Maria Sue Hicks, age 15, of Nogales, Ariz., for her question:

HOW OLD WAS AMELIA EARHART WHEN SHE DISAPPEARED?

Amelia Earhart was an outstanding pioneer American aviator. She became the first woman to fly the Atlantic alone and established a new record for the crossing in 1932 with a time of 13 hours and 30 minutes.

In June, 1937 Earhart began a flight around the world, flying eastward from Miami, Florida, accompanied by Frederick Noonan, a navigator. Their plane disappeared on July 3, while en route from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island. Earhart was 39 years old at the time.

After the her disappearance, an extensive search by planes and ships of the U.S. Navy failed to discover any trace of the lost flyers and their fate remains a mystery.

After her historic Atlantic flight, Earhart in 1935 became the first women to fly the Pacific Ocean, crossing from Hawaii to California. Later the same year she set a speed record by flying nonstop from Mexico City to New York City in 14 hours and 19 minutes.

Shortly after Earhart's disappearance, her husband, book publisher George Putnam, edited and published "Last Flight" (1937), a book consisting largely of her diary of the last ill fated journey, transmitted from the various stopping places on the way.