ZRENJANINSKA GIMNAZIJA, 2011. godine

Graduation paper

Amelia Earhart-Pioneer Woman Aviator

Pupil: Mentor:

Ana Vujanovic Senka

Content:

Childhood Story of Amelia Earhart……………………………………………………………2

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 image…………………………………………………………………………………………9

George P. Putnam - Amelia's Husband………………………………………………………10

First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross…………………………….11

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First person to fly solo between Hawaii and California…………………………….12

Amelia Earhart as an Aviator…………………………………………………………………....13

Final Flight………………………………………………………………………………………………..13

Theories……………………………………………………………………………………………………15

Movies and television……………………………………………………………………………….16

Fun Facts about Amelia Earhart………………………………………………………………..18

Amelia Earhart – Accomplishments………………………………………………………….20

Used literature…………………………………………………………………………………………22

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Childhood Story of Amelia EarhartAmelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Kansas, the daughter of Edwin and Amy Earhart. At the age of three, she was sent to live with her grandmother (her namesake), mainly because the old woman needed company and a distraction from the deaths of her mother, her son, and her daughter-in-law, as well as the poor mental condition of her husband Alfred. Alfred Otis was a retired U.S. District Court Judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank, and chief warden of Trinity Episcopal Church. The grandparents (or grandmother) raised Amelia during her early childhood. She liked their home in Atchison, Kansas, especially her large bedroom with views of the nearby river, now a museum open to the public. She enjoyed her life with her grandparents: learning to read at five, and secure in a place where it seemed that almost everyone was family. But her grandmother was timid, and a worrier, and did not approve of Amelia's tomboy tendencies, so Amelia kept her pony-riding, tree-climbing, snow-sledding, and hunting activities to herself. Her parents were only 50 miles away, and she summered with them, so she remained close to them during these years.

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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.

Amelia's first "flight"In one of the more dramatic moments of Earhart's childhood, she, her sister, and a neighbor boy built a roller coaster at the family's home in Kansas City. The track began at the top of a tool-shed, about eight feet off the ground.

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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.

EducationFrom 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

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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.

Amelia and planesWhen 10-year-old Amelia Mary Earhart saw her first plane at a state fair, she was not impressed. "It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting," she said. It wasn't until Earhart attended a stunt-flying exhibition, almost a decade later, that she became seriously interested in aviation. A pilot spotted Earhart and her friend, who were watching from an isolated clearing, and dove at them. "I am sure he said to himself, 'Watch me make them scamper,'" she said. Earhart, who felt a mixture of fear and pleasure, stood her ground. As the plane swooped by, something inside her awakened. "I did not understand it

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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.

First air shows

Earhart took her first flying lesson on January 3, 1921, and in six months managed to save enough money to buy her first plane. The second-hand Kinner Airster was a two-seater biplane painted bright yellow. Earhart named the plane "Canary," and used it to set her first women's record by rising to an altitude of 14,000 feet.

"The fact that my roadster was a cheerful canary color may have caused some of the excitement. It had been modest enough in California, but was a little outspoken for Boston, I found.’’

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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.

The first woman to fly the Atlantic One afternoon in April 1928, a phone call came for Earhart at work.

"I'm too busy to answer just now," she said.

After hearing that it was important, Earhart relented though at first she thought it was a prank. It wasn't until the caller supplied excellent references that she realized the man was serious.

"How would you like to be the first woman to fly the Atlantic?" he asked, to which Earhart promptly replied, "Yes!"

After an interview in New York with the project coordinators, including book publisher and publicist George P. Putnam, she was asked to join pilot Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis E. "Slim" Gordon. The team left Trepassey harbor, Newfoundland, in a Fokker F7 named Friendship on June 17, 1928, and arrived at Burry Port, Wales, approximately 21 hours later.

Their landmark flight made headlines worldwide, because three women had died within the year trying to be that first woman. When the crew returned to the United States they were greeted with a ticker-tape parade in New York and a reception held by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.From then on, Earhart's life revolved around flying.

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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.

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Celebrity imageTrading 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 (1928–1929). Meanwhile, Putnam had undertaken to heavily promote her in a campaign including publishing a

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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.

George P. Putnam - Amelia's Husband As fate would have it, her life also began to include George Putnam. The two developed a friendship during preparation for the Atlantic

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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 .

First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross

On May 20, 1932, five years to the day after Lindbergh, she took off from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Paris. Strong north winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems plagued the flight and forced her to land in a pasture near Londonderry, Ireland. "After scaring most of the cows in the neighborhood," she said, "I pulled up in a farmer's back yard." As word of her flight spread, the media surrounded her, both overseas and in the United States. President Herbert Hoover presented Earhart with a gold medal from the National Geographic Society.

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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, CaliforniaIn 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 2,408-mile 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."

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Amelia Earhart as an AviatorAmelia's flying accomplishments proved influential to American pilots and pilots of the world alike. She was a creative impulse within the Ninety-Nines organization, and a stimulus for womankind to replace outdated social norms. She encouraged women to hold fast to their beliefs, follow their hearts, and always dare to dream.

"The more women fly, the more who become pilots, the quicker we will be recognized as an important factor in aviation," said Amelia. Her parting words to Louise Thaden, a fellow Ninety-Nine were, "If I should bop off, it'll be doing the thing that I've always most wanted to do."

By becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane, Amelia gained immediate fame. She is still remembered as the outstanding female pilot of her time. She did not, however, seek to set herself apart from other female pilots.

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.

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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.

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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.

TheoriesToday, 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.

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"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.

Movies and television- The 1943 Rosalind Russell film Flight for Freedom derived from a

treatment, Stand by to Die, was a fictionalized treatment of Earhart's life, with a heavy dose of Hollywood World War II propaganda.

- A 1976 television bio production titled Amelia Earhart starring Susan Clark and John Forsythe included flying by Hollywood stunt pilot Frank Tallman whose late partner in Tallmantz Aviation, Paul Mantz, had tutored Earhart in the 1930s.

- In the climax of the 1977 science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Amelia Earhart is seen walking out of the Mothership, along with a crowd of a hundred other alien abduction survivors. Director Steven Spielberg has acknowledged that this was specifically a nod to the legacy of Earhart and other flyers who mysteriously vanished at sea.

- The documentary Amelia Earhart: The Price of Courage (1993) from American Experience.

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- 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

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Fun Facts about Amelia Earhart:

- Amelia was named Amelia Mary Earhart after her two grandmothers, Amelia Harres Otis and Mary Wells Earhart - a family tradition.

- Amelia received the nickname "Meelie" from her younger sister Muriel, because as a young child, Muriel couldn't pronounce Amelia's name correctly.

- Amelia was initially engaged to be married to a New Englander named Sam Chapman, whom she met while visiting her parents in Los Angeles.

- Shortly after her engagement to Sam Chapman ended, Amelia composed the poem Courage.

- Amelia helped to finance a date fruit farm in Arizona for her former California mechanic who had contracted tuberculosis.

- 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.

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- 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.

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Amelia Earhart – Accomplishments1922

May 16 , received pilot's license

October 22, set women's altitude record of 14,000 feet

1928

June 17-18, became first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger

Was the first woman to make a solo round-trip flight across the United States

1929

Took third place in the first Women's Air Derby in her Lockheed Vega

1930

Set women's speed record of 181 miles per hour

1931

Set autogiro altitude record of 18,451 feet

1932

May 20-21, became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic

June 21, received the National Geographic Society's Special Gold Medal

August 24-25, set women's transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles, California to Newark, New Jersey

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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)

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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/

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