This Day in History

AMELIA EARHART DISAPPEARS:
July 2, 1937

On July 2, 1937, the Lockheed aircraft carrying American aviator Amelia Earhart
and navigator Frederick Noonan is reported missing near Howland Island in the
Pacific. The pair were attempting to fly around the world when they lost their
bearings during the most challenging leg of the global journey: Lae, New Guinea,
to Howland Island, a tiny island 2,227 nautical miles away, in the center of the
Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was in sporadic radio contact
with Earhart as she approached Howland Island and received messages that she was
lost and running low on fuel. Soon after, she probably tried to ditch the
Lockheed in the ocean. No trace of Earhart or Noonan was ever found.