Amelia Earhart: Early Life and Transatlantic Flight

• Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, from 1897-1939.
• She saw her first plane at the Iowa State Fair in 1908.
• Her father was an alcoholic.
• She worked as a nurse in Toronto during the 1918 flu pandemic.
• Briefly attended Columbia University in 1919.
• She moved to Long Beach, CA, in 1920.

Early Flying

• Took flying lessons from Anita “Neta” Snook.
• Used a Curtiss JN-4 Canuck.
• Purchased a Kinner Airster biplane.
• Following her parents' divorce, sold her plane and relocated to Boston in 1924.
• Worked as a social worker at a settlement house.

Transatlantic Flight

• Recruited by George Putnam to fly across the Atlantic.
• The flight crew included Wilmer Stultz (pilot), Louis Gordon (copilot), and Amelia Earhart (passenger).
• In June 1928, they flew from Newfoundland to South Wales.
• This flight catapulted Earhart to fame, earning her the nickname "Lady Lindy".

Marketing Campaign

• Putnam promoted Earhart through marketing campaigns and product endorsements.
• She did speaking tours and wrote magazine columns.
• Earhart and Putnam married in 1931.

Competitive Flying

• In 1929, Earhart participated in the first Santa Monica to Cleveland "Women's Air Derby".
• Louise Thaden won the race.
• In 1929, the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots, was conceived.
• Reached 18,415 feet in a Pitcairn autogiro in 1931.
• She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
• She flew from Newfoundland to Ireland in May 1932 using a Lockheed Vega.
• In January 1935, completed the first solo flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, CA.
• Each of these events was accompanied by publicity.

1937 Around the World Flight

• Earhart's plane was a Lockheed Electra 10E.
• The plane was built in Burbank, California and cost $80,000.
• The planned route was 29,000 miles along the equator.
• The flight was intended to be a "flying laboratory," though it involved little real science.
• It was also intended to generate publicity for her next book.

First Attempt

• Harry Manning, a ship captain, pilot, and skilled radio operator, was the navigator.
• The first leg was from Oakland, California, to Honolulu.
• The next destination was Howland Island.
• The plane ground looped on takeoff.
• The plane was shipped back to Burbank, California, for repairs.

Second Attempt

• Fred Noonan, 44, replaced Manning as navigator.
• Noonan previously trained Pan Am navigators and set routes from San Francisco to Manila.
• Noonan was not a skilled radio operator.

1937 Flight Details

• Earhart and Noonan flew from Oakland to Lae, New Guinea.
• They traveled from Oakland to Miami, South America, across Africa and India, to Lae, New Guinea.
• They flew 22,000 miles in all.
• A flight from Brazil to West Africa covered 950 miles in 6 ½ hours.
• They missed Dakar by 66 miles.

Howland Island

• Howland Island is 2556 miles from Lae, New Guinea.
• It is 6500 ft. long and 1600 ft. wide.
• It is 640 acres and flat.
• Howland Island was a territory of the US to counter Japanese influence in the Pacific.

Route to Howland Island

• The flight to Howland Island was expected to have 15 mph headwinds and take 18 hours.
• Winds were actually 26.5 mph.
• Earhart and Noonan did not acknowledge a radio report about this.
• Noonan relied on celestial navigation at night and measuring the sun’s position with an octant.
• He had a notebook with positions of 58 stars at specific times.
• Neither Earhart nor Noonan were experienced radio operators.
• Their map showed Howland Island 6 miles west of its correct location.

Disappearance

• The USCGC Cutter Itasca was stationed at Howland Island.
• Earhart, Itasca, and Howland were using three different time zones, offset by 1/2 hour.
• Transmitting and receiving times had to be prearranged since the Electra and Itasca could not do both at the same time.

The Radios

• The Electra could transmit on 3105 kHz and 6210 kHz.
• Earhart had removed the 500 kHz trailing antenna.
• 500kHz was used for morse code, which Earhart and Noonan did not know.
• All three radio direction finders failed.
• The Electra had an RDF, but it did not work at higher frequencies.
• Itasca had an RDF, but it did not work above 550 kHz and Earhart transmitted on 3105 kHz and 6210 kHz.
• The Coast Guard put a high-frequency Navy direction finder on Howland but ran the battery down setting it up.

Near Howland Island

• The Itasca could hear Earhart, but she could not hear them.
• The Itasca made smoke from its boilers, but it was partly cloudy.
• The last radio contact said they were "running on a line north and south.”

Theories

• The most likely theory is that she ditched at sea near Howland Island.
• Some believe she landed on Nikumaroro (Gardner) Island.
• Alleged radio broadcasts for several days.
• Coconut crabs may have been a factor.

Other Theories

• Captured by Japanese after landing at Saipan or Marshall Islands (less plausible).
• Spies for FDR (less plausible).
• Became Tokyo Rose (less plausible).
• Survived and moved to NJ (less plausible).

This lesson covers Amelia Earhart's early life, including her birth in Atchison, Kansas, and her first encounter with an airplane. It also details her flying lessons, her work as a social worker, and her historic transatlantic flight in 1928, which earned her the nickname 'Lady Lindy'.