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31 - Daughter of the Sky- The Story of Amelia Earhart by Paul L. Briand, Jr. · Daughter of the Sky- The Story of Amelia Earhart

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty one of Daughter of the Sky The Story
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  Speaker 1: of Amelia Earhart by Paul Brown Junior. The LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Part three, the Last Flight
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: three Miami to Africa. Shortly after five o'clock in the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: morning of June first, nineteen thirty seven, A E. And
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  Speaker 1: Fred climbed into the Lockheed Electra to begin their flight
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  Speaker 1: around the world. At the equator, Amelia started the engines.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: The dials of the engine instruments RPMs, oil pressure fuel
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: pressure swung into place. Then she noticed that the needle
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: for the left cylinder head pressure failed to respond. A
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  Speaker 1: E shut down the motors. The left wasp would have
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to be checked. Beau mc neely scurried up a ladder,
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  Speaker 1: removed the cowling, and quickly spotted the trouble. It was
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  Speaker 1: a broken lead to the therma couple, a thermometer coupled
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  Speaker 1: to one of the cylinders. A E and Noonan rejoined
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  Speaker 1: G P and his son David on the ramp while
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  Speaker 1: McNeely resoldered the lead. The sun edged over the gray
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  Speaker 1: line on the horizon. As beau McNeely replaced the engine cowling,
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  Speaker 1: AE and Fred remounted the wing on either side and
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  Speaker 1: again climbed into the cockpit, GP, climbing up after Amelia
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  Speaker 1: leaned in to bid his wife goodbye. It was their
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  Speaker 1: last farewell. Amelia slid the hatch, shut started the engines,
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  Speaker 1: and signaled for the chalks to be pulled from the wheels.
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  Speaker 1: She taxied to the southeast corner of the field and
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  Speaker 1: turned into the takeoff runway. At five fifty six a m.
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  Speaker 1: The Elector broke from the ground, bound for California by
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  Speaker 1: the longest way possible. The last flight was on the
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  Speaker 1: lock heet, climbed slowly to cruising altitude, then swung southeast
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  Speaker 1: to the course for Puerto Rico, the first stop. Amelia,
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  Speaker 1: settling back in her seat, looked out under the left wing.
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  Speaker 1: The blue waters of the Gulf Stream shaded into the
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  Speaker 1: green off the coast. Against the light ocean floor, fish
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  Speaker 1: flitted darkly. Shortly after six o'clock, she tuned in on
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  Speaker 1: Miami's w q A M to find out what weather
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  Speaker 1: conditions were ahead on course. She heard, in addition a
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  Speaker 1: breath taking account of her own take off. Such a
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  Speaker 1: dramatic rendering, Amelia reflected, would awaken any man. She turned
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  Speaker 1: to Fred in the right seat. They laughed aloud. The
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: sea was misty against the rising sun, and clouds swiftly
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  Speaker 1: scudded by under the wings. Then she saw the great
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  Speaker 1: reef that was the Bahama Bank's gloom into view, followed
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  Speaker 1: by the bright green tapestry of Andros Island. Fred had
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  Speaker 1: crawled over the catwalk back into the navigation room. Amelia
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  Speaker 1: locked in the spery automatic pilot. Then from a briefcase,
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  Speaker 1: took out her log book, a secretary's dictation pad. She
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  Speaker 1: jotted down fleeting impressions. Little rocks and reefs just poke
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  Speaker 1: their heads above the water. So few lighthouses in this mess.
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  Speaker 1: Trees in black silhouette against the burnished sun path, the
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  Speaker 1: shadows of clouds, white clouds in the blue sky are
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  Speaker 1: like giant flowers dark on the green sea. Curtains of
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  Speaker 1: rain clouds aloft layers of cumulus. Clouds built up and
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  Speaker 1: sandwich the elector between them. Amelia nose down to one
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  Speaker 1: thousand feet and caught the sun again off to the left.
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  Speaker 1: Fred Noonan had estimated the time of arrival at San
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  Speaker 1: Juan at one ten p m. Shortly after twelve o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: Fred sent up a card clipped to the end of
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  Speaker 1: the fishing pole. Amelia read she was too far south
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  Speaker 1: of course, she swung the plane into a corrected heading.
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  Speaker 1: Through the haze, she could not distinguish between sea and sky.
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  Speaker 1: She looked at the indicated air speed. The needle pointed
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  Speaker 1: at one hundred fifty miles per hour. She was nursing
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  Speaker 1: the engines for the Through the mist, the island of
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  Speaker 1: Puerto Rico came into view. Amelia followed the coast line
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  Speaker 1: to San Juan. As the elector closed in on the city,
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  Speaker 1: she spotted the airport and began her let down for
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  Speaker 1: a landing. She lowered flaps and gear and eased into
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  Speaker 1: a long glide into the wind. Anchored off the near
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  Speaker 1: end of the runway was a foremasted schooner. Amelia skipped
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  Speaker 1: over the masts and rounded out in a three point touchdown.
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  Speaker 1: After she had taxied to the parking ramp, she suddenly
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  Speaker 1: realized that she had forgotten to eat any of the
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  Speaker 1: sandwiches placed on board the plane. Breakfast had been pre
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  Speaker 1: dawned and one thousand miles ago. She was hungry and
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  Speaker 1: from the abrupt release of tensions. Tired friends waiting at
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  Speaker 1: the airport came to the rescue Missus Thomas Rodenbaugh with
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  Speaker 1: food and Clara Livingstone with rest at the Livingstone Plantation,
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  Speaker 1: twenty miles from town. Amelia turned in at ate. The
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  Speaker 1: sound of the surf outside the window charmed magic casements
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  Speaker 1: opening on the foam of perilous seas, surged over her
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  Speaker 1: and drowned her in a deep sleep. For the three
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  Speaker 1: thousand mile stretch south and east down the coast of
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  Speaker 1: South America to Natal, there were only four satisfactory airports
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  Speaker 1: between them, the grim alternatives of ocean or jungle. The
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  Speaker 1: first step was to be Paramaribo, one thousand miles away.
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  Speaker 1: At four the next morning, Amelia bounded out of bed,
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  Speaker 1: determined to make a dawn take off, but occasion conspired
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  Speaker 1: against her. Repair work on the take off runway would
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  Speaker 1: necessitate a shorter run to get airborne. To get airborne,
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  Speaker 1: she would have to reduce the fuel load. To reduce
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  Speaker 1: the fuel load, she would have to forego Paramaribo. She
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  Speaker 1: would have to push through to another closer stop. Push through,
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  Speaker 1: she wrote, We're always pushing through, hurrying on our long way,
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  Speaker 1: trying to get to some other place, instead of enjoying
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  Speaker 1: the place we'd already got to as she had skipped
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  Speaker 1: from place to place as a little girl, and from
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  Speaker 1: job to job and interest to interest as a young woman.
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  Speaker 1: So now she skimmed over the world to touch and
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  Speaker 1: go sometime, she said, realizing that her schedule prevented long visits,
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  Speaker 1: I hope to stay somewhere as long as I like.
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  Speaker 1: By the time the Electorer was ready for take off,
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  Speaker 1: the sun was in full view above the horizon. The
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  Speaker 1: leg would have to be a short one. Strong headwinds
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  Speaker 1: had been predicted. Once in the air, Amelia watched the
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  Speaker 1: green mountains of Puerto Rico changed to white clouds and
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  Speaker 1: blue sea. From eight thousand feet, the little clouds looked
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: like white scrambled eggs. Far into the distance and dead
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: ahead on course, the hazy outline of the land mass
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  Speaker 1: of Venezuela came slowly into focus. South America, the second
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  Speaker 1: of five continents to be flown over, was a complex
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  Speaker 1: of densely timbered mountains, valleys of open plains, and thickly
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  Speaker 1: tangled jungle. Amelia, looking at her first jungle, shuddered at
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  Speaker 1: the thought of the electra having to make a forced landing.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: The gidding away would be worse than the getting down. Fortunately,
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  Speaker 1: Fred had flown the region many times before he would
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  Speaker 1: get them through. Such were the advantages of flying the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Pan American route with a former Pan American navigator. A dirty,
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  Speaker 1: red brown river snaked through a mountain pass. Amelia followed
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  Speaker 1: it inland to a town of red roofs and black
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  Speaker 1: oil tanks. It was Kaipito. The airport offered a long
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  Speaker 1: paved runway. A E eased the electra down. They lunched
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  Speaker 1: at the hangar and stayed over night at the home
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  Speaker 1: of Henry E. Linham, general manager of Standard Oil for Venezuela.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning, it was June third. Motonous rain clouds
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  Speaker 1: hemmed in the town. Determined to get on, Amelia plowed
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  Speaker 1: through them, then skirted around them back to the coast.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: She climbed through showers to eight thousand feet and broke
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  Speaker 1: into the sunlight. The gray, dank world lay below. A
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  Speaker 1: E pulled out her log and scribbled her sensations of
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  Speaker 1: the moment. The sun illumines mystic caves. She scribbled on
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  Speaker 1: the pad or shows giant cloud creatures mocking with lumpy paws,
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  Speaker 1: the tiny man made bird among them, over sea jungle
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  Speaker 1: and shoreline. Amelia played tag with the clouds from well
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  Speaker 1: out to sea, she recognized off the right wing a
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  Speaker 1: muddy river spilling into a wide, dirty fan. Together they
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: formed the Nikerey River and delta that separated British from
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  Speaker 1: Dutch Guiana. She turned inland toward the coast, and rather
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: than follow the coast in true Pan American fashion, she
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: now cut across jungles. A strong headwind was reducing her
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  Speaker 1: ground speed. She advanced the throttle to make a true
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  Speaker 1: air speed of one hundred forty eight miles per hour.
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  Speaker 1: Another river cut across the course line. It was a
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  Speaker 1: curling thread of silver with green beads of islands. Amelia
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  Speaker 1: spread the sectional map across her knees. It should be
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  Speaker 1: the Suriname River, she concluded, as she ran her finger
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  Speaker 1: along the blue line on the map. Paramaribo must be
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  Speaker 1: twelve miles from its mouth and the airport. Another twenty
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  Speaker 1: five miles farther alongside the river on the map, a
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  Speaker 1: cross hatched line indicated a railroad. Instructions from Fred were
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  Speaker 1: to follow it like Casey Jones, Amelia did. On either
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  Speaker 1: side of the railroad track were jungle and now and
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  Speaker 1: again rice fields and mud huts. From the clothes swinging
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  Speaker 1: from the lines behind the huts. Ae tried to determine
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  Speaker 1: the direction of the wind, but she was too busy
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  Speaker 1: following the course of the roo to get an accurate reading.
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  Speaker 1: Expecting to find a small, hacked out clearing for a
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  Speaker 1: landing field, she was delighted to find one of the
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  Speaker 1: best airport facilities she had ever seen. Paramaribo had gone
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  Speaker 1: aviation modern. A windsock marked the wind direction. Strips of
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  Speaker 1: white cloth indicated the best landing strip. Smoke from a
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  Speaker 1: bonfire set ablaze when her plane came into view showed
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  Speaker 1: the wind velocity. How thorough are the Dutch, Amelia thought,
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  Speaker 1: as she began her let down. Amelia and Fred were
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  Speaker 1: hot and tired when they climbed out of the Electra. Coffee,
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  Speaker 1: orange juice and sandwiches were quickly provided. Refreshed, they went
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  Speaker 1: to the Palace Hotel, one of Fred's old Pan Americans.
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  Speaker 1: Stopping off places at the hotel, pilot and navigator discussed
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  Speaker 1: possible delays from rain and mud at the field. Amelia
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  Speaker 1: was eager to get on. Fred calm and stoical. It's
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  Speaker 1: all a matter of comparison, he said to her. We're
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: impatient about a day's delay. That's because that lost day's
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: flying might see us across a continent or an ocean,
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  Speaker 1: But a swell way to learn patience, he assured her,
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  Speaker 1: recalling one incident in some twenty years of sailing the
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  Speaker 1: Seven seas is to try a tour of sailing ship
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  Speaker 1: voyaging back in nineteen ten. He stretched his long, slender
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  Speaker 1: body across a chair and footstool. I was on the
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  Speaker 1: Mark Compton, which was then the largest square rigged chip
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  Speaker 1: under the English flag. Fred's eyes crinkled at the corners
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  Speaker 1: into crow's feet as he smiled about what he was
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  Speaker 1: going to say. We were weather bound for one hundred
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  Speaker 1: fifty two days on a voyage from the state of
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  Speaker 1: Washington on the Pacific Coast to Ireland. After nearly half
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  Speaker 1: a year on one vessel on one trip, he'd become
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  Speaker 1: pretty philosophical about the calendar. Amelia's concerns about delay were
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  Speaker 1: somewhat alleviated by fred story, and as she discovered the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: next morning, when the day broke clear, unfounded ceiling and
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: visibility were unlimited except for a diaphanous mist that clung
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  Speaker 1: to the Suriname River. Happily, they took off bound for
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  Speaker 1: Fortaleza in Brazil to fly over nine hundred sixty miles
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  Speaker 1: of jungle and three hundred seventy miles of ocean. They
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  Speaker 1: had left Paramaribo too early to receive any weather reports.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: As a result, what the weather would be like on
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: course was strictly a matter of weight and sea. Amelia
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: hoped she would not have to turn back. Of all possibilities,
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  Speaker 1: this would be the most exasperating. The first of four
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  Speaker 1: projected crossings of the Equator lay ahead. Unbeknown to Amelia,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Fred had planned appropriate ceremonies for the occasion. He had
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: set aside a thermos bottle full of cold water, and
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  Speaker 1: at the right time he was going to crawl across
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  Speaker 1: the catwalk and pour the water over her unces specting head.
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  Speaker 1: But Fred had become so occupied with his navigation that
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  Speaker 1: the Electra had winged across the zero line of latitude
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  Speaker 1: before he could play his role of baptismal king Neptune.
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  Speaker 1: When Amelia learned his plan, she laughed in victory, but
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  Speaker 1: shuddered to think of the next three crossings. The broad
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: banks of a long river wound through the jungle. It
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  Speaker 1: reminded Amelia of the Mississippi which she had flown over
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  Speaker 1: many times. This South American cousin could only be the Amazon.
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  Speaker 1: Under the right wing, yellow and brown currents stretched out
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  Speaker 1: and in to the lower delta, Like so many toothpicks.
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  Speaker 1: Thousands of uprooted and broken tree trunks flowed, gathered, and
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  Speaker 1: spread over the moving stream. The shadow of the electra
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  Speaker 1: skimmed over the surface. Braganza sau Luis camosim Amelia checked
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  Speaker 1: off on the map each city as she passed over it.
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  Speaker 1: According to Fred's dead reckoning, determining position by speed in
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: a given direction for a definite elapsed time, she should
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  Speaker 1: soon be inside of Fortaleza. He had given her ten
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  Speaker 1: hours to make it. She watched the preset chronometer on
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  Speaker 1: the instrument panel and waited for the steady jerks of
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the dial to click to the designated hour. She then
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: looked out to see if she could recognize any tell
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: tale signs below. Just west of what she determined to
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: be Cape Mukaripa, she saw a light brown strip of
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: sand that formed an arc between the mountains and the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: sea coast. She checked the map. It had to be
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: her destination. Fortaleza was the only city on such a
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: topographical boomerang Fred had hid it on the nose. The
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: airport was excellent, and when Pan American put all their
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: facilities at her disposal, Amelia decided to ready the plane
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  Speaker 1: there for the South Atlantic hop to Africa, rather than
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: at Natal. Her action to a point of departure. The
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: elector underwent a complete inspection, oil change, greasing, instrument check,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: engine overhaul, scrub down and washing. Amelia and Fred, after
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: a week of traveling, felt for themselves a similar need
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  Speaker 1: for cleaning. An overhaul. A e's one suit case wardrobe
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  Speaker 1: contained few duplicates, there was much laundry to be done.
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  Speaker 1: They stayed at the Excelsior Hotel. Amelia's room looked out
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  Speaker 1: over red tiled roofs to the sea. She sat in
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  Speaker 1: the cool breeze from the open window, pulled the chair
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: up closer to the desk, and addressed a letter to g. P.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: She chuckled as she wrote. The hotel people naively put F.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: N and me in the same room. They were surprised
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: when we both countermanded the arrangements for a female to
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: be traveling as I do, evidently as a matter of
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: puzzlement to her sheltered sisters, hereabout not to mention the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: mails I'm stared at in the streets. I feel they think, oh, well,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: she's American and they're all crazy. The city of Fortaleza,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: for Amelia, was a remarkable study in contrasts. As she
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: explored and shopped, she stopped to notice the carts and
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: donkeys that clogged the streets, along with buses, street cars,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: and automobiles. The women carrying loads on their heads as
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  Speaker 1: they walked past up to date shops, old decrepit buildings
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: standing next to the most modern examples of architecture, and
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: down along the shore, primitive catamaran fishing vessels setting sail
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: while airplanes roared overhead. The next day, while the mechanics
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: continued to work on the plane, Amelia and Fred set
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: things in order. They repacked gear, sent used maps, gifts
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and souvenirs back home, and washed the cloth covers for
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the engines and propellers. That night, Ae lay on her
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: bed and tried to relax from the day's work, the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: weeks of flying, the hours of anxiety, the months of
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: tense preparation that had gone into the flight. Her leg
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: jumped as muscle tensions eased on the tile roofs outside,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: rain began to fall and splatter. It became a tropical downpour, sudden,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: heavy and unremitting, like the ones she had known in Honolulu.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: She feared the Fortelesa Airport might turn into a sea
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: of mud. Luckily, the hop to Natal was short, and
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the fuel load would be light. The elector would be
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: able to get off. Amelia turned her head into her
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: pillow and fell to sleep. There was no need to worry,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: even in blackest times. Sleep was a gift she cherished.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: At four fifty the next morning, they were off for Natal. Fortunately,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the field had drained beautifully and the runway was more
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: than adequate for take off. Natal was only two hours away,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and they hoped to get an earth start. Across the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: South Atlantic, off the left wing and far out to sea,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: rain squalls chased black clouds. Amelia set the automatic pilot
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: and pulled out her log. She wrote, then crossed out
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: what she had written, then started to write again. This
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: did not seem to be a day for composition Part one.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Last night was not long enough for two tired fliers
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: crossed out, despite going to bed immediately after crossed out
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: for crossed out, Fred Noonan and I rolled out of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: bed at three forty five after an incredit. It shines
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: on the engine cowls and into the cockpit. Have cover
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: for radios, get clock, I can see at night, check props.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Amelia put down her pencil and looked out to watch
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the progress of the black squall line out at sea.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: It was moving closer. She would have to race it
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: in down along the edge of the coast and on
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a tip of land. The Natal airport was unmistakable. The
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: long intersecting runways were a sure landmark. Amelia nosed the
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: plane down and dived for the field. The rain squall
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: was right behind her. The Elector was just rolling to
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: a stop and turning into the taxiway when it hit
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: long whips of rain lashed the wings and cracked along
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the fuselage. A e stopped. She could not see out
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: ahead from the cockpit far enough to taxi any farther.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: The rain relentlessly hit spread and streamed down the windshield
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: from the hangar along the parking ramp. Mechanics noticed the difficulty.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: They rushed out to the lockheed and pushed the plane
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: up to the ramp and into the hangar. Once inside,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Amelia felt guiltily dry as she watched the rain gather
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: in small puddles about the feet of the mechanics, they
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: were soaked to the skin. To cross the South Atlantic
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: from natal Ae deferred to the experience of the French.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: She checked with the crew of the next plain schedule
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to leave on the flight across. They told her they
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: preferred to leave very early in the morning because the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: worst weather could be expected during the first eight hundred miles.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Amelia decided to leave very early in the morning, soon
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: after midnight. If weather prevented, then they would leave the
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: next afternoon and fly all night to make an African
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: landing in the morning. At three point fifteen on the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: morning of June seventh, the Elector stood ready for the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: take off. Amelia fretted the only runway marked by lights
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: in the black night could not be used because of
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: a strong crosswind. For an upwind take off, the run
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: would have to be made across a grass field. Flashlights
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: in hand, Amelia and Fred walked in the grass look
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: for obstructions and for any landmarks that could serve as guides.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: The Elector came through splendidly, as it had so often before.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: It sprang easily into the air in the blackness of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the night. Inside the cockpit, the instrument panel glowed a
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: glimpse at the bright dials pointing at the correct numbers.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Cheered Amelia. She flew by the instrument she believed in,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: had learned to believe in from experience. On such a night,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: it was the only way, and it was up to
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Fred in the navigation room to pass up the right
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: headings to fly by. This was her third crossing of
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the Atlantic, she reflected, happily, Africa her third continent to
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: be spanned, and her second leap over the Equator. She
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: hoped Fred was again too busy to think about dousing
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: her with water. For the first half of the nineteen
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: hundred miles across the ocean, the Electra bucked headwinds, averaging
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: twenty miles in velocity. A EES set the throttles ahead
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: just far enough to average a ground speed of one
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: hundred fifty miles per hour. The dial of the indicated
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: air speed inched forward to one hundred seventy. She wanted
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to nurse the engines, whatever the wind and weather, for
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the long, hard pull around the world. Ahead, she noticed
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: jagged mountains of clouds building up with towering peaks and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: below them dark downward streaking geysers of rain. There was
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: no way around them. She would have to plow through.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: The rain was hard and heavy, mixed with oil from
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the propellers. It spattered and smeared brown and black against
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the wind shield. Amelia could feel the weight of the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: rain on the wings against the pressure of the wheel
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: in her hands. The Electra buffeted and surged in alternating
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: down drafts and up drafts. Then as suddenly as the
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: thunder storm had hit, she was through it. At six
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: forty five, she crossed the equator and reported her position
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: to Natall Radio. At six fifty the left engine, then
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the right, started to miss, then to catch again. Too
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: much oil, Amelia guessed. She looked out to the left
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: and saw a plane streaking across the sky. It was
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: an Air France plane. She would have liked to talk
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: with it, but she knew it had only telegraphic key,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and she in the cockpit only voice telephone. The Electra's
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: key for transmitting code was back in the navigation room
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: with Fred, and even if she shouted back at him,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: he could not hear her over the noise of the engines.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: With all its modern devices, The flying Laboratory lacked an
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: intercom between pilot and navigator. Locking in the autopilot, she
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: placed the stenographer's pad on her left knee. She scrawled hastily.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Gas fumes in plane from fueling made me sick again
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: this morning after starting, stomach getting weak, I guess, then
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: she added, later, have tried getting something on radio. No go,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: rain static, have never seen such rain props a blur
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: in it. Fred had crawled up from him back to
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: sit in the right seat. Fred dozes. She observed, I
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: never seemed to get sleepy flying often tired, but seldom sleepy.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Fred stirred, woke up and looked about. He got up
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: from the seat and crawled back to the navigation room
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to see if he could get a fix. The haze
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: was too thick. He studied his other instruments, then made
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: an estimate. He jotted on a card three thirty six
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: changed to thirty six degrees estimate seventy nine miles to
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Dakar from three thirty six p m. Then sent it
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: up ahead to Amelia. She read it, shook her head,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: then added at the bottom in pencil, what put us north?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Amelia disregarded the advice of her navigation. Though Fred's directions
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: indicated a turn to the right, she turned left. It
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: seemed better to her. Forty five minutes later she found
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: herself over Saint Louis. She was north instead of south,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and one hundred sixty three miles off course. To decar,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: she decided to let down and make a landing. It
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: was too late to go around and go back to
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: hit a continent. Such a refusal to follow directions was
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of no grave consequence. To hit an island, however, it
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: could prove fatal. The flight across the South Atlantic, Amelia
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: was careful to note, took thirteen hours and twelve minutes.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: That was one hour and sixteen minutes less than it
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: had taken for the solo hop across the North Atlantic.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: End of Section thirty one