The Smithsonian Associates hosted this event. Good evening. Im so glad youve joined us for tonights program to our members im glad youre here. Its your ongoing support that makes events like this possible. Now is the perfect time to turn off your cellphones or anything else that might make noise during the program. Thank you for doing that. 85 years ago this month Amelia Earhart became the first aviator to fly solo from honolulu, hawaii, to north carolina. And Charles Lindbergh became if thirst person to fly solo across the atlantic ocean, earhart became the first woman to complete that feat. Dorothy curates the collections of general aviation aircraft, flight material and the history of general aviation and women in aviation. Shes the coauthor of the aviation careers of igor socorsky. She earned her private pilots license in 1884. So now please join me in welcoming dorothy cochran. Well, good evening, everyone. Thank you so much. Its a pleasure to be here. I thank the Smithsonian Associates for inviting me. And i did want to point our book that came out. I guess par for the course about amelia she gets a four page spread in there so shes obviously still very popular and Everyone Wants to know about her, but there are a lot of exciting women in this book, and i just want to encourage you to go online and check it out and see weve got several other women aviators in there and just a breadth of women who have done a lot of things in all kinds of disciplines. So i was happy to be a part of it. So let me see here and that all has to do with the american womens Historical Initiative that the smithsonian is running all this year, which of course is the anniversary of the 19th amendment and women getting the right to vote because of her story. And its on Ongoing Program that youll be seeing all yearlong. So well go on without further ado. When an acknowledged media star disappears off the face of the earth public speculation will run wild. January 1 isth as she mentioned was the 85th anniversary of the first solo flight from hawaii to the u. S. Mainland and Amelia Airhart was the pilot. Few people know this milestone but mention airhart pfrs name and most everyone perks up. Yes, they know who she is, and they probably have an opinion on how or why she disappeared on her 1937 around the world flight. After all her disappearance is one of the great mystery of the 20th century. Airhart was a decorated pilot and a major celebrity during the 1930s, second only to Charles Lindbergh in terms of notoriety. Even after the largest maritime search of the era came up empty and amelia was declared legally dead and even after 83 years people continue to think of her and wonder what really happened to her. With each new theory or book or expedition her name remains in the public arena. But is that the only reason earhart is remembered . Why do people continue to search, and more importantly, why do they care . Amelia airhart is the most famous american female pilot and arguably the most famous one in world history. An accolade due both to her aviation career and her mysterious disappearance. And as we mentioned on may 21st, 1992, she became the first woman and person after Charles Lindbergh to fly solo across the atlantic. I found out years ago there was a gentleman who flew the south atlantic i i think. So i sometimes have to mention that. She left few finland, canada, and landed about 15 hours later near london dairy Northern Ireland. The feat made her an instant worldwide sensation and proved she was a courageous pilot. And then august 25th of that year she made the first solo flight nonstop by a woman from los angeles to newark, establishing a womans record of 19 hours and 5 minutes. And setting a womans distance record of 2,447 miles. To be sure amelia had courage and commitment. It takes courage to embark on a path that is so different from the norm, but airhart felt that tug all her life. She was born the daughter of edwin and amy otis earhart. She was a tomboy no surprise playing cowboys and indians, building and testing a homemade roller coaster, the neighborhood leader and she could handle a gun and sew her own clothes. Her family made moves due to her fatherys spot fathers spotty employment issues. Ler parents separated on and off so she learned to depend on herself. She and mural often spent happy times with her grandparents as well where her grandmother immersed them in typical midwest society. She accepted most proprieties of the era and throughout her life was almost nearly polite and respectful. She was smart and also headstrong and not afraid to speak up for herself, her friends. An avid reader she scoured the newspapers or magazines for articles on accomplished women, cut them out and posted them into a scrapbook. One entry was about a female doctor, however i dont know if that article also mentioned bessica rashe was a pilot and built that airplane with her husband. Well never know. She enrolled the girls in private boarding schools. Amelia went to the school in suburban philadelphia and merial went to a school in toronto. She was moved by the presence of the world war i wounded pilots who were up in toronto, and she decided that she was going to leave just before her graduation and become and work as a nurse and nurses aide in the Military Hospital tending to those who actually suffered from excuse me, this is tongue twister shell shock or ptsd as we know it today. And she took a visit to it flying club there and that ignited a spark in her. She entered her Columbia UniversityExtension Program and taking premed courses in the fall. She stayed for a semester and then at her parents request joined them in los angeles for the summer of 1920. The following months there were air shows at many airfields and she started to learn more about aviation and on Christmas Day 1920 she and her father attended a new opening at rogers field that featured many exhibition acts. Her first and then she took a flight with veteran flier frank hawks and declared as soon as i left the ground i knew i myself had to fly. Her first instructor was anita neta snook whos shown here who gave lessons in a kurdish jenny. However, that didnt last too long. Neta thought amelia was a good student but she soon became p g pregnant and gave up flying. She did very well with him as well. And to pay for her flight lessons she worked as a telephone clerk, photographer and even a truck driver. And she soloed in 121 and took her trials for the National Aeronautic association license at that time. Charactericly in 1922 she felt secure enough to buy a kenner airster flying shows and wasted no time in setting a womens altitude record, get this at 14,000 feet. She barely knew how to fly, right, but she was determined to go up and do this. It was part of the exhibition attitude and what people did in the era, and people were excited to see anybody flying, really, and loved seeing the sport of it all. In 1923 then she passed two flights tell uses and became the 15th woman to receive an official Federation Era international pilotslianc licen. When her parents parted for the final time she sold her airplane to move east and be with her sister a muriel. She wasnt interested in marriage or mother hood but she hadnt figured out what she wanted to do. She took some courses at harvard, did some short jobs here or there, but eventually took some coursework that led then to a job at the house in boston where she began working with immigrant families. And at that time once she was settled into that job and making some money she was able then to locate the local flying school and the flying clubs at denison airport and got herself back into flying joining the National Aeronautic association. So now she was starting to find herself again. She had a job, she had an avocation, she had friends and she was having a good time. However, opportunity came knocking when she was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to become the first woman to fly as a passenger across the atlantic ocean. She passed an interview in new york city with people who had already promoted lindbergh and richard bird. And richard bird was part of the group. She passed it and was sworn to silence then until the group prepared for a flight. I think i keep hitting something here. What am i hitting . Lets try that. There we go. I have to watch what im doing. She was a standin. A new york socialite who owned an s7 french ship and wanted to make it flight herself as a passenger she was a socialite from new york and her family strongly objected. So they set about asking around and looking for someone who could make the flight and they were trying to find the right sort of girl. She had to be smart, have a good background, and then as it turned out with amelia she was a bonus because she already had some womens records. So a. E. Fit the requirements just fine. Before leaving for new finland with the pilots she wrote a philosophical note to her family just in case she might not return. She said, quote, hooray for the grand adventure i wish i had won. She accepted the challenge even though flying the atlantic in 1928 was very risky. 40 of the 1927 attempts failed and 25 proved fatal. And the putnam group wasnt alone. It was a race. Another woman named mabel ball was at harvard grace not far away also waiting out weather and determined to make the flight into columbia. So the race was on. You know the lindbergh era was there. Lindbergh had flown the atlantic. It was just airmindedness and everyone was interested in saveiation. Everyone was involved in the game and the public just loved it. They ate it up. It was just a very exciting time, and it brought about investment and interest and regulation, all the things aviation needed to actually become a form of transportation and grow into of course military flying, airlines and more of what we know today. So on june 17th, 1928, they departed new finland in a plane. Shed been promised time at the wheel, at the controls but it was not to be. During the 20 hour, 40minute flight she got zero flight time, however she was able to pilot the plane from whales to its final stop in south hampton, england. It was a tumultuous reception. She hid her disappointment except for one reference to just being baggage. Stuped by the crowds she managed to find the time to buy an aircraft from british pilot mary young heath. But before she could fly it she was obligated to George Putnam who was writing the publicity to right a book, and within two months she wrote her first book entitled 20 hours and 40 minutes which talked mostly abo about aviation and women and people wanting to fly and a bit about the flight itself. Then she came back and flew her avion from the coast and back. But it also gave her the opportunity to speak with people and learn to interact with them and the media. And most importantly it brought her to the realization this fame she was starting to get might give her the opportunity to actually earn a living in aviation, which is what she wanted to do. Putnam George Putnam of the putnam publishing and publicity family became her manager, and she began lecturing and writing in aviation and learned how to deal with the press while guarding her privacy. One of her first moves was joining the Editorial Staff of cosmopolitan magazine. And her first column came out november 1928 titled try flying yourself. So now she was determined to succeed so she acquired her transcore license in august of 1928 flying very speedy very similar to the one we have in the collection she placed third in the all womens air derby. This was the first transcontinental flight for women, and it was important from santa monica to cleveland, ohio, where the Cleveland Air races were, and it was a race she helped organize. But more importantly it was a race that was closely followed by the press and public, and it proved that women could make a long and dangerous flight. They were capable of making these flights day in and day out, taking care of the airplanes, taking care of themselves, learning how to fly in all kinds of weather, make decisions. And a lot of men, of course, didnt think women could do that. And they were out to prove that they were that they could. Will rogers dubbed the flight the powder puff derby. But luoise said wed rather just be called pilots, thank you. And i forgot to mention then there was the beach nut auto gyro. She also flew that around as well. And that was a new plane that was kind of a short take off and landing plane with the rotor on the top. So that was a whole different design, and that took some time to learn how to fly that, she flew that acrosscountry and back. And the second day she flew it, she wept up and did an altitude record in that. So she wasnt afraid of technology, wasnt afraid of trying something new. She did have crack ups, but so did other people. Shes not afraid of technology, and shes not afraid of a challenge. In fact, shes eager for it. Its what keeps her going. So after the derby, the women who participated in it, they finally found all these other women who were very interested in flying just like them. They really didnt know each other, and there were two Different Levels of flying in the derby. And once they got to know each other they did what all pilots naturally do talk about opportunities and jobs and airplanes. And they decided they needed to have their own group, and so they created a group that would for social and networking purposes, finding jobs, all of the above. Female pilots obviously lacked the social and economic independence that men had, and they were it was harder for them to get aircraft. They couldnt get paid. They couldnt get jobs. Most of the jobs they had were very, very small and didnt pay well. So a group of women organized sent out letters to the 285 license female pilots. 89 women responded and 26 actually showed up at valley stream, new york, to actually organize the club. And thats the image of them here. Amelias in the back there on the left about three or four in. And in the front on the front right is wells. And when i came into his theater i think we spoke here a few years ago, i think wells was also speaking at about about amelia because she knew amelia so well. Shes the one in the flight suit. So, yeah, so thats that. Okay. And then now she was being managed by George Putnam. Flying seemed to be the easy part for earhart. She felt a far more personal risk from a stream of Marriage Proposal from her manager George Putnam. She wasn married when she first met him but they divorced and amelia had nothing to do with that. She had other plans, other interest and she divorced george. George i dont think minded too much because he really liked amelia, and he started proposing to her not long after the divorce. Though she liked him and they were successful business partners, she really valued her independence, and she was afraid it would compromise her life. On the other hand, george was her publicist and he knew what she want today do and he was good at it. So she finally married him on her own terms in 1931 after delivering a letter of mixed emotions inasmuch she dismissed, the quote, medieval code of faithfulness, and she also request adcruel promise that you will let me go in one year if we find no happiness together. Though some called it marriage of convenience, they remained together. And while other husband of women pilots often object today hir wives flying, george kept amelia on the treadmill. She chose the fights, he booked the lectures. Putnam was demanding and not wellliked by any of her friends. I really havent found any of them that liked him. But bobby troud had to admit, she said i might have been famous if id had a promoter like george. So she was still flying with friends. Ruth nichols was quite the competitor. All of them were thaden had won a womens air derby. Nichols had an idea to fly the atlantic and amelia was getting the idea to fly the atlantic. Shed done it as a passenger, but she felt she hadnt done enough flying yet. She was doing a variety of races, doing a variety of shows and things like that. But she felt she really needed to show the discipline and show she could actually accomplish a flight like this. So she bought a different lockheed than the one shed used in the derby, the 5b, the red one we actually have now in the collection of the space museum. She thought a transatlantic flight would bring her respect, something other women saw, too. Ruth nicales had already made an attempt in 1931 crashing in canada. But she recovered and was planning another flight within a few weeks of earhart taking off on her flight. So earhart took off on a nonstop solo flight from harbor grace new finland to Northern Ireland. This is what she said when she got there. She obviously realized when she was flying that the landscape when she reached land it didnt look like france. Shed been thinking she wanted to go to france. She knew shed been drifting off to the north and she realized she was over Northern Ireland and she needed to land, but she still wasnt exactly where she was and so she asked and they said she was in northern dairy. This is 5 years to the day after lindberghs flight and that was no accident buzz George Putnam was her promoter. So she managed to do that well for them, too. On the flight she fought fatigue, nausea from a leaky fuel tank and it was leaking down her neck and a cracked manifold that spewed flames out the side of the engines. Ice formed on the wings and she caused an unstoppable 3,000 foot descent. She returned home to a tickertape parade in new york on honors in washington, d. C. And then by july and august she was back in the vega, her transcontinental flight where she set a record flying nonsfaup. She received the distinguished flying cross from the president , the National Geographic medal and the harmon trophy for women. She said in her flight it was in a measure a selfjustification proving to me and to anyone else who was interested that a woman with an adequate experience could do it. So here is the lockheed 5b. You can see what a gorgeous plane it is. Its just a ve