Amelia Earhart: Pioneering Aviator and Force for Women's Rights
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
A Port in A Storm And other emergencieS From the 1940s until the early 1960s Gander Airport in Newfoundland The coast of Newfoundland and Labrador Canada is the most easterly point in North America Because of that it has been a safe haven for transatlantic air travelers for more than a century It has also been the launch point or a port-of-call on at least ten historic flights and flight attempts across the Atlantic including both of Amelia’s transatlantic flights was a final refueling stop for commercial airlines heading overseas After longer-range aircraft were developed flights no longer needed to stop for a fill-up Newfoundland also has a long history of helping aircraft pilots and passengers in emergency situations The best-known example happened following the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11 2001 On that day following the hijackings and crashes of four passenger planes including the ones that resulted in the collapse of New York’s World Trade Center aircraft were forbidden to enter U S airspace More than 200 planes that were already in flight were diverted to airports in Canada Of the 53 that were sent to Newfoundland 38 landed in the small town of Gander More than 6,000 passengers and almost 500 crewmembers were stranded there for a week The people of Gander opened their homes and their hearts to the tired travelers They were supposed to be in Ireland Instead they had set down in the small town of Burry Port Wales Eventually a few curious local boaters approached the floating aircraft When they discovered who was on board news spread like wildfire In no time thousands of townspeople flocked to the seashore They wanted to see Amelia Earhart the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air 66
This was the scene following the landing of the Friendship plane shown on the right in the harbor at Burry Port Wales in June 1928 with Amelia Earhart aboard as a member of the crew When Miss Earhart came ashore she was the recipient of so enthusiastic a reception by the 2,000 inhabitants of this town that it seemed for a few minutes as if she would not outlive her triumph stated a New York Times article Amelia and the two men spent a night in Burry Port before flying to Southampton England for an official welcome to Britain Amelia and a crewmate stand on one of the pontoons with which the Friendship was outfitted for its transatlantic flight 7
