Amelia Earhart, circa 1928. Image from Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library
Amelia Earhart, the US aviation pioneer who became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, has been given a Google Doodle with a touch of panache today, the 115th anniversary of her birth. The Doodle is tinged with a slight air of sadness, however, as it was in 1937 that Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the earth.
Google Doodles are stylised Google logos on the internet search giant’s homepage to mark events and occasions.
Earhart is believed to have disappeared somewhere near Howland Island on 2 July 1937. To this day, however, the wreckage of her plane has not been found.
The most recent US$2.2m attempt to find her plane that apparently crashed into a reef has also been unsuccessful. This year is the 75th anniversary of Earhart’s disappearance.
The group heading the latest search – The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery – is today returning back to Hawaii after the expedition failed in its attempt to find the lost plane that had been carrying Earhart and her navigator.
Earhart was born on this day in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. She was married to George Putnam.
During her lifetime she also penned books to share her aviation adventures with the world.
Today’s Google Doodle in honour of Amelia Earhart (1897-1937)
