tom D. Crouch, Senior Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, has said the Earhart/Noonan Electra is "18,000 ft. down" and may even yield a range of artifacts that could rival the finds of the Titanic, adding, "...the mystery is part of what keeps us interested. In part, we remember her because she's our favorite missing person."

Gardner Island hypothesis

Immediately after Earhart and Noonan's disappearance, the United States Navy, Paul Mantz and Earhart's mother (who convinced G.P. Putnam to undertake a search in the Gardner Group) all expressed belief the flight had ended in the Phoenix Islands (now part of Kiribati), some 350 miles (560 km) southeast of Howland Island.

In July 2007, an editor at Avionews in Rome compared the Gardner Island hypothesis to other non-crash-and-sink theories and called it the "most confirmed" of them. In 1988, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) initiated their project to investigate the Earhart/Noonan disappearance and since then has sent six expeditions to the island. They have suggested Earhart and Noonan may have flown without further radio transmissions for two and a half hours along the line of position Earhart noted in her last transmission received at Howland, arrived at then-uninhabited Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro) in the Phoenix group, landed on an extensive reef flat near the wreck of a large freighter (the SS Norwich City) and ultimately perished.

TIGHAR's research has produced a range of documented archaeological and anecdotal evidence supporting this hypothesis. For example, in 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British colonial officer and licensed pilot, radioed his superiors to inform them that he had found a "skeleton... possibly that of a woman", along with an old-fashioned sextant box, under a tree on the island's southeast corner. He was ordered to send the remains to Fiji, where in 1941, British colonial authorities took detailed measurements of the bones and concluded they were from a male about 5 ft 5 in tall. However, in 1998 an analysis of the measurement data by forensic anthropologists indicated the skeleton had belonged to a "tall white female of northern European ancestry." The bones themselves were misplaced in Fiji long ago and have not been found.

Artifacts discovered by TIGHAR on Nikumaroro have included improvised tools, an aluminum panel (possibly from an Electra), an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas which is the exact thickness and curvature of an Electra window and a size 9 Cat's Paw heel dating from the 1930s which resembles Earhart's footwear in world flight photos. The evidence remains circumstantial, but Earhart's surviving stepson, George Putnam Jr., has expressed enthusiasm for TIGHAR's research.

From July 21 to August 2, 2007, a TIGHAR expedition visited Nikumaroro searching for unambiguously identifiable aircraft artifacts and DNA. The group included engineers, technical experts and others. They were reported to have found additional artifacts of as yet uncertain origin on the weather-ravaged atoll, including bronze bearings which may have belonged to Earhart's aircraft and a zipper pull which might have come from her flight suit.

In December 2010, the research group said it had found bones that appeared to be part of a human finger. The following March they reported that DNA testing at the University of Oklahoma proved inconclusive as to whether the bone fragments were from a human or from a sea turtle.

Myths, urban legends and unsupported claims

The unresolved circumstances of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, along with her fame, attracted a great body of other claims relating to her last flight, all of which have been generally dismissed for lack of verifiable evidence. Several unsupported theories have become well known in popular culture.

Spies for FDR

A World War II-era movie called Flight for Freedom (1943) starring Rosalind Russell and Fred MacMurray furthered a myth that Earhart was spying on the Japanese in the Pacific at the request of the Franklin Roosevelt administration. By 1949, both the United Press and U.S. Army Intelligence had concluded this rumor was groundless. Jackie Cochran, another pioneering aviator and one of Earhart's friends, made a postwar search of numerous files in Japan and was convinced the Japanese were not involved in Earhart's disappearance.

Saipan claims

In 1966, CBS Correspondent Fred Goerner published a book claiming Earhart and Noonan were captured and executed when their aircraft crashed on Saipan Island, part of the Northern Marianas archipelago while it was under Japanese occupation. In 2009, an Earhart relative stated that the pair died in Japanese custody, citing unnamed witnesses including Japanese troops and Saipan natives. He said that the Japanese cut the valuable Lockheed aircraft into scrap and threw the pieces into the ocean.

Thomas E. Devine (who served in a postal Army unit) wrote Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident which includes a letter from the daughter of a Japanese police official who claimed her father was responsible for Earhart's execution.

Former U.S. Marine Robert Wallack claimed he and other soldiers opened a safe on Saipan and found Earhart's briefcase. Former U.S. Marine Earskin J. Nabers claimed that while serving as a wireless operator on Saipan in 1944, he decoded a message from naval officials which said Earhart's aircraft had been found at Aslito AirField, that he was later ordered to guard the aircraft and then witnessed its destruction. In 1990, the NBC-TV series Unsolved Mysteries broadcast an interview with a Saipanese woman who claimed to have witnessed Earhart and Noonan's execution by Japanese soldiers. No independent confirmation or support has ever emerged for any of these claims. Purported photographs of Earhart during her captivity have been identified as either fraudulent or having been taken before her final flight.

Since the end of World War II, a location on Tinian, which is five miles (eight km) southwest of Saipan, had been rumoured to be the grave of the two aviators. In 2004 a scientifically supported archaeological dig at the site failed to turn up any bones.

Tokyo Rose rumor

A rumor which claimed that Earhart had made propaganda radio broadcasts as one of the many women compelled to serve as Tokyo Rose was investigated closely by George Putnam. According to several biographies of Earhart, Putnam investigated this rumor personally but after listening to many recordings of numerous Tokyo Roses, he did not recognize her voice among them.

Rabaul

David Billings, an Australian aircraft engineer, has asserted a map marked with notations consistent with Earhart's engine model number and her airframe's construction number has surfaced. It originates from a World War II Australian patrol stationed on New Britain Island off the coast of New Guinea and indicates a crash site 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Rabaul. Billings has speculated Earhart turned back from Howland and tried to reach Rabaul for fuel. Ground searches have been unsuccessful.

Assuming another identity

In November 2006, the National Geographic Channel aired episode two of the Undiscovered History series about a claim that Earhart survived the world flight, moved to New Jersey, changed her name, remarried and became Irene Craigmile Bolam. This claim had originally been raised in the book Amelia Earhart Lives (1970) by author Joe Klaas, based on the research of Major Joseph Gervais. Irene Bolam, who had been a banker in New York during the 1940s, denied being Earhart, filed a lawsuit requesting $1.5 million in damages and submitted a lengthy affidavit in which she refuted the claims. The book's publisher, McGraw-Hill, withdrew the book from the market shortly after it was released and court records indicate that they made an out of court settlement with her. Subsequently, Bolam's personal life history was thoroughly documented by researchers, eliminating any possibility she was Earhart. Kevin Richlin, a professional criminal forensic expert hired by National Geographic, studied photographs of both women and cited many measurable facial differences between Earhart and Bolam.

1937 world flight - Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart and Lockheed Electra 10E NR 16020, c. 1937

Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E. During its modification, the aircraft had most of the cabin windows blanked out and had specially fitted fuselage fuel tanks.

Planning

Earhart joined the faculty of Purdue University in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and as a technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics. In July 1936, she took delivery of a Lockheed Electra 10E financed by Purdue and started planning a round-the-world flight. Not the first to circle the globe, it would be the longest at 29,000 miles (47,000 km), following a grueling equatorial route. Although the Electra was publicized as a "flying laboratory," little useful science was planned and the flight seems to have been arranged around Earhart's intention to circumnavigate the globe along with gathering raw material and public attention for her next book. Her first choice as navigator was Captain Harry Manning, who had been the captain of the President Roosevelt, the ship that had brought Amelia back from Europe in 1928.

Through contacts in the Los Angeles aviation community, Fred Noonan was subsequently chosen as a second navigator because there were significant additional factors which had to be dealt with while using celestial navigation for aircraft. He had vast experience in both marine (he was a licensed ship's captain) and flight navigation. Noonan had recently left Pan Am, where he established most of the company's China Clipper seaplane routes across the Pacific. Noonan had also been responsible for training Pan American's navigators for the route between San Francisco and Manila.^{[99][100] [N 14]} The original plans were for Noonan to navigate from Hawaii to Howland Island, a particularly difficult portion of the flight; then Manning would continue with Earhart to Australia and she would proceed on her own for the remainder of the project.

First attempt

L–R, Paul Mantz, Amelia Earhart, Harry Manning and Fred Noonan, Oakland, California, March 17, 1937

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1937, Earhart and her crew flew the first leg from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. In addition to Earhart and Noonan, Harry Manning and Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz (who was acting as Earhart's technical advisor) were on board. Due to lubrication and galling problems with the propeller hubs' variable pitch mechanisms, the aircraft needed servicing in Hawaii. Ultimately, the Electra ended up at the United States Navy's Luke Field on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The flight resumed three days later from Luke Field with Earhart, Noonan and Manning on board and during the takeoff run, Earhart ground-looped. The circumstances of the ground loop remain controversial. Some witnesses at Luke Field including the Associated Press journalist on the scene said they saw a tire blow. Earhart thought either the Electra's right tire had blown and/or the right landing gear had collapsed. Some sources, including Mantz, cited pilot error.

With the aircraft severely damaged, the flight was called off and the aircraft was shipped by sea to the Lockheed facility in Burbank, California for repairs.

Second attempt

While the Electra was being repaired Earhart and Putnam secured additional funds and prepared for a second attempt. This time flying west to east, the second attempt began with an unpublicized flight from Oakland to Miami, Florida and after arriving there Earhart publicly announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe. The flight's opposite direction was partly the result of changes in global wind and weather patterns along the planned route since the earlier attempt. Fred Noonan was Earhart's only crew member for the second flight. They departed Miami on June 1 and after numerous stops in South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, arrived at Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937. At this stage about 22,000 miles (35,000 km) of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles (11,000 km) would all be over the Pacific.

Departure from Lae

On July 2, 1937 (midnight GMT) Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae in the heavily loaded Electra. Their intended destination was Howland Island, a flat sliver of land 6,500 ft (2,000 m) long and 1,600 ft (500 m) wide, 10 ft (3 m) high and 2,556 miles (4,113 km) away. Their last known position report was near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles (1,300 km) into the flight. The United States Coast Guard cutter Itasca was on station at Howland, assigned to communicate with Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E and guide them to the island once they arrived in the vicinity.

Final approach to Howland Island

Through a series of misunderstandings or errors (the details of which are still controversial), the final approach to Howland Island using radio navigation was not successful. Fred Noonan had earlier written about problems affecting the accuracy of radio direction finding in navigation. Some sources have noted Earhart's apparent lack of understanding of her Bendix direction-finding loop antenna, which at the time was very new technology. Another cited cause of possible confusion was that the USCG cutter Itasca and Earhart planned their communication schedule using time systems set a half hour apart (with Earhart using Greenwich Civil Time (GCT) and the Itasca under a Naval time zone designation system).

Motion picture evidence from Lae suggests that an antenna mounted underneath the fuselage may have been torn off from the fuel-heavy Electra during taxi or takeoff from Lae's turf runway, though no antenna was reported found at Lae. Don Dwiggins, in his biography of Paul Mantz (who assisted Earhart and Noonan in their flight planning), noted that the aviators had cut off their long-wire antenna, due to the annoyance of having to crank it back into the aircraft after each use.

Radio signals

Earhart in the Electra cockpit, c. 1936

During Earhart and Noonan's approach to Howland Island the Itasca received strong and clear voice transmissions from Earhart identifying as KHAQQ but she apparently was unable to hear voice transmissions from the ship. At 7:42 am Earhart radioed "We must be on you, but cannot see you—but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Her 7:58 am transmission said she couldn't hear the Itasca and asked them to send voice signals so she could try to take a radio bearing (this transmission was reported by the Itasca as the loudest possible signal, indicating Earhart and Noonan were in the immediate area). They couldn't send voice at the frequency she asked for, so Morse code signals were sent instead. Earhart acknowledged receiving these but said she was unable to determine their direction.

In her last known transmission at 8:43 am Earhart broadcast "We are on the line 157 337. We will repeat this message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles. Wait." However, a few moments later she was back on the same frequency (3105 kHz) with a transmission which was logged as a "questionable": "We are running on line north and south." Earhart's transmissions seemed to indicate she and Noonan believed they had reached Howland's charted position, which was incorrect by about five nautical miles (10 km). The Itasca used her oil-fired boilers to generate smoke for a period of time but the fliers apparently did not see it. The many scattered clouds in the area around Howland Island have also been cited as a problem: their dark shadows on the ocean surface may have been almost indistinguishable from the island's subdued and very flat profile.

Whether any post-loss radio signals were received from Earhart and Noonan remains controversial. If transmissions were received from the Electra, most if not all were weak and hopelessly garbled. Earhart's voice transmissions to Howland were on 3105 kHz, a frequency restricted to aviation use in the United States by the FCC. This frequency was not thought to be fit for broadcasts over great distances. When Earhart was at cruising altitude and midway between Lae and Howland (over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from each) neither station heard her scheduled transmission at 0815 GCT. Moreover, the 50-watt transmitter used by Earhart was attached to a less-than-optimum-length V-type antenna.

The last voice transmission received on Howland Island from Earhart indicated she and Noonan were flying along a line of position (taken from a "sun line" running on 157–337 degrees) which Noonan would have calculated and drawn on a chart as passing through Howland. After all contact was lost with Howland Island, attempts were made to reach the flyers with both voice and Morse code transmissions. Operators across the Pacific and the United States may have heard signals from the downed Electra but these were unintelligible or weak.

Some of these transmissions were hoaxes but others were deemed authentic. Bearings taken by Pan American Airways stations suggested signals originating from several locations, including Gardner Island. It was noted at the time that if these signals were from Earhart and Noonan, they must have been on land with the aircraft since water would have otherwise shorted out the Electra's electrical system. Sporadic signals were reported for four or five days after the disappearance but none yielded any understandable information. The captain of the Colorado later said "There was no doubt many stations were calling the Earhart plane on the plane's frequency, some by voice and others by signals. All of these added to the confusion and doubtfulness of the authenticity of the reports."

Search efforts

Beginning approximately one hour after Earhart's last recorded message, the USCG Itasca undertook an ultimately unsuccessful search north and west of Howland Island based on initial assumptions about transmissions from the aircraft. The United States Navy soon joined the search and over a period of about three days sent available resources to the search area in the vicinity of Howland Island. The initial search by the Itasca involved running up the 157/337 line of position to the NNW from Howland Island. The Itasca then searched the area to the immediate NE of the island, corresponding to the area, yet wider than the area searched to the NW. Based on bearings of several supposed Earhart radio transmissions, some of the search efforts were directed to a specific position 281 degrees NW of Howland Island without finding land or evidence of the flyers. Four days after Earhart's last verified radio transmission, on July 6, 1937, the captain of the battleship Colorado received orders from the Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District to take over all naval and coast guard units to coordinate search efforts.

AP Photo of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, Los Angeles, May 1937

Later search efforts were directed to the Phoenix Islands south of Howland Island. A week after the disappearance, naval aircraft from the Colorado flew over several islands in the group including Gardner Island, which had been uninhabited for over 40 years. The subsequent report on Gardner read: "Here signs of recent habitation were clearly visible but repeated circling and zooming failed to elicit any answering wave from possible inhabitants and it was finally taken for granted that none were there... At the western end of the island a tramp steamer (of about 4000 tons)... lay high and almost dry head onto the coral beach with her back broken in two places. The lagoon at Gardner looked sufficiently deep and certainly large enough so that a seaplane or even an airboat could have landed or takenoff [sic] in any direction with little if any difficulty. Given a chance, it is believed that Miss Earhart could have landed her aircraft in this lagoon and swum or waded ashore." They also found that Gardner's shape and size as recorded on charts were wholly inaccurate. Other Navy search efforts were again directed north, west and southwest of Howland Island, based on a possibility the Electra had ditched in the ocean, was afloat, or that the aviators were in an emergency raft.

The official search efforts lasted until July 19, 1937. At $4 million, the air and sea search by the Navy and Coast Guard was the most costly and intensive in U.S. history up to that time but search and rescue techniques during the era were rudimentary and some of the search was based on erroneous assumptions and flawed information. Official reporting of the search effort was influenced by individuals wary about how their roles in looking for an American hero might be reported by the press. Despite an unprecedented search by the United States Navy and Coast Guard no physical evidence of Earhart, Noonan or the Electra 10E was found. The United States Navy Lexington aircraft carrier and Colorado battleship, the Itasca (and even two Japanese ships, the oceanographic survey vessel Koshu and auxiliary seaplane tender Kamoi) searched for six–seven days each, covering 150,000 square miles (390,000 km²).

Immediately after the end of the official search, Putnam financed a private search by local authorities of nearby Pacific islands and waters, concentrating on the Gilberts. In late July 1937 Putnam chartered two small boats and while he remained in the United States, directed a search of the Phoenix Islands, Christmas (Kiritimati) Island, Fanning (Tabuaeran) Island, the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands, but no trace of the Electra or its occupants was found.

Back in the United States, Putnam acted to become the trustee of Earhart's estate so that he could pay for the searches and related bills. In probate court in Los Angeles, Putnam requested to have the "death in absentia" seven-year waiting period waived so that he could manage Earhart's finances. As a result, Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939.