WEBVTT - Amelia Earhart: Aviator for the Ages 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.040 She flew not just because she loved it, but she 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.280 flew for women, and hers was a real feminist commitment. 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.440 Eleanor Roosevelt said of Familiar Heart, she helped the cause 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.919 of women by giving them a feeling that there was 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:24.799 nothing they could not do. I just love mat That 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.479 was author Candice Fleming talking about one of the most 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:33.200 famous women in history, the inspiration for countless girls and women, 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:38.560 none other than aviator Amelia Earhart. I'm a land Ververe 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.159 and this is Seneca's one Women to Hear. We are 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:46.080 bringing you one hundred of the world's most inspiring and 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:51.720 history making women you need to hear. In the nineteen thirties, 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:59.120 Amelia Earhart was everywhere in books, newsreels, magazines, advertising. She 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:04.039 made fly ing and feminism popular. She was the first 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:09.120 woman and second person after Charles Lindbergh to fly solo 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:14.000 across the Atlantic. That was just one of her great achievements, 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:20.199 and she remains an object of utter fascination today due 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:25.039 partly to her mysterious disappearance during a N seven flight 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:30.319 to circumnavigate the globe. We're learning about her today from 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:35.800 Candice Fleming, author of Amelia Lost, The Life and disappearance 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:41.520 of Amelia Earhart. Listen and learn why Amelia Earhart is 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:47.680 one of Seneca's women to hear. I'm delighted to be 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:53.000 here today to speak with Candice Fleming about that amazingly 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:59.040 iconic woman in history, Amelia Earhart. Welcome, Candice, Oh, thank you. 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.280 Thrilled to be here. Maybe you could tell us at 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.480 the outset what you think Amelia should best be known 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.760 for in terms of her greatest achievements and her legacy. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.519 You know, um, Amelia Earhart, she may be even more 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.000 famous today than she was at the height of her 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.240 flying career. UM, and that fascination has shows no sign 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.440 of abating. UM. The unsolved mystery of her disappearance has 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.880 become sort of this industry that we've devoted ourselves to. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:29.920 We want to know what happened to her. UM. We 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.000 have search expeditions, and we come up with all these 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.240 supposed facts that are constantly surfacing. But I think what 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.120 she should be known for is her influence on the 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.200 development of mass culture and the merchandising and popular figures. 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:49.200 Amelia E. Horhart really transformed herself into this sort of 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:54.440 carefully crafted brand. She advocated, and she influenced the emergence 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:59.560 of aviation as a major transportation industry. And she symbolized 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.120 the opportunities for women in modern life. I mean she 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:07.520 tirelessly promoted equality and opportunities for women and a time 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.720 when women were really expected to stay within those traditional 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.959 roles of wife and mother. Um, she flew not just 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.600 because she loved it, but she flew for women, and 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.840 hers was a real feminist commitment. Eleanor Roosevelt said of 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.000 Amelia Heart, she helped the cause of women by giving 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.960 them a feeling that there was nothing they could not do. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.240 I just love that. I love that too. Well, let's 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.600 change that out a little bit, because she was a 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.520 huge celebrity in her day and a trendsetter. There were 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:43.600 magazine covers or newsreels or influence. Uh. It was really 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.119 quite best. Uh. And she endorsed products as well. Can 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.720 you tell us more about all of that. Yeah, she 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.840 was everywhere. Like I said earlier, she was a brand, 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.680 and she carefully cultivated her public image. She worked, I 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.120 mean really worked at being a popular hero. Um. Then 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:08.000 that started with the light across the Atlantic. Um that 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.880 meant that fourteen hours a day, truly fourteen hours of 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.320 her every day she spent lecturing or at receptions in 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.000 big and small towns all across the United States. And 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.880 that also meant cranking out instant books. She actually wrote 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.440 two best sellers. She dealt with the newsreel, photographers and 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:30.000 reporters right at the very moment of her grueling flights, 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.000 just when they finished. She would have to deal with 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.160 the reporters. Um. It also meant always being on display 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.520 wherever she went. UM. One of her favorite saying, so 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.760 I hope I can remember this right. No pay, no fly, 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.720 and no work, no play. She was caught in that 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.520 cycle public appearances and endorsements. Um, we're all part of 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.320 what was necessary for her to earn money to fly, 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:57.080 because flying, of course wasn't cheap. So she broke an 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.479 aviation record, or she did some flying stunt, and then 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.840 she lectured and wrote about it. And let's not forget 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.760 that she had a world class promoter and her husband, 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.479 George Putnam. He was from Putnam Publishing, and he brought 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.560 in endorsement fees two and endorsements were big business, but 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.479 only if they were done right. And actually the first 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:21.120 endorsement she did, they did wrong. She took fifteen hundred 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:25.520 dollar fee for um Lucky Strikes Lucky Strikes cigarettes after 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:31.040 her first Atlantic flight in nineteen and despite it being 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.080 the rebellious nineteen twenties, it was still not acceptable for 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.960 nice women to smoke um. The general public wasn't impressed, 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.560 and one of the her um fans wrote to her 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.400 and said, I suppose you drink too, And actually Amelia 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.479 didn't do either, and she didn't endorse either product after 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.760 that sort of debacle either, and said she went on 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.599 to endorse products like Kodak film and Pratt Whitney, wasp 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:05.359 and and Franklin and Hudson automobiles and Timesaver stationary. She 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.080 also received some royalties for the use of her name 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:12.440 for Ornstein Trunk Company's the Amelia Heart air Light luggage, 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.640 and she had her full size image. I would wish 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.520 I could have seen this. Her full sized image was 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.159 in the windows at Macy's along with her luggage. She 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.000 also designed and marketed her own line of women's clothing, 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.479 and she called them Active Clothing, and the tagline, which 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:32.840 she wrote herself, read, this is the era of feminine activity. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.080 The stay at home and the hammock girl are gone. 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:41.160 Modern women are strenuously active. She even modeled her own 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.800 creations and magazines and at events. UM in her sportswear, 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.960 she said, she tried to recreate the beauty of aviation 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.599 in the color in the line um, and that was 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.159 that she had found in the air. And by the way, 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.960 clothes were important to her, and she made the best 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.719 less arm sorry, she made the best dressed list x times. 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:05.520 My goodness. Well, she she certainly knew how to promote 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.400 herself and all of the causes that she was involved in, 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.400 and all of the products that she wanted to put 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.720 before the public. It's just fascinating to hear you talk 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.440 about all of that. And you mentioned, of course her flying, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:24.600 which she's probably most noted for. And in the twenties 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.760 there were other women pilots making headlines as well, probably 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.200 something we're not so much aware of, and one of 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.880 them was Bessie Coleman. What was going on in all 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:40.880 of that for women flight? Other times women were really 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.840 you know, no pun intended, but they really were taking wing. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.600 In the nineteen twenties, it was a period of huge change. Um. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.080 The First World War had really debunked women's ideas of 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:56.360 self sacrifice and duty and that working for the greater good. Um. 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.160 They asked themselves what had it all been for millions 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.760 of people at die um. Add to that to the 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.760 success of the suffrage movement, women could now vote and 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.080 they were politically engaged in ways they hadn't been before. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.880 And all of this sort of led to this expansion 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.640 of thinking of women in the nineteen twenties, this idea 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.720 of freedom, their own personal freedom, um, and they began 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.680 to struggle for freedoms in their own personal lives. Suddenly 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:27.280 morality resided in being true to oneself rather than a cause. 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.320 At the same time, you had some dramatic changes in 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.959 the work patterns. Something like one third of unmarried women 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.520 moved into paid employment. This made women a consumer power, 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.320 and their sexual morays were changing too, and women were 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.520 beginning to claim that same sexual license as men. So 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.080 what you see in women in the nineteen twenties with 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:52.280 Amelia Bessie Coleman, you see them puzzling out what freedom means, 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:56.079 testing personal limits. They were really trying new things. They 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:59.720 were being bold, and they were embracing adventure and interestingly 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.920 individualistic heroines like Amelia and Bessie Coleman, they were sympathetically 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.400 reported in the media and spread by popular culture, and 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.160 this really had an effect on that ordinary woman who 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:15.040 lived in Indiana. For Kentucky or Nevada, they too began 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.800 to see that they could have adventures themselves. So a 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:23.920 real lesson in how more people adopted to these changing times. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:29.880 What prompted her to become a flyer, And maybe in 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.720 answering you could also say a little bit about her instructor, 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.520 who was also a woman. I love that a snook. 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.040 I love her name right, and it isn't wonderful. And 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.719 at our house we actually when something goes bad, we go, oh, 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.640 not a snook, because it's such a such a just 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:52.000 great name. Um Amelia's interest actually was sparked when she 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.120 was a twenty year old um and she was working 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.520 in a Canadian military hospital during World War One and 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.360 it was near nearby. The hospital was close to up 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.800 An airfield and she sort of hung around. She loved 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.240 hanging around and listening to the pilots talk about there's 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.320 exciting adventures with bad weather and with air battles, and 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:15.240 she loved watching those planes take off. And she claimed 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.440 it was the first time that she actually felt that 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.079 pull to fly, But it wasn't until nineteen twenty when 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.480 she moved to California that aviation, as she says, caught her. Um. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.280 Flying was all the rage, especially in southern California, and 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.439 every week there was something going on. So they had 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.360 plane races and somebody was doing stunt flying or wing walking. 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.560 And Amelia and her father attended an air air meat 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:43.080 and she watched these amazing flyers and then turned to 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.000 her father and said she thought she would like to 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:48.520 do that too. Um. Her father, of course, he was 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.679 not enthusiastic. What parents would want their daughter to go up, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.880 and especially in n I mean airplanes were basically kites 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.840 with with an engine, not say um. But she convinced 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.000 him that to arrange a flight, a trial flight for 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.680 her um. And so she went up the next day 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.600 was the first time she'd ever flown. Now, her father 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.800 really intended for her to be terrified and get over 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:19.120 this idea of flying, but instead she was exhilarated and 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.760 she just had to learn how to fly. She was 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:26.600 completely hooked, so that backfired. UM. She chose Netta Snook 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.640 because Netta was the only female flyer in southern California 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.520 who was in the business of giving lessons, and Amelia 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:37.600 thought she would feel much more comfortable with a woman instructor. Um, 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:42.160 and Netta snook while she was something. She was this feisty, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:46.320 redheaded twenty four year old. She taught herself or she'd 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.800 um paid for her own lessons and had learned to 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.160 fly as a teenager. And then then when World War 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.679 One started, she tried to bull her way, bulldoze her 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.880 way into the U. S. Air Corps. Um. Of course 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.120 they wouldn't take her because she was a woman. She 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.640 was a fantastic pilot, so they missed out. Um, she 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.080 became an airplane mechanic instead. I mean, think about that, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:12.240 she's a mechanic during World War one. Um, when the 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.600 war did end, she bought herself a wrecked warplane. She 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.760 repaired it, and then she barnstormed across the country. She 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:22.160 charged passengers I think it was fifteen dollars for a 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.160 fifteen minute ride. And like I said, she was a 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.280 great pilot. And so besides the basics of flying, which 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.360 in those days were pretty basic, he had a stick 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.600 in a rudder. Um, Netta taught Amelia had to keep 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.600 her mind focused on flying. Netta always claimed that Amelia 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.040 daydreamed during flying, which wasn't safe. She taught Amelia to 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.800 always check her fuel gauge before they took off. Amelia 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:46.920 tended to hop into the plane and want to hit 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.600 the clouds immediately, and sometimes safety did not come first, 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.880 And Netta taught Amelia about what to do in emergencies. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.120 Want to pull up the nose, want to shove that 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:00.480 nose down? Um. Netta went on to not be particularly 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.280 complimentary about Amelia's flying abilities. Um. They only flew together 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.839 for about seven months, and then Amelia changed in structures 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:12.040 instructors left Anetta behind. Oh wow, but it sounds like 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:16.240 Nedda was quite entrepreneurial herself of fixing that plane and 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.240 charging people to go for rides on it. They must 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.400 have been quite a duo as long as it lasted. Yeah, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.080 I think there was probably some jealousy there on both parts. Yeah, 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:30.000 it's fascinating. Well, so she makes the famous flight, that 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.280 solo flight across the Atlantic. What can you tell us 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:38.880 about that? What was it like? Physical and mental challenges 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.920 surely must have been there for her. You're such a 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:47.000 wonderful scenes setter. Help us understand what that was like. Oh, 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.679 you know, it was a amazing flight, at least I 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:56.280 think so. I think Melia probably would not call it amazing. UM. 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:01.000 She took off on two and I love the reason 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.400 that she took off. It was the fifth anniversary of 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.480 Charles Lindbergh's famous solo flight. So there's our girl promoting 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.000 herself as much as she can. It was a good 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.239 choice for a date. She left from Harvard Grace, Newfoundland. 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.760 UM in her cockpit she took along some tomato juice, 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.680 canned tomato juice, and a couple of squares of chocolate 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.440 for sustenance. UM. And things went pretty well, at least 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.960 in the daytime. And then it got dark and her 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:30.000 ultimater failed, and without it, she had no way of 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:34.280 knowing how far above the ocean she was actually flying. Luckily, 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.280 the night was bright so she could see the water 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:43.440 below UM. Then she smelled something burning. She stood and 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.600 she saw this flame out front, and she realized that 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:51.760 it was UM a manifold seam that had broken a 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.840 broken weld in the manifold seam, and hot exhaust gases 0:14:55.840 --> 0:15:00.440 were escaping from her plane cylinders, causing this flame. She 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.480 hoped the fire wouldn't spread, and she flew on just 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.960 I think it's amazing because she's over the Atlantic. Um. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.040 But she kept looking out the side window, and she worried. 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.480 Later on, she actually admitted that she thought about turning back, 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.360 but she was already four hours out and so it 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.520 would be four hours back, so she might as well 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:24.120 just keep on going. Then the weather turned absolutely awful. 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.480 A rainstorm came alound around and just pummeled her little aircraft, 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:33.320 reduced visibility to almost nothing, and so she really was 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:38.120 now lying blind. Um. She felt sure that she had 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:42.760 been buffeted way off course. And then the rain turned ice, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.880 and it coated the plane and it weighed it down, 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.960 and the plane went into a spin. Amelia claimed she 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.800 doesn't know how long she was in a spin, but 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.000 of course she managed to pull it out. Um. But 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.440 then she had no choice but to descent to the 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.960 warmer weather or warmer air, closer to the water so 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.080 that the ice on the plane would melt. But sometimes 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.920 she dipped too low, and then the waves would lick 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.640 at the landing gear, and just when you think that's 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.680 bad enough, the fog rolls in and so now she 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.600 really cannot see. So she would climb again in hopes 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.040 of getting above the fog, and then they would start 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.560 to ice up, and she would lower down into the 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.960 fog to let the ice melt, and then she would 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.360 ascend to get above the fog, up and down and 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.880 up and down. It must have been harrowing. She actually 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.840 had some smelling salts with her that she used to 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.880 maintain her concentration, and she later admitted to almost losing 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.440 her nerve over the ice and fog. Um. It really 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:56.400 was a nightmare. Daybreak finally came and that flaming broken 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.680 weld was shaking and rattling um, and she was really 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.640 worried about that. And then when she went to switch 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:07.480 on her reserve fuel tank, which was overhead the switch 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.919 was overhead, she discovered that the gauge linked and so 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:15.159 gasoline was trickling down her neck. I couldn't I know, 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.719 It's like so many bad things at once. And so 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.320 she made a decision right there and then that she 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.199 was planning to go all the way to Paris and 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.000 do the Lindbergh, you know, do what Lindbergh had done. 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.320 But now she decided that she would just land at 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.560 the first possible place. Pretty soon, she sees a meadow, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:37.400 she circles down, she lands beside a herd of astonished cows, 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.480 and then she I bet they were astonished. And then 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.160 she climbs out of the cockpit and calls to an 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.840 equally astonished farmer where am I? And he calls back 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:51.119 Gallagher's pasture and she had actually landed in northern Ireland. 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.000 Um didn't make it all the way to Paris, but 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.040 still becomes the first woman to fly solo two thousand 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:02.000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. I mean, you've described that 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.720 in such dramatic ways that I felt myself on the 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.840 edge of my my seat here as I'm taking the 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:17.919 flight with her, truly harrowing, truly harrowing senecas one hundred 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:30.160 women to hear will be back after the short break? Well, 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:34.440 I know she. Um went on to create the ninety 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:39.600 Nines and International Organization to Advance Female Pilots. Did that 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:46.240 organization have impact? It? Did? It still does? Um. There 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.359 were what twenty six female pilots. They got together in 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.560 an air hanger and Curtis Field UM in New York 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.919 and they decided that they would create this organization. And 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.800 I love this because it is such an Amelia heart 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:03.119 thing to do. She felt that women pilots, women in 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.680 aviation needed a group to support each other and perhaps 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.480 look for employment for each other UM, and keep information 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.720 on women in aviation and their achievements. She also wanted 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:18.879 to promote the advancement of aviation and women's place in it. 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:22.680 She did not want people to forget about women's place 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:27.280 in aviation. UM. The name came from the sum number 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.280 of their members, and originally it was so the group 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.800 was originally called the eighty six is, and then they 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.879 were the ninety seven's and finally the ninety nine and 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:39.200 that name stuck UM. Although the group does still exist 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.600 and the group has membership that is far surpassed ninety nine. 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:46.760 It's worldwide and it includes not just pilots, but technicians, 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.919 mechanics UM. Any woman who has had achievement in aviation, 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.320 and I think she would Amelia would just love that 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.520 well and so interesting that her legacy also continues in 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.639 that way as well. Well. Let's fit it now to 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:07.200 that much discussed topic that you mentioned at the outset 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:12.720 her disappearance. It's a whole cottage industry UM has been 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:16.760 put in place to deal with that. What do we 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:21.760 know exactly about what happened. Here's what we do know, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:28.200 verifiable right. We know that on July two, Amelia and 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.159 her navigator Fred Noonan, they took off from New Guinea 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.240 in her big Lockheed Electra. They were headed for Howland Island. 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.359 Howland Island, of course, is this tiny spit of coral 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.679 sand in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Because it 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.640 was so small and thus so hard to locate from 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:48.199 the air, the US coastcard Um had sent out the 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.119 Itasca to help make it easier for her to spot, 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.680 and at dawn the Itasca began belching out these thick 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.840 clouds of black smoke as a visual signal, and the 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.040 ship's radio men waited to receive an send messages to 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.800 her when she got within signal distance. They also had 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.520 been sending out a set a steady stream of Morris 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.560 code the letter A A A A A A as 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.159 a guide to help her find the island. Um the 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.280 radio man first heard her, we know from the log 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:21.400 book at a m and she sounded very calm and 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:25.280 reported on the weather. Cloudy and overcast is what she said. 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:28.359 The rest of her message got lost in static. No 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.560 one was particularly worried because they felt she was too 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.359 far out yet. Um at five am they heard her 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.359 again again. She was reporting on the weather. It was 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.280 partly cloudy, she said, and then again lost in static. 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.760 At six fourteen a m. They heard her say it Taska, 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:49.880 this is k A j Q, which were her call numbers, 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:53.439 want bearing and will whistle in mike. And so she 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:55.560 told them she was two hundred miles away, and she 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.760 began whistling into her radio's microphone, and this shocked the 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:02.480 ray you A men on the itasca Um. They did 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:05.119 have a direction finder on the ship that could pick 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:08.399 up radio signals and could determine where they were coming from. 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:13.080 But Amelia was using the wrong radio frequency for that. Yeah, 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.239 and they realized. They were horrified that they realized they 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:18.600 could not help her, not the way that she needed. 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:23.080 So thirty minutes passed and there were no transmissions from her, 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.560 and then at six forty five she came back at 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.280 least take bearing at us, and she whistled in the 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:33.080 microphone again. For the next hour, the TESCA radio man 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.400 sent signals and messages in Morris code and they were 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:40.560 absolutely frantic. Um. They knew she'd been flying about nineteen 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.160 hours at this point they knew that her fuel had 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.800 to be running low. At seven forty two, she breaks 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:50.119 through again and she says, we cannot we can. We 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.040 must be on you, but cannot see you. We're flying 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.520 at an altitude of a thousand feet. The Itasca has 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:58.639 had radio man at this point I thought the signal 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:02.240 was so sad, so strong. He actually stepped outside because 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.919 he was sure that she was right overhead, and of 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:09.240 course she wasn't. At she said, we are listening, but 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:12.879 cannot hear you. And at eight am she said, please 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:17.440 take bearing on us an answer. Those radio men were sick. 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.359 They tried everything for forty five minutes. They tried, They 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:25.200 got pretty creative. Um. One of the chief radio men 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:29.120 actually said I was sitting there sweating blood. And then 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:35.840 she said, we are online thirty five. We will repeat message. 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:39.159 We are running online north and south, and her voice, 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:43.440 according to that same radio man, sounded frantic. And then 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:49.480 there was nothing all day. At six pm that same day, 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:52.600 at six pm that evening, radio men thought they heard her, 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:55.600 but the signal was too weak, and so they asked 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:58.159 the sender the center to give them a series of 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:01.439 long dashes, and in reply they heard this on and 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:04.960 off again, sound like a generator starting and stopping. And 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:09.080 radio men actually disregarded the sound because normally Morris code 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:11.240 is sent with a sending key, and what they didn't 0:24:11.240 --> 0:24:13.760 know is that Amelia did not have a Morris Code 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:16.679 sending key on the plane, and so for her to 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:19.840 send Morris code, she had the pot had to actually 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:24.000 pushed the two talk button on a radio microphone UM, 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:26.520 and when she did this, it sounded like a generator 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:30.439 going on on and off. UM. They actually recorded their 0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:34.320 long while all of this in their log book UM. 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:36.840 And then there was something else too. Later a man's 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:41.120 voice could be heard on that same signal, and there 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:45.440 was some this terrible miscommunication because ITASCA didn't know that 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:48.239 fred Noonan was along with her. She they thought she 0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:50.800 was actually flying alone, and so when they heard a 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:56.000 man's voice, they chucked that signal up to being a hoax. Eventually, 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:58.119 the coast Guard, along with the Navy, searched for for 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:03.639 sixteen days and it one point UM a biplane spotted 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:07.879 um signs of habitation on Gardner Island, which was about 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:11.480 or is about three fifty miles south of Holland Island, UM, 0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:13.720 but he didn't report what he saw, and no one 0:25:13.760 --> 0:25:17.840