Amelia Earhart

From New World Encyclopedia
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Amelia Earhart (1897-1937?)

Amelia Mary Earhart, born in Atchison Kansas on July 24, 1897 (missing in flight as of July 2, 1937), daughter of Edwin and Amy Otis Earhart, was an American aviator and noted early female pilot who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational flight in 1937.

Daughter of a railroad attorney, she grew up as a tomboy in the American Midwest and continued to defy what was considered conventional feminine behavior throughout her life. The action and daring of her youth was not set aside in adulthood. She worked as a volunteer in a Red Cross Hospital during World War I, worked at a settlement house in Boston, studied briefly as a premed student, and taught English to immigrant factory workers. But her first love was the airplane, then captivating the public imagination. Surrounded by the excitement of stunt fliers and air shows, she made her first solo flight in 1921 and scraped together the money to buy her own plane. [1]

By becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane, Amelia gained immediate fame. She is still remembered as the outstanding female pilot of her time.

Amelia's flying accomplishments proved influential to American pilots and pilots of the world alike. She was a creative impulse within the Ninety-Nines organization, and a stimulus for womankind to replace outdated social norms. She encouraged women to hold fast to their beliefs, follow their hearts, and always dare to dream.

Amelia Earhart endures in the American consciousness as one of the world's most celebrated aviators. She remains a symbol of the power and perseverance of American women, and the adventurous spirit so essential to the American persona. [2]

Early Life and Education

America's most famous aviatrix Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 at her grandparents' home in Atchison, Kansas. Her grandfather, Alfred Otis was one of the leading citizens of Atchison. Amy Earhart, having suffered a miscarriage in an earlier pregnancy, returned to her parents home to await the birth of Amelia. Her father, Edwin Earhart remained with his law practice in Kansas City during this period. A sister, Muriel would be born 2 1/2 years later. [3] Amelia was named after her two grandmothers, Amelia Otis and Mary Earhart.

During the school years, Amelia and Muriel lived primarily with their maternal grandparents in Atchison. During the summers, the girls stayed with their parents in Kansas City. Amelia and her sister experienced privilege and wealth through their grandparents, attending the private College Preparatory School, and enjoying many of the comforts of life.

When her father's private practice failed, Edwin Earhart took an executive job in 1905 with the Rock Island Line Railroad in Des Moines, Iowa. He and his wife moved to Des Moines, leaving the girls with their grandparents in Atchison. It was not till 1908 that the girls moved to Des Moines to be with their parents. [4]

When Amelia was a young teen, her father began to drink heavily. Her beloved grandmother, Amelia Harres Otis, died in 1911. Amelia was particularly affected by the death, as she had been her grandmother’s favorite and namesake. During this time, her father lost his job and entered a sanatorium for a month in an effort to conquer his alcoholism. The move to Des Moines, combined with her grandmother’s death and her father’s drunkenness, took its toll on the family and these were troubling, chaotic years for Amelia and her sister Muriel.

The trials of her family life caused the Earharts to relocate often. Amelia lived in and attended schools in Atchison Kansas, Des Moines Iowa, St. Paul Minnesota, Springfield Missouri and Chicago Illinois. When Amelia was 17 years old her parents separated.

Amelia entered college in October 1916, attending the Ogontz School near Philadelphia. While at the Ogontz, Amelia played hockey, studied French and German, and continued to excel in her classes, though she alienated some of her fellow students when she spoke out strongly against the secret sororities there. She was voted Vice President of her class, Secretary to a local Red Cross Chapter, and Secretary and Treasurer of Christian Endeavor. During her senior year she was elected vice-president of her class, and composed the class motto: “Honor is the foundation of Courage.” However, while visiting her sister Muriel in Toronto over Christmas, Amelia was very affected by the sight of wounded soldiers and decided not to finish out her senior year. Instead she moved to Toronto and joined in the war effort there. [5]

She received training as a Certified Nursing Assistant and, in November 1918 began to work at Spadina Military Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. By 1919 Earhart had enrolled at Columbia University to study pre-med but quit a year later to be with her parents who had reconciled in California.

Soon after, in Long Beach, California she and her father went to a stunt-flying exhibition and the next day she went on a ten minute flight. Within six months, Earhart purchased a yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she named "Canary." On October 22, 1922, she flew it to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a women's world record. On May 15, 1923 Earhart was the 22nd woman to be issued a pilot's license by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).


Adulthood

AE, as Amelia Earhart was called by her friends, was a modern woman. She was courageous, independent, and had a strong social conscience. She fought for international peace, equality for women, the advancement of women in aviation, and the viability of commercial aviation. During her lifetime, she was a role model to millions of people whom she motivated and encouraged through her actions. In an era when men dominated aviation, she was truly a pioneer. [6]

Diverse Undertakings

Amelia was a woman not only of many interests, but of action. When something moved her heart, she acted upon it. Though she is best known for her aviation career, some of her other endeavors included:

  • In 1918 she became a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at the Spadina Military Convalescent Hospital in Toronto, Ontario caring for wounded World War I soldiers. Many of the patients at the hospital where Amelia worked were British and French pilots, and Amelia and her sister Muriel began spending time at a local airfield watching the pilots in the Royal Flying Corps train. The war ended with the Armistice in November 1918.
  • In 1919 Amelia took an all-girls auto repair class in the spring. In the fall, she enrolled as a pre-med student at Columbia University in New York.
  • In 1920 - 1921 she worked in a photography studio and as a filing clerk at the Los Angeles Telephone Company to help pay for her plane and flying lessons.
  • In 1920 - 1921 Amelia began submitting poetry for publication under the pen-name Emil Harte. She eventually wrote two books.
  • In 1925 Amelia taught English to foreign students at a Harvard University summer extension program. From June to October of that year, she worked as a companion in a hospital for mental diseases.
  • In 1926 Amelia began working part-time as a social worker at Denison House, Boston ’s oldest settlement house. There, she taught English to Syrian and Chinese children and their parents. She eventually became a full-time resident staff member and was elected Secretary to the Board of Directors.
  • In 1934 Amelia launched a fashion house to manufacture and market clothing she designed. [7]

Marriage

Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic on June 18-19, 1928. The flight was the brainchild of Amy Guest, a wealthy, aristocratic American expatriate living in London. Mrs. Guest originally wanted to make the flight herself, but after consideration, hired George Putnam, a New York publicist who had promoted Lindbergh's book We, to look for a suitable woman pilot. He selected the then little-known Amelia Earhart, and introduced her as "Lady Lindy".

Though Putnam was married when he first met Amelia, the extensive time they spent together eventually led to intimacy, and after substantial hesitation on her part she agreed to marriage. Putnam divorced his wife, and he and Amelia married on February 7 1931. [8]

Earhart referred to the marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control", and appears to have asked for an open marriage. In a letter written to Putnam shortly before their wedding she said, "I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly". (see [9], [10]).

Amelia and George formed a successful partnership, each pursuing their individual careers. (Amelia continued her aviation career under her maiden name.) George organized Amelia's flights and public appearances, and arranged for her to endorse a line of flight luggage and sports clothes. He used his great abilities as a publicist to make Amelia one of the best-known personalities in America. [11]

George also published two of her books, The Fun of It, and Last Flight. In 1939, he authored Amelia's biography, entitled Soaring Wings, as a tribute to his beloved wife. [12]

Career in Aviation

Amelia Earhart is best known as the first female to make a transatlantic flight. She achieved a number of aviation records: the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, in 1928; the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic, in 1932; and the first person to solo from Hawaii to California, in 1935. Earhart joined the faculty of Purdue University in 1935 as counselor on careers for women, exploring new fields for young women to enter after graduation. Amelia disappeared in 1937, as she attempted to become the first woman to fly around the world.

Earhart walks on White House grounds with President Herbert Hoover, January 2, 1932.

Aviation Achievements

  • October 22, 1922 - Set women's altitude record of 14,000 feet
  • June 17-18, 1928 - First woman to fly across the Atlantic; 20hrs 40min (Fokker F7, Friendship)
  • August 1929 - Placed third in the First Women's Air Derby, aka the Powder Puff Derby; upgraded from her Avian to a Lockheed Vega
  • Fall 1929- Elected as an official for National Aeronautic Association and encouraged the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) to establish separate world altitude, speed and endurance records for women
  • June 25, 1930 - Set women's speed record for 100 kilometers with no load, and with a load of 500 kilograms
  • July 5, 1930 - Set speed record for of 181.18mph over a 3K course
  • April 8, 1931 - Set woman's autogiro altitude record with 18,415 feet (in a Pitcairn autogiro)
  • May 20-21, 1932 - First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic; 14 hrs 56 min (it was also the 5th anniversary of Lindberg's Atlantic flight; awarded National Geographic Society's gold medal from President Herbert Hoover; Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross
  • August 24-25, 1932 - First woman to fly solo nonstop coast to coast; set women's nonstop transcontinental speed record, flying 2,447.8 miles in 19hrs 5min
  • Fall 1932 - Elected president of the Ninety Nines, a new women's aviation club which she helped to form
  • July 7-8, 1933 - Broke her previous transcontinental speed record by making the same flight in 17hrs 7min
  • January 11, 1935 - First person to solo the 2,408-mile distance across the Pacific between Honolulu and Oakland, California; also first flight where a civilian aircraft carried a two-way radio. After an 18 hour flight, she landed at Oakland, with thousands of cheering fans to welcome her.
  • May 8, 1935 - First person to fly solo nonstop from Mexico City to Newark; 14hrs 19min [13]
Lockheed Vega 5b flown by Amelia Earhart as seen on display at the National Air and Space Museum


Ninety-Nines

The Ninety-Nines, Inc. is an International Organization of Licensed Women Pilots from 35 countries, with the Mission Statement: "Promote world fellowship through flight. Provide networking and scholarship opportunities for women and aviation education in the community. Preserve the unique history of women in aviation." Amelia Earhart was a founding member and its first elected president.

In 1929, a Women's Air Derby, affectionately coined the "Powder Puff Derby," was held in conjunction with the Cleveland Air Races. Forty women pilots qualified to take part in the derby, and nineteen, including Amelia, actually raced. Amelia Earhart was delighted at the opportunity, calling it, "A chance to play the game as men play it, by rules established for participants as flyers, not as women."

This Derby served as a turning point in women's aviation. Never before had so many of the nation's top female pilots spent a significant amount of time together. With the camaraderie the women felt during the derby, many participants, including Amelia, felt a need for a more formalized bond for women pilots.

November 2, 1929, twenty-six of these female aviators gathered at Curtiss-Wright Airfield, Valley Stream, New York, to establish a new era in female aviation, turning the dream of a female flying organization into a reality. They decided membership would be open to all women holding a pilot's license, and that the organization's purpose would be good fellowship, employment opportunities, and a central office with files on women in aviation.

The organization remained loosely structured for two years, until Amelia Earhart became the Ninety-Nines' first elected president in 1931. Membership was immediately opened to other women as they became licensed pilots. The organization's founding purposes continue to guide the organization today.

The Ninety-Nines' thrust in the aviation and aerospace fields is primarily educational and charitable. Along with other philanthropic activities, local chapters sponsor several hundred educational programs such as aerospace workshops for teachers, airport tours for school children, fear-of-flying clinics for airline passengers, and flight instructor revalidation seminars.

In 1984, the organization was given the Amelia Earhart Birthplace, located in Atchison, Kansas, and has implemented an ongoing effort to achieve full restoration of the home to the era when Amelia lived there.

As a living memorial to Amelia, their first president, the Ninety-Nines annually award Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarships. Started in 1939 by Ruth Nichols, the scholarships were established to carry on Amelia's enthusiastic and unselfish aims. [14]

1937 World Flight: Final Flight

In 1937, as Amelia Earhart neared her 40th birthday, she was ready for a monumental, and final, challenge. She wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world. This would not be the first flight to circle the globe, but would be the longest at 29,000 miles (47,000 km) since it would follow a grueling equatorial route. Despite a botched attempt in March that severely damaged her plane, a determined Earhart had the twin engine Lockheed Electra rebuilt. "I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it," she said.

On June 1st, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan departed from Miami and began the 29,000-mile journey. By June 29, when they landed in Lae, New Guinea, all but 7,000 miles had been completed. Frequently inaccurate maps had made navigation difficult for Noonan, and their next leg of the flight, to Howland Island, was by far the most challenging. Located 2,556 miles from Lae in the mid-Pacific, Howland Island is a mile and a half long and a half mile wide. Every unessential item was removed from the plane to make room for additional fuel, which gave Earhart approximately 274 extra miles. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca, their radio contact, was stationed just offshore. Three other U.S. ships, ordered to burn every light on board, were positioned along the flight route as markers. "Howland is such a small spot in the Pacific that every aid to locating it must be available," Earhart said.

At 12:30 p.m. on July 2, the pair took off. Despite favorable weather reports, they flew into overcast skies and intermittent rain showers. This made Noonan's premier method of tracking, celestial navigation, impossible. As dawn neared, Earhart called chief radioman Leo G. Bellarts and asked for Itasca's location. She failed to report at the next scheduled time, and afterward her radio transmissions, irregular through most of the flight, were faint or interrupted with static. At 7:42 A.M. the Itasca picked up the message, "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." The ship tried to reply, but the plane seemed not to hear. At 8:45 Earhart reported, "We are running north and south." Nothing further was heard from Earhart.

File:Frednoonan earhart2.jpg
Earhart and Noonan by the Lockheed L-10 Electra during their World Flight, 1937.

A rescue attempt commenced immediately and became the most extensive air and sea search in naval history thus far. On July 19, after spending $4 million and scouring 250,000 square miles of ocean, the United States government reluctantly called off the operation. In 1938, a lighthouse was constructed on Howland Island in her memory. Today, though many theories exist, there is no proof of her fate. There is no doubt, however, that the world will always remember Amelia Earhart for her courage, vision, and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women. In a letter to her husband, written in case a dangerous flight proved to be her last, this brave spirit was evident. "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards," she said. "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others." [15]

Many researchers believe the plane ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan ditched at sea. However, one group (TIGHAR — The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) suggests they may have flown for two and a half hours along a standard line of position, which Earhart specified in her last transmission received at Howland, to Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro, Kiribati) in the Phoenix group, landed there, and ultimately perished. TIGHAR's research has produced a range of documented, archaeological and anecdotal evidence,but no proof, supporting this theory. The third theory suggests Earhart overflew the Marshall Islands to photograph Japanese military installations for pre-war intelligence planning and then was to proceed on to Howland Island. Her aircraft however was either intercepted by Japanese fighters or suffered a mechanical failure and she and Noonan were taken prisoner by the Japanese and later killed in Saipan. Some also suggest they may have returned to the US under new names. To this day, US government documents concerning Earhart and her disappearance remain classified.

Legacy

Amelia Earhart was a widely-known celebrity during her lifetime. Her shyly charismatic appeal, independence, persistence, coolness under pressure, courage and goal-oriented career along with the mysterious circumstances of her disappearance have driven her lasting fame in popular culture. Hundreds of books have been written about her life, which is often cited as a motivational tale, especially for girls. Earhart is generally regarded as a feminist icon who blazed a trail of achievement for generations of women who came after her.

In 1942, a United States Liberty ship named the SS Amelia Earhart was launched. It was wrecked in 1948.

She was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1992.

Books by Earhart

File:EarhartBook.jpg
1977 reprint of Earhart's book, The Fun of It.

Amelia Earhart was an accomplished and articulate writer who served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan times magazine from 1928 to 1930. She wrote numerous magazine articles and essays, and published two books based upon her experiences as a flyer during her lifetime:

  • 20 Hrs., 40 Min. was her journal of her 1928 flight across the Atlantic as a passenger (making her the first woman to make such a journey).
  • The Fun of It was a memoir of her flying experiences, as well as an essay on women in aviation.

A third book credited to Earhart, Last Flight, was published following her disappearance and featured journal entries she made in the weeks prior to her final departure from New Guinea. Compiled by Putnam himself, historians have cast doubt upon how much of the book was actually Earhart's original work and how much had been embellished by Putnam.

Fiction by other authors

The romantic, tragic and mysterious story of Amelia Earhart has spurred the imaginations of many writers. Stories featuring her have ranged from straightforward biographies to true flights of fantasy. For example:

  • I Was Amelia Earhart is a faux autobiography by Jane Mendelsohn in which "Earhart" tells the story of what happened to her in 1937, complete with heavy doses of romance with her navigator.
  • Flying Blind by Max Allan Collins is a detective novel in which the intrepid Nathan Heller is hired to be a bodyguard for Amelia Earhart. Before long they become lovers, and later Heller helps her to try to escape from the Japanese following her ill-fated flight.
  • The Star Trek: Voyager episode, "The 37s", suggests that Earhart and Noonan were kidnapped by aliens in 1937 and taken to the Delta Quadrant, where they were found by Captain Kathryn Janeway but chose to remain on the far side of the galaxy instead of returning to Earth. (Star Trek also established that one of Starfleet's main space stations is named after Earhart.)
  • The 1943 Rosalind Russell film Flight for Freedom was a fictionalized treatment of Earhart's life, with a heavy dose of Hollywood World War II propaganda.
  • A 1976 television bio project titled Amelia Earhart included flying by Hollywood stunt pilot Frank Tallman whose late partner in Tallmantz Aviation, Paul Mantz, had tutored Earhart in the 1930s.
  • In Christopher Moore's 2003 novel Fluke, Earhart survived her wreck and appears as the mother of one of the characters.
  • In the show Lost the cast finds a pair of humans whom they call "Adam and Eve". "Lost" fans have theorized that they are, in fact, Earhart and Noonan.

Popular Culture

Singer Joni Mitchell wrote a song called "Amelia" on her 1976 album, Hejira, loosely about Earhart. Earhart is mentioned in the song "Someday We'll Know" by the New Radicals, later covered by Mandy Moore and Jonathan Foreman for the movie A Walk To Remember.

Urban legends

During the decades since her disappearance many rumours and urban legends have circulated (and often been published) about what might have happened to Earhart and Noonan. Some have claimed Earhart was captured in the South Pacific Mandate area by the Japanese and interned for a number of years before either perishing or being executed. This story originated when a man, then 15, claimed he had been toying with his radio and a woman came upon the speaker, claiming to be Amelia Earhart. There was then a scream and the woman said Japanese soldiers had entered the plane, she begged them not to hurt her. Then the transmission went dead.

In another account, natives of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands claim that Earhart and Noonan were captured and executed when their plane crashed in the archipelago while it was under Japanese occupation. The account was recreated for the American television series Unsolved Mysteries, however, there is little evidence that this really occurred.

Purported photographs of Earhart during her captivity have been identified as having been taken before her final flight. A fictional World War II era movie called Flight for Freedom starring Rosalind Russell and Fred MacMurray is often cited as the most likely source of a popular myth that Earhart was a spy.

Some researchers have noted the possibility that for wartime propaganda purposes, the US government may have tacitly encouraged (or was indifferent to) false rumours that Earhart had been captured by the Japanese.

An archaeological dig on Tinian in 2004 failed to turn up any bones at a location rumored since the close of World War II to be the aviators' grave.

Another rumor was that Earhart had been forced to make propaganda radio broadcasts as one of the many women known as Tokyo Rose (according to several biographies of Earhart, George Putnam investigated this rumor personally, but after listening to recordings of numerous Tokyo Roses, was unable to recognize her voice among them).

Others have suggested Earhart later managed to return to America where she changed her name and lived out her life quietly, while still others blame her disappearance on Unidentified Flying Objects (the aforementioned Star Trek episode was based upon the UFO myth). There is no evidence to support any of these suggestions, which have all been dismissed by serious historians.

References
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  • Briand, Paul, Daughter of the Sky. New York: Duell, Sloan, Pearce, 1960.
  • Butler, Susan, East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. Reading MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997.
  • Devine, Thomas E., Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident. Frederick, CO: Renaissance House, 1987.
  • Goerner, Fred, The Search for Amelia Earhart. New York: Doubleday, 1966.
  • King, Thomas F.; Jacobson, Randall; Spading, Kenton; Burns, Karen Ramey; Amelia Earhart's Shoes. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2001. ISBN 0759101302
  • Long, Elgen M., Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
  • Loomis, Vincent V., Amelia Earhart, the Final Story. New York: Random House, 1985.
  • Lovell, Mary S., The Sound of Wings. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
  • Rich, Doris L., Amelia Earhart: A Biography. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.
  • Strippel, Dick., Amelia Earhart — The Myth and the Reality. New York: Exposition Press, 1972.

See also

  • Amelia Earhart Park
  • Opa Locka Airport

External links


bs:Amelia Earhart ca:Amelia Earhart de:Amelia Earhart es:Amelia Earhart eo:Amelia Earhart eu:Amelia Earhart fr:Amelia Earhart hr:Amelia Earhart id:Amelia Earhart it:Amelia Earhart nl:Amelia Earhart ja:アメリア・イアハート no:Amelia Earhart nds:Amelia Earhart pl:Amelia Earhart pt:Amelia Earhart sh:Amelia Earhart fi:Amelia Earhart sv:Amelia Earhart tl:Amelia Earhart [[zh:阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特]

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