On January 11–12, 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. Though some called it a publicity stunt for Earhart and Hawaiian sugar plantation promoters, it was a dangerous 2,408-mile flight that had already claimed several lives.
Earhart’s nearly 19-hour flight across the Pacific took her 600 more miles over water than Charles Lindbergh’s famous transatlantic trip. Ten fliers before her had died trying to make the dangerous flight.
Later that year, Earhart made record flights from Los Angeles to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey. She also placed fifth in the 1935 Bendix Race.
“I wanted the flight just to contribute. I could only hope one more passage across that part of the Pacific would mark a little more clearly the pathway over which an air service of the future will inevitably ply.”
—Amelia Earhart
