Amelia Earhart: Pioneering Aviator and Force for Women's Rights
Crabtree Groundbreaker Biographies Amelia Earhart PIONEERING AVIATOR AND FORCE FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS By Diane Dakers Crabtree Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com
Above In this 1936 photo famed aviator Amelia Earhart helps promote the newly formed Bureau of Air Commerce The U S government created this agency to help improve aviation safety as well as control air traffic during a time when air travel was becoming increasingly popular Above right Amelia drew crowds wherever she went In this photo taken around 1932 a group gathers around her as she strolls near the Lockheed Vega in which she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic 44
Chapter 1 Talking the Talk On June 17 1928 Amelia Earhart and two male aviators took off from Trepassey Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada Twenty hours and 49 minutes later they set their floatplane named Friendship down on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean This was a big deal With that flight 30-year-old Amelia became the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane Strangely not a soul was on hand to meet her and her fellow fliers when they landed Having crossed the Atlantic by air we waited for the village to come out and greet us said Amelia It would be hours before anyone paid attention to the crew or the floating aircraft Instant Fame Even though Amelia’s Atlantic crossing was a major milestone in international aviation nobody took any notice of the airplane when it landed None of the townsfolk seemed to recognize the historic importance of the occasion The problem was that Amelia’s plane wasn’t supposed to have landed in this particular area Probably our craft looked no more exciting than any other seaplane said Amelia at the time Because of blinding fog rain and clouds she and her companions had overshot their intended destination by about 350 miles 560 kilometers Amelia Earhart in her headgear a few days before her first transatlantic flight in June 1928 5
