Amelia Earhart cut her own path through the few years she was known. She lived at a time when the world was just waiting for someone to push the limits of air travel. On May 20,1932 Amelia Earhart made a solo flight from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic. Her fame advanced to legend.Europe embraced her as one of their own as well as the United States that welcomed her back with a ticker tape parade on June 20, 1932. She had become an international celebrity.

So, what drew me to the story of Amelia Earhart? Recently my cousin Jenny handed me a stack of very old letters. My grandmother, Hunchie, one of the few female doctors in her day, was the author. She often wrote to Mrs. Kofoid, a close friend of hers. In one particular letter dated September 12,1935, Hunchie shares about her €boys€ remarkable adventure that day. My dad, John, who was thirteen at the time, had a flair for photography. €The boys went over to Eddie Martin's Airport as John has been out several times taking aviators pictures with their planes. He then sells them the pictures at ten cents. He has quite a little business started. Today they were inspecting the planes in the hangar when a tall young woman in flying togs walked in and called out €Hello there, anybody home'? The boys took one look and surged toward her shouting €Amelia Earhart'! She and her husband had been forced down.

"One of the cylinder heads of their motor flew off and my three boys were the only visable reception committee on the place- a little after midday. can you imagine how thrilled they were? They talked with her and asked her dozens of questions and she autographed pictures for them and then she let John and Francis take pictures of her. They came home simply bubbling over. What seemed to impress them was how pleasant and unassuming she was. Amelia was so normal and natural. The boys added, €All great people are like that. Look at uncle Kofoid!' I had to laugh!€ What a snapshot of such an historical footnote!

To clarify the €uncle Kofoid€ comment, the Kofoids were like family, but not related. Charles Kofoid was famous in his day. He was one of the pioneers to launch the San Diego Marine Biological Institution in San Diego in the early 1900's. It eventually became known as Scripps Institute of Oceanography. That's a whole different story.

I asked my dad, who flew PBY's during WWII, if Amelia was beautiful. He replied, €She was attractive for an aviatrix .€ I was hooked. I knew I must find out more about this remarkable woman and the year she crossed paths with my dad and his brothers. As it turned out, only eight months before the fortunate encounter with Amelia, she set out on January 11, 1935 to become the first woman to cross the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii to Oakland, California.

Not everything went like clockwork to set up her departure. The US Navy would not clear the flight, claiming that the radio on her plane, the Vega, €lacked sufficient range for safety.€ Eventually the Navy agreed to join another of her historic pursuits. 2

So what was it like when Amelia embarked on her solo adventure from Honolulu to Oakland, California? To record the moments for eternity, a correspondent sent a wire to the New York Times detailing Earhart's departure from Honolulu heading to Oakland on January 11th. Each word reflected the pride and confidence in Earhart. The whole country and beyond,followed Amelia as a mother or father would on their daughter's first date. Only this wasn't the first date. She was a seasoned pilot. So there was pride, fear, and finally her release into the unknown. Amelia may have been like a daughter to many but to her husband, George Putnam, she was the love of his life. So what did he do as the plane taxied down the runway in Hawaii? The wire release explains, €Mr. Putnam was worried and perspiring as the plane got into the air. €I would rather have a baby,' he said.€ 3

As Amelia made her way to Oakland, she sent the comforting message, €Everything fine. Weather fair.€ Even with those calming words the long distance his wife endured in air weighed heavy on the nerves of Mr Putnam. There were ongoing issues with Amelia's radio communication. The wire correspondent speaks of Navy men requesting her change of radio frequency in order to follow her through the static. The wire explains that her signals €became weaker and weaker as she sped further along.€The Navy shared that they had missed several scheduled reports from Amelia. Worry was mixed with confidence that she would succeed with her flight across the Pacific. The wire tells us that, €Miss Earhart took with her a collapsible life raft and life preserver. Both items were capable of being inflated instantly by the pulling of a cord.€ 4

Explaining that her plane being equipped with a life raft and life preserver offered a kind of security in the face of a worst case scenario. Out in the middle of the Atlantic? What would be her chances of surviving a crash and setting up her life raft? To address everyone's fears of losing her over the Pacific, the correspondent wrote, €The plane she is flying was completely overhauled by army air mechanics at Wheeler Field. Gasoline tanks having a capacity of about 525 gallons were installed and new landing lights were fitted into the leading edge of the wing.€5 Comforting, yet somewhat hollow words that the voyage Amelia had undertaken was not as dangerous as it really was due to the expert care her plane received. The tone of the wire to the New York Times was upbeat, giving us a glimpse of the confidence the press had in Amelia and her equipment and the desire to communicate that to the public.

Amelia's Trans Pacific flight ended with a flawless landing in Oakland, California. The public's already strong infatuation for Amelia grew. She aimed higher. One year later Amelia raised the bar to a dizzy height, announcing to the public she was going to fly around the world . Reaction was mixed. The question €Can she really pull it off?€ was going through the minds of most everyone. In 1936 Captain A.D. Bernhard wanted no part of the undertaking. He wrote, €I believe we are sticking our necks out on this. It will set an inconvenient precedent, do the Navy no good, probably excite the Japs, and if the flight fails the Navy will be criticized for sponsoring it€ (pg157).

As the time drew near for the momentous trip in 1937, Amelia had a frank and spirited conversation with a friend. Fellow aviator Louise Thaden cornered Amilia in an airplane hangar and scolded her saying €Look here, you've gone crazy on me. Why stick your neck out a mile in this round-the-world flight? You don't need to do anything more. You're tops now, and if you never do anything else you always will be. It seems to me you've gotten everything to lose and nothing to gain.€ Amelia replied, €I've wanted to do this flight for a long time€¦I've worked hard and I deserve one fling during my lifetime. If I should bop off, it will be doing the thing I've always wanted most to do. Being a fatalist yourself, you know. The Man with the little black book has a date marked down for all of us- when our work here is finished.€ 7

In light of all Amelia's accomplishments she saw herself as someone yet to take that €one fling€, the ultimate journey around the world no one had ever attempted. Her date in the €little black book€ found her in the middle of her €fling,€ somewhere in the Pacific. Aboard her Lockheed Electra, Amelia and navigator Fred Noonan were on their way to Howland Island but never made it. The search for her plane came up empty. Her death became one of the great mysteries of the 20th century. Her loss? Unspeakable! How she lived? That was Amelia's enduring gift to the world.

Footnotes:
2
Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, Amelia: A Life Of The Aviation Legend
(An imprint of Batsford Brassey, Inc. Washington