Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
GODINE
Graduation paper
Amelia Earhart-Pioneer Woman Aviator
Mentor: Senka
Content:
Childhood Story of Amelia Earhart2 Amelia's first "flight"3 Education.4 Amelia and planes.5 First air shows..6 The first woman to fly the Atlantic.7 Fashion..8 Celebrity image9 George P. Putnam - Amelia's Husband10 First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross.11
First person to fly solo between Hawaii and California.12 Amelia Earhart as an Aviator....13 Final Flight..13 Theories15 Movies and television.16 Fun Facts about Amelia Earhart..18 Amelia Earhart Accomplishments.20 Used literature22
Earhart's grandparents, Alfred and Amelia Otis were well off, and although Amelia would know some financial hardship in her teens and twenties, her early life was spent in the midst of plenty. Amelia attended a private college preparatory school, where, although she loved to read, she sometimes got into trouble as a result of her independent nature. Her mother and younger sister, Muriel, often came to Atchison to visit, but Amelia seldom saw her father during these years. The Earhart family moved to Des Moines, Iowa, when Amelia was in the seventh grade. By Earhart's own account, her childhood activities suggested she would lead an active adulthood. While the social standards of the time held that young girls should behave in a genteel and ladylike fashion, young Amelia was interested in adventure. She recalled being fascinated by mechanical things, and she once designed a trap to catch stray chickens. As the daughter of a railroad employee, she traveled often and thus "discovered the fascination of new people and new places." She also realized early that boys were under fewer constraints than girls and questioned why. She liked "all kinds of sports and games" and was willing to try even those games adults considered only for boys.
The children, with a little help from their Uncle Carl Otis, constructed the track from boards and greased it with lard. Amelia made the trial run in a car made from an empty wooden crate.
Education
From the first grade, she attended the College Preparatory School in Atchison. It was a tiny place, with only about 30 students, housed in a building that used to be a stable. Amelia was bright, but her independent spirit and lack of interest in recitation did not endear her to the teachers. In high school, cheerleading was not enough for her, she wanted to play on the basketball team. Her father Edwin, was well-educated, but tended to the impractical; money just slipped through his fingers. His in-laws, the Otises, helped him out a lot (including taking care of Amelia), but Edwin's extravagance remained a problem. In 1908, he got a new job, with the Rock Island railroad, which required him to move to Des Moines. Now, the arrangement with the Atchison grandparents was no longer feasible, so Amelia joined them in Iowa, and saw her first airplane, at the 1908 Iowa State Fair. For a few years, Edwin did well, moving into a newer, larger houses almost every year, as his income grew. But his spendthrift nature won out, and he kept living beyond his means, and increasingly turning to alcohol. He moved out for a time, but Amy (Amelia's mother) implored him to return. The death of Amelia's grandparents, the Otises, was the final blow. The Otises were quite wealthy, with an estate worth over $170,000 (a huge sum in those days). While the will sought to provide for the
6
grandchildren, it excluded Edwin and Amy. A lengthy, messy struggle ensued. During this time, Edwin had lost his job, and was forced to accept a menial position in St. Paul, which required another family move, to Minnesota. In the 1913-14 school year, at St. Paul Central High School, where Amelia was more in control of her own destiny, she did very well, keeping a grade point average in the high eighties, with a curriculum including Latin, German, and Physics. After graduating from Hyde Park High School in 1915, Earhart attended Ogontz, a girl's finishing school in the suburbs of Philadelphia. In her three semesters there, Amelia played field hockey, studied Shakespeare & Latin, and attended concerts of the Philadelphia Symphony. She left in the middle of her second year to work as a nurse's aide in a military hospital in Canada during WWI, attended college, and later became a social worker at Denison House, a settlement house in Boston.
at the time," she said, "but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by." On December 28, 1920, pilot Frank Hawks gave her a ride that would forever change her life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly." Learning to fly in California, she took up aviation as a hobby, taking odd jobs to pay for her flying lessons. In 1922, with the financial help of her sister, Muriel, and her mother, Amy Otis Earhart, she purchased her first airplane, a Kinner Airster.
Following her parent's divorce, Amelia moved back east where she was employed as a social worker in Denison House, in Boston, Massachusetts. It was there she was selected to be the first female passenger on a transatlantic flight, in 1928, by her future husband, the publisher, George Palmer Putnam.
She placed third at the Cleveland Women's Air Derby, later nicknamed the "Powder Puff Derby" by Will Rogers.
Fashion
After a series of record-making flights, she became the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight in 1932. That same year, Amelia developed flying clothes for the Ninety-Nines. Her first creation was a flying suit with loose trousers, a zipper top and big pockets. Vogue advertised it with a two-page photo spread. Then, she began designing her own line of clothes "for the woman who lives actively." She dressed according to the occasion whether it was flying or an elegant affair. She was most conscious of the image she projected. Several New York garment manufacturers made an exclusive Amelia Earhart line of clothes which were marketed in 30 cities, with one exclusive store in each city, such as Macy's in New York and Marshall Field's in Chicago. The celebrity endorsements helped Earhart to finance her flying. Accepting a position as associate editor at Cosmopolitan magazine, she turned this forum into an opportunity to campaign for greater public acceptance of aviation, especially focusing on the role of women entering the field. In 1929, Earhart was among the first aviators to promote commercial air travel through the development of a passenger airline service.
10
Celebrity image
Trading on her physical resemblance to Lindbergh, whom the press had dubbed "Lucky Lindy," some newspapers and magazines began referring to Earhart as "Lady Lindy." The United Press was more grandiloquent; to them, Earhart was the reigning "Queen of the Air." Immediately after her return to the United States, she undertook an exhausting lecture tour (19281929). Meanwhile, Putnam had undertaken to heavily promote her in a campaign including publishing a
11
book she authored, a series of new lecture tours and using pictures of her in mass market endorsements for products including luggage, Lucky Strike cigarettes (this caused image problems for her, with McCall's magazine retracting an offer) and women's clothing and sportswear. The money that she made with "Lucky Strike" had been earmarked for a $1,500 donation to Commander Richard Byrd's imminent South Pole expedition. Rather than simply endorsing the products, Earhart actively became involved in the promotions, especially in women's fashions. For a number of years she had sewn her own clothes, but the "active living" lines that were sold in 50 stores such as Macy's in metropolitan areas were an expression of a new Earhart image. Her concept of simple, natural lines matched with wrinkle-proof, washable materials was the embodiment of a sleek, purposeful but feminine "A.E." ( the familiar name she went by with family and friends). The luggage line that she promoted (marketed as Modernaire Earhart Luggage) also bore her unmistakable stamp. She ensured that the luggage met the demands of air travel; it is still being produced today. A wide range of promotional items would appear bearing the Earhart "image" and likewise, modern equivalents are still being marketed to this day. The marketing campaign by G.P. Putnam was successful in establishing the Earhart mystique in the public psyche.
crossing and were married on February 7, 1931 but she continued her aviation career under her maiden name. Intenting on retaining her independence, she referred to the marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control." Amelia and George formed a successful partnership. George organized Amelia's flights and public appearances, and arranged for her to endorse a line of flight luggage and sports clothes. Together they worked on secret plans for Earhart to become the first woman and the second person to solo the Atlantic. George had already published several writings by Charles Lindbergh, and he saw Amelia's flight as a bestselling story for his publishing house. With pilot Wilmer Stultz and mechanic Lou Gordon, Amelia flew from Newfoundland to Wales aboard the trimotor plane Friendship . Amelia's daring and courage were acclaimed around the world. Upon the flight's completion, Amelia wrote the book 20 Hours - 40 Minutes . George also published two of her books, The Fun of It , and Last Flight .
Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross-the first ever given to a woman. At the ceremony, Vice President Charles Curtis praised her courage, saying she displayed "heroic courage and skill as a navigator at the risk of her life." Earhart felt the flight proved that men and women were equal in "jobs requiring intelligence, coordination, speed, coolness and willpower."
First person to fly solo between Honolulu, Hawaii and Oakland, California
In the years that followed, Earhart continued to break records. She set an altitude record for autogyros of 18,415 feet that stood for years. On January 11, 1935, she became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California. Chilled during the 2,408mile flight, she unpacked a thermos of hot chocolate. "Indeed," she said, "that was the most interesting cup of chocolate I have ever had, sitting up eight thousand feet over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, quite alone." Later that year she was the first to solo from Mexico City to Newark. A large crowd "overflowed the field," and rushed Earhart's plane. "I was rescued from my plane by husky policemen," she said, "one of whom in the ensuing melee took possession of my right arm and another of my left leg." The officers headed for a police car, but chose different routes. "The arm-holder started to go one way, while he who clasped my leg set out in the opposite direction. The result provided the victim with a fleeting taste of the tortures of the rack. But, at that," she said good-naturedly, "It was fine to be home again."
14
Final Flight
In 1937, as Earhart neared her 40th birthday, she was ready for a monumental, and final, challenge. She wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world. Despite a botched attempt in March that severely damaged her plane, a determined Earhart had the twin engine Lockheed Electra rebuilt. "I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it," she said. On June 1st, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan departed from Miami and began the 29,000-mile journey. By June 29, when they landed in Lae, New Guinea, all but 7,000 miles had been completed. Frequently inaccurate maps had made navigation difficult for Noonan, and their next hop--to Howland Island--was by far the most challenging.
15
Located 2,556 miles from Lae in the mid-Pacific, Howland Island is a mile and a half long and a half mile wide. Every unessential item was removed from the plane to make room for additional fuel, which gave Earhart approximately 274 extra miles. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca, their radio contact, was stationed just offshore of Howland Island. Two other U.S. ships, ordered to burn every light on board, were positioned along the flight route as markers. "Howland is such a small spot in the Pacific that every aid to locating it must be available," Earhart said. At 10am local time, zero Greenwich time on July 2, the pair took off. Despite favorable weather reports, they flew into overcast skies and intermittent rain showers. This made Noonan's premier method of tracking, celestial navigation, difficult. As dawn neared, Earhart called the ITASCA, reporting "cloudy, weather cloudy." In later transmissions earhart asked the ITASCA to take bearings on her. The ITASCA sent her a steady stream of transmissions but she could not hear them. Her radio transmissions, irregular through most of the flight, were faint or interrupted with static. At 7:42 A.M. the Itasca picked up the message, "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." The ship tried to reply, but the plane seemed not to hear. At 8:45 Earhart reported, "We are running north and south." Nothing further was heard from Earhart. A rescue attempt commenced immediately and became the most extensive air and sea search in naval history thus far. On July 19, after spending $4 million and scouring 250,000 square miles of ocean, the United States government reluctantly called off the operation.
16
Across the United States there are streets, schools, and airports named after her. Her birthplace, Atchison, Kansas, has been turned into a virtual shrine to her memory. Amelia Earhart awards and scholarships are given out every year. In 1938, a lighthouse was constructed on Howland Island in her memory.
Theories
Today, though many theories exist, there is no proof of her fate. There is no doubt, however, that the world will always remember Amelia Earhart for her courage, vision, and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women. In a letter to her husband, written in case a dangerous flight proved to be her last, this brave spirit was evident.
17
"Please know I am quite aware of the hazards," she said. "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others." Amelia Earhart endures in the American consciousness as one of the world's most celebrated aviators. Amelia remains a symbol of the power and perseverance of American women, and the adventurous spirit so essential to the American persona.
18
- Actress Jane Lynch was cast as Amelia Earhart in the 2004 film The Aviator, but her scenes were cut. - In Amelia (2009), Amelia Earhart is portrayed by Hilary Swank, who also served as co-executive producer of the film
19
- Amelia was the first female, and one of only a few to date, to receive the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross. - Amelia's childhood pet, a large black dog, was named James Ferocious, because of his uneven temperament with strangers. - Amelia and Muriel had two imaginary playmates, Laura and Ringa, with whom they shared great adventures. - Two of Amelia's favorite Atchison playmates were her cousins Lucy and Kathryn Challis. Amelia and Muriel called them Toot and Katch.
20
- During her childhood, Amelia invented a tribe of imaginary small black creatures she called Dee-Jays. Described as a cross between a Krazy Kat cartoon and a jabberwocky, the creatures were often blamed for Amelia's own irresponsible behavior, such as: talking out of turn, eating the last piece of candy, or when something turned up lost. - Amelia named the twin maple trees in her grandparent's Atchison front yard Philemon and Baucis, after a husband and wife in Greek mythology. The myth held that Philemon and his wife, Baucis, received the Gods Zeus and Hermes, disguised as mortals, into their simple home. Their hospitality was such that the gods, as repayment, transformed their stable cottage into a magnificent temple. - Amelia and her sister were once the proud owners of imaginary horses. Amelia owned a beautiful Arab palomino named Saladin. Muriel's horse was named Beezlebub. - This is Amelia Earhart home, Atchinson, Kansas It is neo-classical wooden Victorian architecture.
21
22
1933 July 7-8, broke her previous women's transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles, California to Newark, New Jersey 1935 January 11-12, became first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California April 19-20, became first person to fly solo from Los Angeles, California to Mexico City May 8, became first person to fly solo from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey 1937 Broke her previous women's transcontinental speed record from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii and did the record flight around the world along the equator, before disappearing with her navigator after covering more than 22,000 miles (two-thirds of her total flight)
23
Used literature:
http://acepilots.com/airplanes/country/american/lockheed-electra-10a-and-10c/ www.acepilots.com/earhart.html www.ellensplace.net/ae_eyrs.html www.notablebiographies.com/Du-Fi/Earhart-Amelia.html http://en.wikipedia.org/
24