~~ Amelia, First Lady Of The Air ~~

[Jeanway 0]

Important Note: I got a message from Mr. Paskey; due to personal reasons he will be unable to attend this Saturday. We will have to delay the chat until July tenth. Sorry for the inconvenience.-----edit by master_q

 

 

On July 2, 1937, at the age of 40, Amelia Earhart died on her last flight over the South Pacific. She is known as "The First Lady of the Air".

 

Amelia was born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy and Edwin. They nicknamed her "Millie". She saw her first plane at Iowa State fair in 1908 and commented that "It was a thing of rusty wire and not at all interesting." Her family was torn apart by her father's use of alcohol.

 

 

 

She flew in her first plane in 1920. It was an open-(I'm trying to say a bad word but can't)-pit bi-plane. Her flight lasted only ten minutes over Los angelos with barnstormer Frank Hawks. She commented " As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly."

 

She was taught to fly by pioneer aviatirx Anita "Neta" Snook at Kinner Field, near Long Beach, in California. She learned in Neta's restored "Canuck"... an old Canadian training plane. amelia later purchased one and named it "The Canary", a Kinner Airstar.

 

When amelia was in Boston with her mother, she was approached indirectly by a New York publisher, George Palmer Putnam, asking her to be the first woman to make a trans-Atlantic flight. He saw a resemblance betweenher and Charles Lindbergh and coined the name "Lady Lindy". she was still only a passenger on this tri-motor Fokker named "The Friendship", with amelia given the official title of "Commander" of the flight. landing in South Wales, not ireland as they had planned, as they were low on fuel. The men pilots were ignored by the reporters, once they landed, they wanted to see the girl.

 

She lectured on tour and was kept on the pages of newspapers by her sponsor George Putnam, who she married in 1931.

 

She made a solo flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific in September 1928. She wrote a book about it titled "20 Hours, 40 Minutes".

 

Amelia was hired during the early days of TWA, in marketing, to

attempt to attract women passengers.

 

She organized the first "Powder Puff Derby" in 1929, anair derby for women pilots, from L.A. to Cleveland.

 

She later formed the famous " Ninety-Nines ", a woman's pilot

association. Amelia broke many records on her first Trans-Atlantic solo flight.

 

In 1935 she formulated plans for an "Around-the-World" flight,

totally around the Equator.

 

In 1937 she took possesion of a rebuilt Electra. This was to be her last flight.

 

Accompanied by Fred Noonan, she left Bandoeing and headed for Howland Island in the South Pacific, but never arrived. Her last transmission said she was

low on fuel. No traces of her or her plane have ever been found. President Theodore Roosevelt authorized a search for 16 days. 9 Naval ships and 66 aircraft,

at a cost of approximately 4 million dollars.

 

Edited July 1, 2004 by VaBeachGuy

[Jik'el Koshie 0]

Interesting Story Jeanway!

[ILIKESEVEN 0]

Didn,t she crashed in some tropic island or so??

[CaptainCave 0]

Actually she was said to have crashed somewhere near the supposed " Brimuda Triangle ". That is a very interesting story. I read something about Lindbergh the other day.. I did not know that his Son was killed and kidnapped.. You should do something on him next. Sorry the guest could not come also.. But your website will still be fun.

 

 

CaptainCave

[Jaz4stfguy 0]

Thanks, Jeanway! Nicely done, especially the photos. :lol:

[Jeanway 0]

Didn,t she crashed in some tropic island or so??

 

 

 

 

Oh, you DO remember that. Awsome wasn't it? :lol: Actually we were only about a thousand miles from her last transmission.

 

Captain Cave, the Bermuda Triangle is in the Atlantic Ocean, she did crash in the South Pacific.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

There has been a persistent rumor that she was captured by the Japanese when she crashed. There was also a rumor she might have been using her flight to secretly spy on them.

 

There was one story of a POW seeing the Japanese execute a unkown woman- I read this a long time ago so I don't remember all of the details.

 

The ocean is so huge - larger than we can comprehend so if she went down in the ocean it would have been likely she wouldn't have been found. Of course she would have tried to find land if she was having trouble

[Jeanway 0]

I remember that. There was a documetary on PBS a long time ago. I did see it. I could be true. She was an amazing woman, I would have liked to have known her. :lol:

[Jeanway 0]

~~ AMELIA EARHART'S LAST FLIGHT ~~ JULY 2, 1937

 

A ship out on the Ocean, just a speck against the sky

Amelia Earhart flying that sad day

With her partner, Captain Noonan, on the second of July

Her plane fell in the Ocean far away.

 

There's a beautiful field

Far away in a land that is fair

Happy Landings to you Amelia Earhart

Farewell, first Lady of the Air.

 

She radioed position and said that all was well

Althought the fuel within the tanks was low

But they'd land on Howland Island

To refuel her monoplane

Then on their trip around the world they'd go.

 

Well a half an hour later an S.O.S. was heard

The signal weak, but still her voice was brave

Over shark infested waters her plane went down that night

In the blue Pacific to a watery grave.

[DixonHill1989 0]

Very interesting