Forget Charlie, I like Amelia better.Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo transatlanic today, 64 years ago. She left Saint John, New Brunswick on the morning of May 20, 1932, stopping briefly in Newfoundland and intended to exactly duplicate Lindbergh's flight to Paris five years earlier.
Her flight was sponsored by a wealthy woman named Amy Guest. Guest wanted to be the first woman to fly transatlantic, but settled for being the money behind it. She chose Earhart because she had "the right image". Earhart flew with a three-person team in 1928, becoming the first woman to fly transatlantic (and piloted part of the way).
Her solo flight lasted 15 hours, 18 minutes and she traveled over 2000 miles. It was plagued by troubles, though. The weather went nuts, gasline leaked into the cockpit and her altimeter broke so she didn't even know what altitude she was flying at. She dropped suddenly 3000 feet once and went into a spin that she obviously pulled out of. Due to the weather and the other problems she had to scrub her landing in Paris and landed instead in a field near Londonderry, Ireland on May 21, 1932.
She received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from France.
Amelia Earhart - Wikipedia
Amelia Earhart - The History Channel
Amelia Earhart - First Flight Shrine
Amelia Earhart - Centennial of Flight
Amelia Earhart - Amelia Earhart Museum
Amelia Earhart - article on her disappearance
3 comments:
Plus ... there was no autopilot or cruise control back then.
She was a tough cookie.
She also didn't have the stigma of Anti-Semitism that has colored Lindbergh's legacy. Her disappearance at the height of her career made her an instant legend.
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