The 1930's, a paradoxal period. The dates of its beginning and end are ambiguous. Some sight 1929 with its Wall Street Crash as the beginning of the 1930's, others say 1931 when the era of Roosevelt and the New Deal began. The events of the 1930's also illustrate this duality. Most people when they think of the 1930's reflect on the time of poverty and struggle, when the larger picture of America was overshadowed by the needs of the millions of individuals out of work. With this outlook one can hardly imagine that this was a time of great achievement and advancement in technology, the sciences, the automotive industry and aviation. Records were broken daily for speed, longevity and discovery. In aviation this was especially true. America, since the famous flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk continually astounded the world with her daring advances in this field. The progress and records being set appeared almost daily in newspapers and were a source of excitement for a country in the depths of despair. Yes, the country was in a Depression but certain individuals would not allow this stop them from setting and obtaining their goals. Indeed, the chaos of the Depression allowed for uncharted boundaries to be stretched and explored. Amelia Earhart was one of these individuals who saw the opportunities that were open to her and set about breaking through both gender and technological strictures in American society. Along with other notable women, she realized that aviation like women's career opportunities was uncharted territory and therefore open to exploration. Aviation allowed them to change history for women and helped to gain access to what was primarily seen as men's careers. Earhart therefore becomes a symbol of progress for women and technology in a time where progress was the only hope that America was able to offer those in the depths of depression. Earhart showed America that if she could overcome insurmountable obstacles to become first, then they could too.
Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. She was remembered for her inquisitiveness during her school years and this led to a successful scholastic career in a time when few women attended college. In 1919 she enrolled as a pre-medical student at Columbia University and later worked as a social worker and English teacher for adults and children in Boston. Her interest in flying was first aroused in 1918 when she watched pilots train at the military airfield near Spadina Military Hospital in Toronto, Canada where she was working as a nurse's aid. But it wasn't until 1920 that she took her first ride in an airplane. From that moment on she knew she wanted to be a pilot. All of her extra earnings went towards flying instructions from Anita "Neta" Snook. When Anita retired to raise a family John Montijo took over. Earhart's solo flight took place in 1922. She had accumulated 500 hours of flying time when a Ms. Amy Phipps Guest of the prominent Guest family of Boston approached her to make the first flight as a woman passenger across the Atlantic Ocean in her stead. The aircraft, a Ford Trimotor was modified with extra fuel tanks, pontoons, new instruments and radio equipment. The OFriendshipO with Wilmer Stultz as pilot, Louis Gordon as copilot and Amelia Earhart as passenger and recorder for the flight, departed from Boston Harbor on June 3, 1928. The expedition had competition from Mabel Boll who had expected to be the first to make the flight with Wilmer Stultz a month earlier. The Friendship and her crew made it to Burry Port, Wales on June 17, 1928 after several weather induced delays in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The flight time was 20 hours and 40 minutes. Though Earhart was disappointed at not having flown herself and stated that she had felt like a sack of potatoes; this flight did wonders for the passenger cartage for the future. Until then flying was used as a sport and for stunt purposes, now people began to see the advantages of transatlantic passenger carrying. The next transatlantic crossing would be later in 1928 by a Graf Zeppelin carrying eight paying passengers from Lakehurst, New Jersey to Germany.
Earhart was of course not satisfied with being just a passenger and she became a household name in 1932 when she became the first woman and the second person, to fly solo across the Atlantic. The flight was made on the fifth anniversary of Charles Lindberg's feat, in a Lockheed Vega from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland to Londonderry, Ireland. The deed earned her medals of distinction from Congress, the French Government and the National Geographic Society.
In January 1935 Earhart became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to Oakland, California. Later that year she soloed from Los Angeles to Mexico City and back to Newark, New Jersey. In July 1936 she was invited to lecture at Purdue University where she was awarded a grant of $50, 000 to help purchase a Lockheed "Electra". The same year she started planning for a round-the-world flight at the earth's widest point, the equator.
This trip would not be the first time an around the world trip had been made, but it would be the longest, 29,000 miles. She flew the first leg from Oakland, California to Honolulu. After the flight resumed 3 days later she blew a tire on take-off and ground-looped the plane. It was so severely damaged that it had to be shipped back to California for repairs and the flight was called off. The second attempt would begin in Miami, flying this time from West to East. Fred Noonan, a former Pan Am pilot, would be Earhart's navigator and sole companion for the entire trip. They departed Miami on June 1st and after several stops in South America, Africa, the Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, they arrived at Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937. 22,000 miles had been flown, the remaining 7000 would all be over the Pacific Ocean. On July 2, 1937 Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae for their intended destination of Howland Island, a tiny piece of land a few miles long and 20 feet high and some 2,556 miles away. Their last positive sighting was over Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles into the flight. It was soon evident that Earhart and Noonan had little experience with radio navigation and she had left behind lower frequency reception and transmission equipment which may have enabled the U.S. Coast guard to find her. After six hours of frustrating attempts at two way communications, contact was lost. Modern analysts speculate that Earhart may have vectored 100 miles North West of Howland, unable to locate the island they probably ran out of fuel and perished at sea.
While the mystery of Earhart and Noonan's disappearance continues to baffle experts to this day others have looked beyond the tragedy itself to reflect upon Earhart's achievement in her career as a pilot. In a field where women were mostly seen as incapable aviators but daring enough to walk the wings as barnstormers for entertainment value, Earhart took flying seriously as a career. She was constantly learning, training and teaching other women. For Earhart flying was never a casual sport or a mere pastime. She endeavored to prove that women made good pilots and that flying was safe. Her speed, altitude and distance records were numerous but they were secondary goals to her one goal of recognition for aviation as a viable means of transportation and that women could be professional pilots.
Earhart, besides continually writing and teaching to encourage women into male dominated professions also provided inspiration for the rest of America. A country deep in the depths of Depression looked to Earhart and the other pioneers of aviation for assurances that American industrial and technological advances were still intact. America was still a land of individualism and this was reflected in the achievements of people like Earhart. In a time when a quarter of the population was out of the job, hope could be found in the achievements of those who flew higher, faster and longer. Earhart despite her adeptness at using the media to keep herself in the limelight was truly a hero for the people when they needed one the most.
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