I KNEW I HAD TO FLY

The Story of Amelia Earhart

By: Nicole Anderson

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My name is Amelia Earhart. I saw a plane for the first time at the Iowa

State Fair in 1908. I was not impressed by it and thought it was rusty and

boring. Little did I know, one day, planes would be my favorite thing.

Years later, I went to an air show with my father in California. That day,

I got to ride in a plane for the very first time. I went on a plane with a pilot

named Frank Hawks. Riding the plane was an unforgettable experience for

me. I knew, as soon as the plane took off, that I needed to fly. That day in

December, 1920 changed my life.

I began taking flying lessons with a pilot named Neta Snook. She was

the first female pilot in the state of Iowa. I looked up to her and asked her to

teach me how to fly.

 I had to work very hard to pay for my flying lessons. I worked many

different jobs to pay for them. After only a few months of lessons, I bought

my very own plane! I named my very first plane Canary.

I loved flying so much that my life as a pilot began really fast. I passed
my
flying license test during the same year that I bought my first plane. I was
now a
pilot. My dream came true!

In May 1923, I received my international pilot’s license. That means

that I could fly all around the world in my plane, not just the United States of

America. I was the sixteenth woman in history to receive their international

flying license!

Although flying planes was my dream come true, I had to take a break

from being a pilot for a couple years. My mother and father needed my help

and that meant that I had to stop flying for a little while. During my break, I

worked as a social worker and teacher in Boston, Massachusetts.

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After my break from flying, I joined two other pilots on a flight across

the Atlantic Ocean. The other pilots were named Wilmer Stultz and Louis

Gordon. I was the first woman passenger on a flight across the Atlantic

Ocean. I thought, maybe one day, I would try a flight across the ocean by

myself.
 References

Alpern, Sara. “The American Historical Review.” The American Historical Review, vol. 100, no.
1, 1995, pp. 223–223. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2168111.

https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/age/1908/europe.cfm (page 1 photo)

http://www.hubhistory.com/episodes/amelia-earhart-in-boston-episode-94/ (page 2 photo)

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1112.html (page 2 photo)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/earhart-timeline/

https://www.thoughtco.com/amelia-earhart-1779789 (cover page photo)