How Amelia Earhart Raced to Make History Crossing the Atlantic

On May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart set out in her Lockheed Vega to become the first woman to fly nonstop and alone over the Atlantic Ocean. 

Departing from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and landing in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, about 15 hours later, she was only the second person to solo the Atlantic. (The first was Charles Lindbergh in 1927.) It was also her second trip across the Atlantic—the first person to cross the Atlantic twice by air.

What Made Amelia Earhart Famous? Her First Transatlantic Flight 

Earhart first came to the public’s attention four years earlier in June 1928, when she made headlines as a passenger flying across the Atlantic. She was the first woman to do so.  

Although it didn’t matter to the public that she never touched the controls of the aircraft during that transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Wales, it mattered to Earhart. She had been promised a chance to fly the aircraft while crossing the ocean. Instead, pilot Bill Stultz flew the entire time, giving Earhart the controls only on the short final hop from Wales to Southampton, England. 

A Time When Amelia Earhart Wasn’t A Well Respected Pilot  

Why was it so important to Earhart to fly the Atlantic solo?  To prove she could do it. She wanted the respect of other pilots, especially the other female pilots. Despite her fame, Earhart knew she wasn’t fully accepted as an accomplished pilot.  

Since the 1928 flight, Earhart had some modest success distinguishing herself as a pilot. She set speed records and placed a respectable third in the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, the first cross-country race for women pilots. In 1931, she was the first woman to fly an autogiro, and she set an altitude record in it. However, her otherwise wildly popular cross-country tour was marred by two accidents. 

How Amelia Earhart Became a Celebrity Pilot

Earhart had been working with a master promoter and publisher, George Palmer Putnam, since her 1928 passenger-flight across the Atlantic. Putnam had arranged publicity surrounding  Charles Lindbergh and polar explorer Richard Byrd’s news-making flights. 

Together Earhart and Putnam formulated plans for her career: “I make a flight, then I lecture on it.”  

Earhart’s work with Putnam made her a household name. She wrote a book about the 1928 passenger flight, 20 hours and 40 minutes. She traveled all over the country lecturing in support of aviation and careers for women. She wrote about her flights in magazine articles, helped found the women’s flying organization the Ninety-Nines, and did public relations for early airline companies. But she knew her career needed a shot in the arm from an ambitious and high-profile flight— and she wanted to fly the Atlantic alone. 

The Women Pilots Who Almost Beat Earhart to Make History  

Other women pilots were nipping at Earhart’s celebrity heels. In 1928, Louise Thaden was the first woman to simultaneously hold the women's altitude, endurance, and speed records in light planes. In 1929, Thaden won the Women’s Air Derby. Young record-setter Elinor Smith was named one of the three best pilots in the United States in 1930.

In 1931, Ruth Nichols held the women’s world speed, altitude, and distance records. Nichols also wanted to solo the Atlantic. However, her first attempt to fly across quickly ended with a crash at her planned takeoff location in Newfoundland in the summer of 1931. 

What Was It Really Like? The Details of Earhart’s Solo Transatlantic Flight 

To make her transatlantic flight, Amelia Earhart flew a Lockheed 5B Vega. The plane was thoroughly prepared and tested by veteran pilot Bernt Balchen. She just had to wait for the right weather. 

Finally, when the weather cleared enough, the timing was perfect for promotion: May 20, five years to the day after Lindbergh’s epic flight.

Earhart departed Harbour Grace in the evening and soon ran into poor weather. During her 2,026-mile nonstop flight, she fought fatigue and nausea, a leaky fuel tank, and a cracked manifold weld that spewed flames out of the side of the engine cowling. Ice formed on the Vega’s wings, causing an unstoppable 3,000-foot descent to just above the waves. 

When Earhart saw land, she touched down in a farmer’s field and asked, “Where am I?”  It was Culmore, near Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Although it wasn’t Paris—the intended destination, it was the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman. 

Amelia Earhart reached her immediate goals of completing a challenging flight, receiving the respect of her fellow aviators and guaranteeing a career in aviation. However, she would not rest on those laurels. There was more history to be made. 

This blog was adapted from it’s original version, written by Dorothy Cochrane and published in 2010 under the title "Viva la Vega." In 2025, Amelia Grabowski collaborated with Cochrane to update the blog. You can read the original version via Internet Archive.