Amelia Earhart (1897- disappeared 1937) was a pioneering aviator. She was the first woman to fly solo across the atlantic, first to fly across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland and also set numerous altitude and speed records. A celebrity of her day, Earhart endorsed products, had clothing lines named after her, edited Cosmopolitan magazine, helped popularise flying to the masses and was a hero to millions.

On 1st June 1937, Earhart (and navigator Fred Noonan) set off to be the first woman to fly around the world. After flying for over a month and with only 7000 miles left of the journey to go, Earhart’s plane disappeared in the Pacific Ocean. Despite the attempts of the most expensive naval search in history at the time, no trace of Earhart’s plane was ever found. However, last week the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery revealed that a piece of plane they recovered from Nikumaroro Island in 1991 is almost certainly from Earhart’s plane. Earhart’s disappearance has spawned a few conspiracy theories, like maybe she was a secret agent sent to spy on the Japanese by FDR, or that she was captured and killed by the Japanese on Saipan island. My favourite is that perhaps Earhart faked her death, changed her identity, moved to New Jersey and became a banker named Irene Bolam. Seriously, what the hell?

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Thanks to readers Kimberley and Nicole for submitting this quote.

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