In the middle of a sandstorm, with the left engine of her $90,000 plane engulfed in flame, Amelia Earhart touched down in Tucson, an initial stop on her fatal quest to become the first woman to fly around the world.

It was May 21, 1937. Activating a mechanical fire extinguisher connected to the engine of her Lockheed Model 10E Electra, Earhart assured onlookers that the damage was minor and that she planned to fly to El Paso the following day. She purchased a fire extinguisher in Tucson and took off.

Earhart's plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2. She, and navigator Fred Noonan were en route from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island. She had 7,000 more miles to go on her 29,000-mile journey around the globe.

A search that lasted several months, involving nine U.S. warships and 66 aircraft, at a cost of $4 million, turned up nothing.

Five years before, Earhart had flown solo from Newfoundland to Ireland, a first for a woman over the Atlantic.

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