Earhart Made the First Solo U.S. Crossing by a Woman

Amelia Earhart’s Atlantic flight in May 1932 is the one people remember, but she set another record in the same airplane only months later. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum states that on August 24-25, 1932, Earhart made the first solo, nonstop flight by a woman across the United States, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey. The flight covered 2,447 miles and lasted 19 hours and 5 minutes, setting women’s records for both time and distance. She flew her red Lockheed Vega 5B, the same aircraft that had carried her across the Atlantic. The museum describes the Vega as sturdy, roomy, streamlined and fast, an airplane favored by pilots seeking speed and distance records. Earhart sold this one in 1933, after buying a newer Vega, and it is now in the museum’s collection.