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In 1935, Earhart became a visiting faculty member at Purdue University as an advisor to aeronautical engineering and a career counselor to female students. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. In 1932, piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, Earhart made a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, becoming the first woman to achieve such a feat. In 1928, Earhart became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane (accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz), for which she achieved celebrity status.
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īorn and raised in Atchison, Kansas, and later in Des Moines, Iowa, Earhart developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. She set many other records, was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Mary Earhart ( / ˈ ɛər h ɑːr t/ AIR-hart, born Jdisappeared Jdeclared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer.
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