Amelia Earhart: American aviation pioneer with a special connection to Wales and Ireland

Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author. She was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and was also a member of the National Woman's Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Her first flight across the Atlantic was undertaken with Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon and after departing from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland, in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m on June 17, 1928, she landed at Pwll near Burry Port, South Wales, 20 hours and 40 minutes later.

For the past 90 years the people of this part of Wales have commemorated her achievement. So proud are they of this connection to the American aviator a rivalry has developed between the Carmarthenshire villages of Burry Port (Welsh: Porth Tywyn) and its neighbour Pwll, just two miles away. As both Welsh villages claim to be the place where Amelia Earhart touched down to become the first woman to fly the Atlantic.

She subsequently undertook a solo Transatlantic flight in May 20, 1932. Amelia Earhart set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, with intention of flying to Paris in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5B. In doing so hoping to emulate the flight of Charles Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), who in 1927, made the first solo transatlantic flight and the first non-stop flight between North America and mainland Europe. He flew his  purpose-built Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, to Paris. In the end Amelia Earhart did not land in Paris, but in a pasture at Culmore (Irish: Cúil Mór), in Derry (Doire), in the north of Ireland. This was after she had to contend with adverse weather conditions and mechanical problems. On landing a surprised farm worker asked, "Have you flown far?" to which she replied, "From America".

Sadly, during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day. However, her legacy lives on, including as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic and as an inspirational figure for generations of women. Certainly, the people of Pwll and Burry Port in South Wales and the people of Culmore, Derry in the north of Ireland are rightfully proud of their own special connection with Amelia Earhart.