Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932.
Earhart departed Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, on May 20, 1932, in a single-engine Lockheed Vega 5B. She intended to reach Paris, following the route of Charles Lindbergh’s pioneering 1927 flight.
Mechanical problems, storms, and icing forced her to land in a pasture near Culmore, Northern Ireland, rather than in Paris. The flight lasted approximately 15 hours, but it still established Earhart as the first woman to complete a solo nonstop Atlantic crossing.
Earhart had previously crossed the Atlantic as a passenger in 1928, making her the first woman to do so by air. Her 1932 achievement was different because she piloted the aircraft alone.