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30 - 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 of Daughter of the Sky The Story of
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  Speaker 1: Amelia Earhart by Paulbrion Junior. The LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Part three the Last Flight two new route,
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  Speaker 1: new preparations. Hamlet would have been a bad aviator. Amelia
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  Speaker 1: once said he worried too much. The time to worry,
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  Speaker 1: she added, is three months before a flight. Decide then
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  Speaker 1: whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved.
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  Speaker 1: If it is, stop worrying. To worry is to add
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  Speaker 1: another hazard. It retards reactions, makes one unfit. Contrary to
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  Speaker 1: her Injunction a e like the melancholy Dane worried, but
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  Speaker 1: only for two months before she reattempted the world flight
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  Speaker 1: in May. The Elector would be repaired and ready again.
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  Speaker 1: After the accident at luke Field, messages offering encouragement poured
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  Speaker 1: in from everywhere. Loyal friends helped her to pick up
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  Speaker 1: the pieces and start again. The brush with death she
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  Speaker 1: had taken as a fatalist. Someday, she told GP, I
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  Speaker 1: will get bumped off. There's so much to do, so
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  Speaker 1: much fun here. I don't want to go, but when
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  Speaker 1: I do go, I'd like to go in my plane quickly.
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  Speaker 1: The old plans. Most of them would now have to
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  Speaker 1: be scrapped. Routes and weather conditions would have to be
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  Speaker 1: re studied. Where rains had been in March there were
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  Speaker 1: now none. Where winds had once proven favorable, they would
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  Speaker 1: now prove adverse. Where monsoons had been predicted, there would
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  Speaker 1: now be dust storms. For a world flight beginning in
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  Speaker 1: late May, the advantage seemed to lay in flying west
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  Speaker 1: to east to beat the bad weather predicted for the
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  Speaker 1: first legs of the route. She would have to be
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  Speaker 1: through the Caribbean in Africa by the middle of June.
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  Speaker 1: If she left from Miami, the flight to Florida could
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  Speaker 1: serve as a final shakedown for the Electra. Amelia decided
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  Speaker 1: on a west east route. The reversal of flight plans
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  Speaker 1: brought on countless difficulties and greatly at an expense fuel oil,
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  Speaker 1: spare parts. Mechanics would now have to be relocated. Typical
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  Speaker 1: was the change involved in one engine overhaul. A mechanic
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  Speaker 1: had been dispatched from London to Karachi. He would now
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  Speaker 1: have to be reassigned elsewhere. Having taken the warning of
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  Speaker 1: Bradford Washburn about radio facilities on the ground, a E
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  Speaker 1: had made arrangements with the Coast Guard to have one
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  Speaker 1: of its cutters stationed at Howland Island so that the
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  Speaker 1: elector could home in on the ship's radio signals. All
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  Speaker 1: this had to be worked out again, and g P
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  Speaker 1: contacted Richard Black of the Department of the Interior to
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  Speaker 1: re arrange the necessary coordination. Credentials had to be re
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  Speaker 1: examined and re acquired. New approval for plane and pilot
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  Speaker 1: was secured from the Bureau of Aeronautics, Charts were replotted
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  Speaker 1: for the new routes, and hours had to be spent
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  Speaker 1: at Lockheed consulting with the engineers and the mechanics. In
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  Speaker 1: blessed relief from the pressure of the many details, Ae
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  Speaker 1: would slip out to Indio in the California Desert to
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  Speaker 1: visit her flying friend Jacqueline Cochrane. Miss Cochrane and her husband,
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  Speaker 1: Floyd Odlam had greatly helped in the financing of the
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  Speaker 1: world flight. At the desert retreat, Amelia could rest and
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  Speaker 1: bathe in the sun, swim in the pool, or ride horseback.
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  Speaker 1: On one such visit, Ae and Miss Cochrane discussed, as
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  Speaker 1: they had before on other occasions, the experiments going on
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  Speaker 1: at Duke University and extra sensory perception. Amelia was extremely
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  Speaker 1: interested in the subject, as Miss Cochrane had indicated her
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  Speaker 1: own ability at esp Curiously, the two women pilots had
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  Speaker 1: heard that night on the radio about a passenger plane
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  Speaker 1: that had been lost somewhere the mountains between Los Angeles
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  Speaker 1: and Salt Lake City. Amelia asked Jacqueline if she could
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  Speaker 1: locate the plane. Her friend gave the location of the
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  Speaker 1: plane and other specific details of roads and mountain peaks
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  Speaker 1: in the area where the plane had gone down. AE
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  Speaker 1: called Paul Mance, who verified the details on an aerial map.
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  Speaker 1: Excited Emilia sped back through the night to Los Angeles
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  Speaker 1: and took off early the next morning. She searched the
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  Speaker 1: area for three days and verified the names and locations
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  Speaker 1: in Miss Cochrane's descriptions, but she could not find any
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  Speaker 1: trace of the plane. That spring, however, when the snows
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  Speaker 1: had melted, the wreckage of the plane was found just
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  Speaker 1: two miles from where Jacqueline Cochrane had said it was
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  Speaker 1: at other times. Subsequently, Miss Cochrane demonstrated again her extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: extrasensory powers. At ae's request, she located another missing airliner
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  Speaker 1: crashed and pointing downward from a mountain peak. The plane
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  Speaker 1: was found at the exact location before one of her
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  Speaker 1: flights with GP in the Electra, Amelia asked her friend
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  Speaker 1: to record the details of the flight. Miss Cochrane gave
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  Speaker 1: exact dates, times, and locations near Blackwell, Oklahoma, where AE
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  Speaker 1: had landed to remain overnight. As a result of these experiences,
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  Speaker 1: the two friends decided that, in the event AE should
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  Speaker 1: go down and get lost on the world flight, Jacqueline
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  Speaker 1: would tell the rescuers where to look for Amelia and
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  Speaker 1: her plane. That she failed. When Amelia went down in
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  Speaker 1: the Pacific is one of the deepest sorrows of Jacqueline
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  Speaker 1: Cochrane's life, Yet many of miss Cochrane's perceptions about the
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  Speaker 1: disappearance were correct. Upon returning from Indio to plunge again
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  Speaker 1: into her preparations, Amelia immediately concerned herself with finding a
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  Speaker 1: new navigator. Captain Harry Mannings leave of absence had expired
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  Speaker 1: and he had to return to the command of his ship.
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  Speaker 1: AE turned to Fred Noonan, Manning's co navigator for the
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  Speaker 1: Honolulu Howland leg of the aborted East West flight. Noonan
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  Speaker 1: agreed to sign on. There had been some anxiety from
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  Speaker 1: some quarters as to whether Fred Noonan was capable of
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  Speaker 1: the expert high speed celestial navigation needed on the long
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  Speaker 1: over water legs of the world flight. Jacqueline Cochrane in particular,
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  Speaker 1: was most anxious and convinced Amelia that she should take
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  Speaker 1: Noonan far out over the Pacific, fly him around in
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  Speaker 1: circles until he was disoriented, then make him take her
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  Speaker 1: back to Los Angeles. Ae obliged, Noonan gave her the
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  Speaker 1: course back. The Elector hit the California coast halfway between
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco and Los Angeles. Apparently Amelia was undisturbed by
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  Speaker 1: the navigation error, even in view of the irrefutable and
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  Speaker 1: just demonstrated fact that a mistake of one degree on
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  Speaker 1: the compass could, on a long flight take her miles
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  Speaker 1: off her course. That she still engaged Nonan, knowing as
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  Speaker 1: she did that tiny Howland Island was just two miles
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  Speaker 1: long and only three quarters of a mile wide, a
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  Speaker 1: mere fifteen feet above sea level and more than two thousand,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred fifty miles from Ley, New Guinea, is testimony
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  Speaker 1: to an unshakable confidence in her own ability. On May nineteenth,
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  Speaker 1: two months to the day after the crack up on
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  Speaker 1: Luke Field. The electra repaired and gleaming was rolled out
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  Speaker 1: of the Lockheed hangar. Two days later, it was flown
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  Speaker 1: up to Oakland, where the letter covers were quietly and
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  Speaker 1: secretly placed on board again, then flown back to Burbank.
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  Speaker 1: Amelia had made no public announcement about the reversed direction
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  Speaker 1: of the flight, to all appearances. Therefore, when she Fred Noonan,
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  Speaker 1: her mechanic Beau mc neelie, and her husband George Putnam
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  Speaker 1: took off the next day from Miami, the trip was
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  Speaker 1: just another routine flight. Actually, it was the final shakedown flight.
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  Speaker 1: If it proceeded without mechanical difficulties, Amelia decided she and
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  Speaker 1: Fred would continue around the world from Miami. If not,
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  Speaker 1: she could bring the plane back to Burbank for further adjustments.
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  Speaker 1: Late that afternoon, they landed in Tucson, Arizona. The summer
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  Speaker 1: heat of the desert rose from the concrete ramp in
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  Speaker 1: wave after stifling wave. Discharging her passengers, a E taxied
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  Speaker 1: to the refueling pit. After having her tanks topped, she
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  Speaker 1: restarted the wasps. The left engines stuttered, caught, then backfired,
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  Speaker 1: and finally exploded into a burst of flames. Amelia cut
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  Speaker 1: the switches and hit the left fire extinguisher button. The
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  Speaker 1: men on the ground sprayed the burning engine with foam.
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  Speaker 1: The fire suffocated and died. A e climbed out of
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  Speaker 1: the electra to examine the damage. Wisps of smoke rose
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  Speaker 1: from the wasp. The acrid smell of burned rubber filled
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  Speaker 1: her nostrils. The engine and prop were black with dirt
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  Speaker 1: and grime. The cowling caked gray white with bubbled foam.
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  Speaker 1: The heat from motor and ramp cloyed the air. Early
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  Speaker 1: the next morning, when Amelia and her three men returned
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  Speaker 1: to the ramp, the engine had been repaired and the
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  Speaker 1: plane thoroughly washed. Out of the west, winds charged with
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  Speaker 1: sand began to swirl and sweep over the field. Amelia
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be on her way. Let's see if we
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  Speaker 1: can get up and over it, she said. They took
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  Speaker 1: off and climbed to eight thousand feet all the way
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  Speaker 1: to El Paso, on the western edge of Texas. The
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  Speaker 1: sandstorm below, like a golden turbulent sea, billowed and eddied on.
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  Speaker 1: They pushed across Texas that night. They were in New
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  Speaker 1: Orleans the next day, after crossing the Gulf of Mexico
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  Speaker 1: to Tampa, they turned southeast to Miami. At Miami, the
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  Speaker 1: final decision had to be made. Now began a week
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  Speaker 1: of final preparations the Electra. Amelia decided would not have
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  Speaker 1: to be returned to Burbank. The Pan American mechanics in Miami,
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  Speaker 1: she happily discovered, had all the skill needed to make
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  Speaker 1: a last tune up on the plain. While the men
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  Speaker 1: worked on the electra, Amelia was ostensibly calm, patient, unhurried.
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  Speaker 1: She would sit on a service stand to watch an
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  Speaker 1: adjustment being made on one of the engines, sprawl on
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  Speaker 1: the tarmac to help with a bothersome strut, or join
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  Speaker 1: the mechanics for lunch at the Greasy Spoon restaurant across
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  Speaker 1: the street. The men, noticing her ready smile and easy ways,
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  Speaker 1: admired her as a pilot who knew her plane and
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  Speaker 1: as a woman who knew what she was about. Fred
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  Speaker 1: Noonan renewed his old acquaintances among the Pan American personnel.
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  Speaker 1: Poor old Fred, they had said about him initially flying
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  Speaker 1: around the world with a woman pilot, but growing to
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  Speaker 1: know Amelia as she calmly went about her tasks. They
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  Speaker 1: finally conceded to Fred that he had the pick of
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  Speaker 1: women flyers for his pilot. Their acceptance of AE on
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  Speaker 1: an equal footing with the men of aviation reflected Fred
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  Speaker 1: Noonan's personal views. Amelia is a grand person for such
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  Speaker 1: a trip, he wrote to his wife. She is the
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  Speaker 1: only woman flyer I would care to make such an
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  Speaker 1: expedition with, because, in addition to being a fine companion
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  Speaker 1: and pilot, she could take hardships as well as a
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  Speaker 1: man and work like one. For Amelia, there was criticism
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  Speaker 1: from the press that she was just another stunt flier,
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  Speaker 1: despite her statements to the contrary that she was conducting
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  Speaker 1: an experiment on the human level. The press was partially right.
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  Speaker 1: When I have finished this job, she said in confidence
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  Speaker 1: to Carl Allan, I mean to give up long distance
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  Speaker 1: dunp flying. Then a smile creased her face. I'm getting old,
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  Speaker 1: she added. I want to make way for the younger
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  Speaker 1: generation before I'm feeble too. There were serious conversations with
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  Speaker 1: g P at the hotel where they were staying. He
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  Speaker 1: was anxious about her safety on such a long trip.
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  Speaker 1: Life held out so much else for her. He asked
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  Speaker 1: if she could not give up the idea. Please don't
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  Speaker 1: be concerned, she said. Her voice was low and soft.
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  Speaker 1: She parted the bangs of her dry mop of hair.
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  Speaker 1: It just seems that I must try this flight. She
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  Speaker 1: walked to the window and watched the waves in the
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  Speaker 1: distance breaking on the shore. She turned slowly. I've waited
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  Speaker 1: all carefully. With it behind me, life will be fuller
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  Speaker 1: and richer. I can be content afterward. It will be
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  Speaker 1: fun to grow old. George Putnam knew from the look
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  Speaker 1: in his wife's eyes that her mind was made up irrevocably.
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  Speaker 1: Such was the woman he had married. She had to
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  Speaker 1: prove to herself and to the world that women could
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  Speaker 1: do as men could do. Amelia made the final inspection
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  Speaker 1: of her aircraft. She was concerned about all the weight
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  Speaker 1: the plane had to carry and looked for ways to
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  Speaker 1: lighten the load. After she checked again each item of equipment,
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  Speaker 1: she finally decided to remove the two hundred fifty foot
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  Speaker 1: trailing wire antenna from the plane. It was too bulky
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  Speaker 1: and it was too much trouble to reel out and
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  Speaker 1: reel in while she was trying to fly the plane.
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  Speaker 1: One had to take chances. End of Section thirty