In June, 1928, just one year after Charles Lindberg had made the first trip across the Atlantic in an airplane, the first woman to make the flight was a flyer named Amelia Earhart. She was selected because the sponsor of the trip, the British Socialite, Amy Phipps Guest was forbidden by her father and husband, a former British Air Minister. They suggested Amy find another woman to undertake the dangerous journey in her plane the Friendship.
Amelia in 1928 at age 31 Library of Congress
Publisher George Putmanm found Amelia, a Kansas girl who had been piloting since 1920, and had logged over 500 flights. She fit the part. Lean, All-American and very fashionable for the 1920s, Earhart with her short shaggy blonde highlights resembled Charles Lindberg. Putnam would play off the looks, dubbing her “The Lady Lindy”, and he would eventually marry her.
The plans were secret, so as not to draw out competitors. Ruth Elder in the American Girl had attempted the crossing the previous autumn. Her plane went down just short of the Azores. It exploded as the crew was picked up by a passing steamer.
After a frustrating week of poor weather, the crew modified the plane, lightening the load. Having no change of clothes, Putnam suggested Earhart try a to find a convent to wash her outfit. Her cheeky reply, via telegram, “No need, I lost my shirt to Slim at rummy.” Earnhardt brought only a few oranges and four malted milk balls, leaving the sandwiches to “the boys”.
Amelia kept the flight log and took a back seat to the pilot William Stultz and mechanic Lou Gordon. She had never flown a multi-engine, plane, nor one with pontoons. She also had little experience with instrument flying, but fog almost the entire way would demand it. She never took the controls during the flight, calling herself no better than a sack of potatoes.
They left from Trespassy Newfoundland and after encountering significant fog landed in South Wales. After great celebrations in Southampton and London, the crew headed home aboard the steamer President Roosevelt. A ticker tape parade greeted them in New York in Early July. Earhart became an overnight sensation. Putnam booked 30 appearances over the next month, including a visit to the White House.
A few days later, Frank Hague, the Mayor of Jersey City and the Democrat Party boss arranged with Putnam to have New Jersey Governor A. Harry Moore honor Stultz, a New Jersey native with a commission of Major for his efforts. It would be a buildup to Democratic Presidential Candidate Al Smith’s visit later in the month.
They arrived at Governor’s Day on August 2, at the Sea Girt Camp. Governor’s Day included a ball, either at the Stockton Hotel or in Spring Lake at the E&S or the Monmouth, speeches and a parade of troops.
Stulz and Earhart landed in separate planes, in front of about three thousand New Jersey Democrats and another few thousand troops of the 114th regiment. Amelia was asked to say a few words and said, “This is Bill’s day. I am so happy to see him honored and I hope he crosses the Pacific and, perhaps become a colonel.”
Amelia shakes hands with Governor A. Harry Moore at Sea Girt., with Wilbur Stultz and Mrs. Moore American Heritage Photo
Amelia, Stultz, and his wife took pictures with the Governor and Mrs. Moore in front of the Little White House, the Governor’s summer mansion. Amelia and Stultz went up together in her plane, circled the camp with a few stunts, and then they each flew away in their own planes. That fall Amelia became the first woman to fly to the West Coast and back, almost wrecking her plane near Pittsburgh when she hit an unmapped ditch, and Putnam continued the journey via train.
Earhart wrote a book about her journey, “20 Hours and 40 Minutes: Our Friendship”, where she translated her logs and pushed for equal participation of women in the new field of aviation.
Earhart’s fame would be expanded with her own solo flight across the Atlantic a year later, and her death in 1937 during a gambit to circumnavigate the globe, which ended when they ran out of fuel in Japanese-occupied waters of the Pacific.
Amelia’s Electra, which would take her life in 1937 Smithsonian Photo