 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
Did You Know..........
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to receive a pilot’s license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
In 1933, Amelia Earhart sold her old bright red Lockheed Vega, in which she had flown the Atlantic from Hr. Grace, to the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia for $8,000. On September 8, 1966 it was sent to the Smithsonian Institution where it is, at present, on display.
A transatlantic flight couldn’t be made without stops. The fuel tanks on the planes in that era were too small to hold enough fuel for such long flights. A flight bound from New York to Paris would have to make stops for refueling in either Saint John, NB; Harbour Grace, NL; Greenland or Iceland.
After the solo flight of Lindbergh in 1927, Mrs. Frederick Guest, an American born heiress living in London, thought it was time that a woman fly the Atlantic. She aspired to be that woman and bought the plane "Friendship" but her children talked her out of such a risky undertaking. Instead, a search was started to find a woman whose appearance and personality would please Mrs. Guest. They found Amelia Earhart.
Major Edwin Aldrin was responsible for determining the right fuel mix for Amelia’s flight to Hr. Grace and then across the Atlantic. His son, "Buzz" Aldrin was an astronaut on the Apollo mission, the second voyage to the moon.
Amelia Earhart did not drink coffee or tea, but instead used smelling salts to stay awake on long trips.
|
|
|
The US government under President Franklin Roosevelt, spent four million dollars in a 16 day search for Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. Four thousand men, 10 ships and 65 planes were deployed in this effort.
It was twenty-seven years after Amelia’s disappearance that a woman finally achieved the goal of completing her world flight. Actually, two women completed the journey in the same year. Geraldine (Jerrie) Mock, flying slightly north of the equator and Joan Merriam Smith following Amelia’s route.
The route that Amelia Earhart followed during her trek around the world is now called the Earhart Trail.
Amelia was friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and was going to teach her to fly. The first lady had obtained her student permit.
Amelia was an exceptionally humble person who always tried to avoid publicity. In a trans Atlantic telephone conversation with her husband, George Palmer Putnam, she asked that any costly civic demonstrations in her honour be waived and the money diverted to the need of the unemployed women of America.
