Tuesday, August 28, 2007&&
Books written by Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was a successful and heavily promoted writer who served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan magazine from 1928 to 1930. She wrote magazine articles, newspaper columns, essays and published two books based upon her experiences as a flyer during her lifetime:
20 Hrs., 40 Min. (1928) was a journal of her experiences as the first woman passenger on a transatlantic flight.
The Fun of It (1932) was a memoir of her flying experiences and an essay on women in aviation.
The Final Flight
(1937) featured the periodic journal entries she sent back to the United States during her world flight attempt, published in newspapers in the weeks prior to her final departure from New Guinea. Compiled by her husband GP Putnam after she disappeared over the Pacific, many historians consider this book to be only partially Earhart's original work.
Picture of Earhart's book,20hrs,40min
Picture of Earhart's book, The Final Flight
making history.
6:28 AM
Competitive Races
Although i had gained alittle fame for my transtlantic flight, i wanted very much to set an "untarnished" record of my own. Shortly after my return, piloting Avian 7083, i set off on my first long solo flight which occurred just as my name was coming into the spotlight. By making the trip in August 1928, i became the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back. cool u may say. i subsequently made the first attempt at competitive air racing in 1929 during the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby (later nicknamed the "Powder Puff Derby" by Will Rogers), placing third. In 1930, i became an official of the National Aeronautic Association where i actively promote the establishment of separate womens' records and was instrumental in the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)-the association i got my license from, accepting a similar international standard. In 1931, flying a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro, i set a world altitude record of 18,415 feet (5613 m) in a borrowed company machine.
During the period, i soon became involved with The Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots providing moral support and advancing the cause of women in aviation. i called a meeting of women pilots in 1929 following the Women's Air Derby. i suggested the name based on the number of the charter members; i later became the organization's first president in 1930. i was a vigorous advocate for women pilots and when the 1934 Bendix Trophy race banned women, i openly refused to fly screen actress Mary Pickford to Cleveland to open the races which of course stirred up alot of tention but that's one thing that comes when you are under the public eye,gossips are bound to follow.picture taken from:http://www.airventuremuseum.org/images/collection/aircraft/Pitcairn%20PCA-2%20Autogiro-7.jpg
making history.
5:58 AM
VideoThis video is about eyewitnesses to Amelia Earhart's plane on Saipan in 1944 being interviewed.
Copyright:Richard Martini,taken off youtube.com
making history.
5:58 AM
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/explorers/earhart
Inspiration For Women
Amelia Earhart wasn't afraid to break down barriers. In 1928, she was the first woman to fly as a passenger across the Atlantic Ocean. Then, in 1932, she became the first woman to pilot a plane across that ocean. There weren't many female pilots back then and her actions inspired other women to follow their dreams. This was especially important because there were few career choices available to women at that time. Amelia Earhart has inspired generations of women to do things that had never been done by women before.
making history.
5:43 AM
Final approach to Howland Island
Through a series of misunderstandings or errors (the details of which are still controversial), the final approach to Howland Island using radio navigation was never accomplished. Some sources have noted Earhart's apparent lack of understanding of her Bendix direction finding loop antenna, which at the time was very new technology.
Another cited cause of possible confusion was that the USCG cutter Itasca and Earhart planned their communication schedule using time systems set a half hour apart (with Earhart using Greenwich Civil Time (GCT) and the Itasca under a Naval time zone designation system). Motion picture evidence from Lae suggests that an antenna mounted underneath the fuselage may have been torn off from the fuel-heavy Electra during taxi or takeoff from Lae's turf runway.
Don Dwiggins, in his biography of Paul Mantz (who assisted Earhart and Noonan in their flight planning), noted that the aviators had cut off their long-wire antenna, due to the annoyance of having to crank it back into the aircraft after each use.
During Earhart and Noonan's approach to Howland Island, the Itasca received strong, relatively clear voice transmissions from Earhart but she apparently was unable to hear transmissions from the ship. Earhart's transmissions seemed to indicate she and Noonan believed they had reached Howland's charted position, which was incorrect by about five nautical miles (10 km). The Itasca used her oil-fired boilers to generate smoke for a period of time but the fliers apparently did not see it. The many scattered clouds in the area around Howland Island have also been cited as a problem: their dark shadows on the ocean surface may have been almost indistinguishable from the island's subdued and very flat profile.
Many search parties sent out and the Istasca made an ultimately unsuccessful search for Earhart, Noonan and the plane, but no physical evidence was recovered. Sources have cited possible reasons for their disappearance. However, no concrete proof or evidence was ever found. There were few clues on where or how they disappeared. The one theory most discussed is that the Electra ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan crashed into the sea, despite the fact that the aircraft was not located after two extensive, deep-sea sonar searches in 2002 and again in 2006.
Up till today, no one knows what happened to Amelia Earhart. The mystery of her disappearance remains to this day.
making history.
1:57 AM
1937 World Flight
I joined the faculty of Purdue University in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and as a technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics.
In July 1936, I took delivery of a LockHeed 10E Electra financed by Purdue. Then, I started planning a round-the-world flight. It would be the longest at approximately 29,000 miles (47,000 km), following a grueling equatorial route. Although the Electra was known as a "flying laboratory," little useful science was planned and the flight seems to have been arranged around my intention to travel the world and gather information and public attention for my next book.
My first choice for the navigator was Harry Manning, captain of the ship which bought me back to Europe in 1928. Fred Noonan was subsequently chosen as the second navigator. He was experienced in both marine and flight navigation. Noonan had been responsible for training Pan American's navigators for the route between San Francisco and Manila. The original plans were for Noonan to navigate from Hawaii to Howland Island, a particularly difficult part of the flight; then Manning would proceed with me to Australia and I would continue on my own for the remainder of the project.
I had hoped to start on the flight as soon as possible, but due to many errors and mechanical problems, the flight was delayed.
On 2 July 1937, Noonan and I(he was my only crew member and navigator after the failed second attempt)took off from Lae in the Electra. Our intended destination was Howland Island. Our last position report was near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles (1,300 km) into the flight. The United States Coast Guard cutter Itasca was on station at Howland, assigned to communicate with my Lockheed Electra 10E and guide us to the island once we arrived.
making history.
1:30 AM
Solo Flights
On 11 January 1935, I became the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. Although this flight had been attempted time and again by many others, especially by the unfortunate participants in the 1927 Dole Air Race which had reversed the route, my flight had been mainly routine and rather smooth sailing, with no mechanical breakdowns. That year, on 19 April, I also flew a solo flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City, once more on my faithful Vega which I nicknamed "old Bessie, the fire horse." My next record attempt was a nonstop flight from Mexico City to New York. My flight was pretty much uneventful.
I again participated in long-distance air racing. I won fifth in the 1935 Bendix Trophy Race. It was the best I could manage as, unfortunately, my Vega could not beat the other purpose-built air racers which reached more than 300 mph. The race was particularly challenging. One competitor, Cecil Allen, died in a fiery takeoff mishap and rival Jacqueline Cochran was forced to quit due to mechanical problems and the violent thunderstorms that plagued the race.
Between 1930–1935, I set seven women's speed and distance records in a variety of airplanes(including the Kinner Airster, Lockheed Vega and Pitcairn Autogiro). By 1935, recognizing the many limitations of my lovely red Vega in long-distance flights, I contemplated a new prize... one flight which I most wanted to attempt - a circumnavigation of the globe as near its waistline as could be.
making history.
1:08 AM
Books written by Amelia Earhart
