Pacific Aviation Museum Celebrates Amelia Earhart’s 116th Birthday

The Pacific Aviation Museum of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, celebrated Amelia Earhart’s 116th Birthday Tuesday with a “Dress Like Amelia Earhart” promotion, that provided goodie bags for the first 40 children in costume, plus free admission for families with at least one member dressed as Amelia Earhart. The clever promotion that included a costume contest with first, second and third place prizes provided a unique way to reach out to girls who might otherwise feel disconnected from historical aviation, and who knows? might have fostered a girl’s interest in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and aviation that would have otherwise laid dormant.

Visitors were shown the “Amelia Earhart in Hawaii” photo exhibit, partook in the festivities that included cake and refreshments and got to meet members of The Aloha Chapter of the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots, of which Earhart was the first president. Members of Women in Aviation International were also on hand to meet visitors and the next generation of potential members.

Born on July 24, 1897, Earhart set numerous aviation records, including being the first person to fly solo across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Earhart has a special connection with the Museum as she ground-looped her plane on takeoff on the historic Ford Island runway, where the museum is located, preventing her initial round-the-world flight attempt. An Amelia Earhart re-enactor gave a presentation and answered questions in character as well as serving as an instructor at the Museum’s “Flight School for Girls” that is ongoing during the summer months.