“I’m determined to do it. I deserve

one great adventure during my lifetime.”

Amelia Earhart with the aircraft she would fly on her around-the-world

flight, a Lockheed Electra 10E Special

1 SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION 5/6 • May 15, 2017

PrologueNARRATOR A: In early 1937, the United States was suffering from the effects of the Great Depression, and many Americans were out of work. Overseas, World War II (1939-1945) was brewing. In Europe, a hateful dictator named Adolf Hitler had come to power in Germany. In Asia, Japan was invading its neighbors.NARRATOR B: In those troubled times, Americans found a new hero. Amelia Earhart was a freckle-faced pilot from Kansas. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. She soon made more spectacular flights, earning the nickname “First Lady of the Air.”NARRATOR C: In 1937, Earhart set out to fly around the world. Aviation was still young, and flying was much riskier than it is today. Even though the flight would be dan ger ous, Earhart was set on going.

Scene 1NARRATOR D: In March 1937, Amelia Earhart greets Louise Thaden, a fellow aviator, at an airport in Oakland, California.

Scene 2NARRATOR E: Initially, Earhart plans to start her around-the-world flight in Oakland and travel west, crossing the Pacific along the equator. On March 17, 1937, she takes off from Oakland and flies to Honolulu, Hawaii. But as she leaves Hawaii, a mechanical problem causes her plane to crash on takeoff. The plane is shipped back to California for repairs. Earhart returns there too.GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM: A.E., you look fine. None the worse for the accident?EARHART: No, G.P., and with a little work, the plane will be fine too. Thank goodness there was no fire.PUTNAM: And that no one was hurt.NARRATOR A: Alice Jones, a reporter, sees them and hurries over.ALICE JONES: Miss Earhart, how do you feel about giving up your trip?EARHART: What makes you think that I’m giving up?JONES: You mean you’ll try again?EARHART: Yes. The plane will be repaired in a few weeks. If I can find a navigator who’s willing to come along, we’ll be off by summer.JONES: How do you feel about that, Mr. Putnam?PUTNAM: This is my wife’s decision. If she wants to try again, that’s fine with me.NARRATOR B: Earhart revises her flight plans. She decides to travel east instead of west. She hires a navigator, Fred Noonan, to plot her course. Meanwhile, people across the U.S. cheer her on.PUTNAM: More mail for you, A.E. You must be more popular than the baseball player Joe DiMaggio!EARHART: It seems that half of my letters are from people who want to go with me! This one is from Michigan. Listen: “I am 15 years old, 105 pounds, quiet, and want to see the world. I have no money but will work my head off.”P

F-(

AIR

CR

AF

T)/

ALA

MY

AMELIA EARHART: I’m so glad you had business in California, Louise. I don’t get to see you very often.LOUISE THADEN: Actually, I came especially to see you, Amelia. I’m worried about you. I think you should give up your plans to fly around the world.EARHART: Why?THADEN: It’s too dangerous. No one has ever flown around the world at the equator. It’s too risky!EARHART: I’m aware of the risks, but I’m determined to do it. I deserve one great adventure during my lifetime.THADEN: You’ve had adventures already! You were the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, and the first person—male or female—to fly solo from Hawaii to California.EARHART: I didn’t let anyone talk me out of those trips either. I must do it! If I die, it will be while doing the thing I want to do most.THADEN: There’s no stopping you?EARHART: No, there isn’t. So help me check out my plane. I’m set to take off in less than two weeks!THADEN: OK, but I’ll still worry.

Last FlightBY SUE MACY

CharactersAMELIA EARHART (AIR-hart), aviator, known as A.E.

LOUISE THADEN, aviator

GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM, Earhart’s husband, known as G.P.

*ALICE JONES, reporter

CARL ALLEN, reporter

FRED NOONAN, navigator

JACQUES DE SILBOUR (seel-BOOR), aviator

DOUG GREGORY, radio operator on board the Itasca

W. K. THOMPSON, commander of the Itasca

NARRATORS A-E

*Indicates a fictional or composite character.

All others were real people.

Amelia Earhart dreamed of flying around the world—whatever the risk

www.scholastic.com/sn56 2

The massive search that followed Earhart’s disappearance failed to find any trace of her, Noonan, or their plane.

But what if the plane had been equipped with a “black box,” a flight data recorder that is required on many planes today? Such devices emit a “ping,” a signal that can be detected by a special receiver from as far as 14,000 feet underwater. A black box might have narrowed the search area but couldn’t guarantee that Earhart’s tiny plane would have been found.

Even much larger craft with black boxes have disappeared and not been found—including Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 passenger jet that vanished over the Indian Ocean in 2014.

SAVED BY THE PING?

JEF

RI

TA

RIG

AN

/AF

P/G

ET

TY

IM

AG

ES

PUTNAM: Here’s a letter from a man who named his homing pigeon after you. He says that no matter where the pigeon is released, she flies straight home. Now that’s the kind of passenger you should take along.

Scene 3NARRATOR C: Earhart flies to Florida, where she prepares for a June 1 takeoff. On May 31, she is interviewed by Carl Allen, a reporter.CARL ALLEN: Things look good for tomorrow’s takeoff, Miss Earhart.EARHART: Yes. For once, the weather is on our side.ALLEN: Would you prefer to be flying west instead of east?EARHART: Yes. It would have been nice to get the hardest part of the trip—the flight across the Pacific—over first. But it’s June, and weather conditions are different. This time of year, it makes more sense to fly east.ALLEN: Are you at all worried about flying over hostile territory?EARHART: Not really. We worked with the U.S. State Department to get permission to stop in each country on our schedule.

ALLEN: What about Japan? The Japanese may go to war with China any day now and have warned Americans not to fly over their islands in the Pacific.EARHART: My course will take me to Howland Island and then to Hawaii, both of which belong to the U.S. I’ll stay clear of Japanese territory.ALLEN: You know that everyone is pulling for you. But what’s next? How will you top this?EARHART: To tell you the truth, I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system. I hope this one is it.

Scene 4NARRATOR D: Earhart and Noonan take off on June 1, as scheduled. They head for Puerto Rico and the

northern coast of South America. (See map, p. 5.) Then they fly across the Atlantic Ocean and central Africa. On June 15, they land in Karachi, a city in what today is Pakistan.FRED NOONAN: I’m looking forward to a day off tomorrow. We’ve flown more than 12,000 miles in 15 days!EARHART: We’ve seen so many new people and places. I keep promising myself that I’ll go back to each one.NARRATOR E: Earhart opens the door of the plane. Workers outside immediately spray her and Noonan with disinfectant. When the fumes clear, Earhart sees an old friend, pilot Jacques de Silbour.JACQUES DE SILBOUR: Sorry about that, A.E., but you’ve just flown through a yellow fever district.EARHART (coughing): I hope that spray doesn’t kill us along with any mosquitoes that came along for the ride! It’s good to see you, Jacques.DE SILBOUR: Say, there’s a phone call waiting for you. It’s your husband, calling from New York.NARRATOR A: Earhart follows de Silbour, hurrying to the telephone.EARHART: Hello, G.P.!PUTNAM: How do you feel?EARHART: Great! Never better.PUTNAM: How’s the plane?EARHART: Everything seems OK.PUTNAM: Having a good time?EARHART: You betcha! It’s a wonderful trip. We’ll do it together sometime, just you and me.PUTNAM: OK with me.EARHART: I’ll send you a telegram with an estimate of when we should get to Howland Island. Goodbye! See you in Oakland.

A “black box” is actually orange, to make it easier for searchers to find.

“I have a feeling that there is just about one more good

flight left in my system. I hope this one is it.”

3 SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION 5/6 • May 15, 2017

Why was Amelia Earhart such a hero in the 1930s? How did her disappear ance transform her into a legend?

JIM

MC

MA

HO

N/M

AP

MA

N®

Scene 5NARRATOR B: Earhart and Noonan leave Karachi on June 17. On June 29, they reach Lae, in what is now Papua New Guinea. So far, they have traveled 22,000 miles, with 7,000 more to go. Bad weather keeps them on the ground until July 2. Finally, they are ready for the 2,220-mile trip to Howland Island.EARHART: I had hoped to make it home in time for the Fourth of July. But we’ve been stuck here, waiting for the skies to clear.NOONAN: Our tough luck. With out clear skies, it’s nearly impossible to find Howland. The island is only two miles long, and we’ll be out of radio contact most of the trip.EARHART: I’ll be happy when I hear our first message from the Coast Guard cutter Itasca. It’s the only U.S. ship anywhere near the island.

Scene 6NARRATOR C: Earhart and Noonan take off from Lae at 10:30 a.m. on July 2. The Itasca doesn’t hear from them until 2:45 a.m. the next day.DOUG GREGORY: Commander, I think I hear them. It’s very faint.NARRATOR D: Earhart’s voice,

garbled and distant, comes over the radio—only a few words . . .EARHART: Cloudy and overcast.GREGORY: This is the Itasca, calling Miss Earhart. Do you read me? (to Thompson) There’s too much static!W. K. THOMPSON: Keep trying.NARRATOR E: Gregory keeps calling, but he doesn’t pick up anything from Earhart again until 7:42 a.m.EARHART: Cannot see you. . . . Fuel running low. Cannot . . . reach you.GREGORY: Earhart, this is Itasca. We hear you. State your position. Do you read me?THOMPSON: I don’t like this. She’s been flying for more than 21 hours, and she had enough fuel for only 22. She should be here by now.NARRATOR A: Gregory hears from Earhart again at 8:45 a.m.EARHART: We are on a line of position 157-337. . . . Will repeat this message on 6210 kilocycles. . . . Wait, listening on 6210 kilocycles. . . . We are running north and south. . . .NARRATOR B: This is Earhart’s last message. It doesn’t help the Itasca

find her. By midmorning, Thomp son has cabled the White House that she is lost. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders an all-out search. For two weeks, U.S. ships and planes cover 250,000 square miles, looking for some sign of Earhart and Noonan, but they don’t find a trace.

EpilogueNARRATOR C: Today, people still disagree about what happened to Amelia Earhart. Some think that she landed on a Japanese island and was shot as a spy. Others say she was captured by the Japanese and freed after World War II.NARRATOR D: In 2014, aluminum debris was found on a remote coral island in the southwestern Pacific. Some people believe that it was part of Earhart’s plane, and that she and Noonan landed there safely and survived for a time as castaways.NARRATOR E: How ever, most experts say the plane went down in the Pacific, taking Earhart and Noonan to their watery graves. ◆

YOUR TURN

Flightbegins

June 1, 1937Earhart’slast knownlocationJuly 2, 1937

Lae,PapuaNew Guinea

Miami,Florida

NikumaroroIsland

HowlandIsland

Hawaii

0 1,000 MI

0 1,000 KM

AUSTRALIA

AFRICASOUTHAMERICA

NORTHAMERICA

EUROPE ASIA

EQUATOR

PACIFICOCEAN

ATLANTICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

Earhart’s flight pathPlanned pathStopoverPresent-day borders

Key

www.scholastic.com/sn56 4

Amelia Earhart had about 7,000 miles left on her 29,000-mile journey when her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. This map shows her flight path.The Doomed Flight