Amelia Earhart: The Last Flight, 1937

On 17 March 1937 Amelia Earhart set out from Oakland, California, on the first attempt at her round-the-world flight, bound for Honolulu. With her in the Lockheed Electra were navigators Noonan and Manning and technical adviser Mantz. Oakland suited a big departure: its 7,020-foot runway was the longest in the world at the time.

Three days later the Electra left Honolulu for Howland Island, or tried to. Its propellers had needed servicing, so it sat at the Navy's Luke Field, on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. During the takeoff run the plane ground-looped, the forward landing gear collapsed, both propellers hit the ground and it skidded on its belly. Witnesses reported a blown tire; others blamed pilot error. The cause is still unknown. The damaged aircraft was shipped back to Lockheed for repairs, and this first attempt ended.

Location precision: Luke Field was on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor; the pin marks the island, not the exact runway.

With the Electra repaired, Earhart and Putnam raised more money and reversed the route, flying west to east. The second attempt began with an unpublicized flight from Oakland to Miami, Florida; only after arriving did she announce that she would circle the globe. Manning, the only skilled radio operator, had left the crew, so just Earhart and Noonan remained. They departed Miami on 1 June 1937 and made numerous stops across South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Location precision: The account names Miami as the departure city but not the exact field; the pin marks Miami International Airport.

On 29 June 1937 the pair landed in Lae, New Guinea, with about 22,000 miles behind them. Seven thousand miles of Pacific remained. On 2 July they took off from Lae Airfield in the heavily loaded Electra, aiming for Howland Island, 2,556 miles away. Lae made world news as the place she was last seen flying out of the airport. Earhart reported thick clouds along the way and said they would descend.

Location precision: The sources name Lae Airfield, not its exact location; the pin marks the town of Lae.

Howland is a flat sliver of land 6,500 feet long, 1,600 feet wide and 10 feet high, which is why the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca waited offshore to guide the Electra in. Itasca heard Earhart's voice clearly, but she could not hear the ship. At 7:42 am she radioed, "We must be on you, but cannot see you – but gas is running low." Her last message placed them on a line of position, 157 337. The Navy concluded the Electra ran out of fuel and ditched; the island's Earhart Light day beacon is named in her memory.

Nikumaroro, then called Gardner Island, lies about 640 kilometres southeast of Howland. A Navy flyover in 1937 noted signs of recent habitation, and in September 1940 thirteen bones were found there. A 1940 report called them male; a later forensic report found them consistent with Earhart. TIGHAR expeditions in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s tested the idea that she and Noonan landed here and died as castaways. It remains a hypothesis; no wreck has been found.

Location precision: This is a contested hypothesis; the official conclusion is that the Electra ran out of fuel near Howland, and the plane has never been found.