Amelia Earhart

Woman in Flight

By Martha Rogers

Amelia Earhart is a woman who proved that women could excel in whatever field they chose, her choice being aviation. She excelled as a female pilot in a world dominated by men at the time.

Born in Atchison Kansas on July 24, 1897, she began going against traditional gender roles 

at an early age by playing basketball and taking auto repair classes in school. During WWI she became a Red Cross nurse’s aid in Toronto, Canada. While there, she began spending time watching the pilots who flew and trained with Royal Flying Corps at a local airfield in Toronto.

After the war, she returned to the

United States to enroll at Columbia University where she began as a pre-med student. However, she stayed in school only a year because her heart and ambitions took her elsewhere.

In 1920, she and her father were at an airfield in Long Beach when a pilot, Frank Hawks gave her a plane ride that would forever change her life. It didn’t take long after they were airborne for her to decide she had to fly. With money she saved and her father’s help, she took her first lesson at Kinner Field with teacher Anita Snook who was a pioneer female aviator in 1921.

In order to pay for the lessons, she worked at the Los Angeles Telephone Company as a filing clerk. While there she began saving money for her own plane. Her first airplane was a secondhand Kinner Airster she nicknamed Canary because of its yellow color. Below she is with Snook and the plane.

  

Hard work and poor conditions accompanied those early training days. She chose a leather jacket to wear but had to sleep in it several nights to give it a “worn” look. She also cropped her
hair short. She loved flying and was determined to stay with it.

Amelia in her flight gear

She set a world’s record for women when she flew to an altitude of 14,000 feet in “The Canary” in 1922. In 1923, she became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot’s license.

She was engaged for a time to Samuel Chapman, a chemical engineer from Boston but broke it off in 1928. Later, in 1931, she married George P. Putnam, a publisher, but she retained her maiden name for her cross-country tours and flying exhibitions.

Between 1930 and 1935, Earhart set a number of women’s speed and distance aviation records. One of those was from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland with the intent to fly to Paris, France in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5B (pictured here) in an attempt to emulate Charles Lindbergh’s flight. Due to weather conditions and

mechanical problems, she had to land at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland.

As the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress and several other honors for the feat.

During this time, she also set seven speed and distance records for women in aviation. With her new desire to fly around the world “as near the waistline as could be,” she then began to realize her red Vega was too limited for long distance flying over the ocean.

For a brief time, she and pilot Paul Mantz operated the Earhart-Mantz Flying school located in Burbank Airport in California. She later used the airport to hangar her Lockheed Electra 10E. It included extensive modifications to the fuselage to incorporate additional fuel tanks.

The Electra was widely publicized as “Flying laboratory,” but little useful scientific information was planned. Her plans were to circumnavigate the globe and gather information for her next book. Captain Harry Manning was signed on as her navigator who was also a skilled radio operator who knew Morse code. Then Fred Noonan was chosen as a second navigator because of his vast experience in both marine and flight navigation. She is pictured with Fred before their flight.

Next month I will tell more about that flight around the world, her disappearance, speculations about what happened and the disappearance has spawned many myths and legends about the legendary Amelia Earhart.

Have you ever flown a plane or wanted to be a pilot?

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at: www.marthawrogers.com,

Twitter: @martharogers2

Facebook: Martha Rogers Author Page

BOOK GIVEAWAY AND WASPs – WORLD WAR II LADY TEST PILOTS

ANNE GREENE here. Today I’m giving an autographed copy of my WWII Women Test Pilots book, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS, to one person who answers a question at the bottom of this blog. So please leave a comment and your email for a chance to win.

Women played an important role in many jobs during World War II. One way women helped win that war to end all war was test piloting repaired combat planes. This was an especially dangerous job and thirty-eight WASPs died in the line of duty.

 

In 1942, the United States faced a severe pilot shortage. President Roosevelt made a life-altering decision that affected all women. He decided to train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat overseas. Congress named the females the Women Airforce Service Pilots – WASPs. The ladies surprised the Army Air Force Commander General Hap Arnold who wasn’t sure a ‘slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather. Neither were many officers and enlisted men in the Air Force. The ladies had to prove themselves. And prove themselves they did. With flying colors.

More than 1,100 lady civilian volunteers flew every type of military aircraft, including the B-26 and B-29 bombers, as part of the WASP program. They tested overhauled, crippled fighter planes, they towed targets to give inexperienced ground and air gunners training to shoot with live ammunition, and they ferried untested planes from factories to military bases across the country. The WASPs expected to become a branch of the military. Congress never passed that bill.

And along the way, they fell in love.

WASPs weren’t granted military status until the 1970s. Now 65 years after their service, President Obama signed a bill awarding the WASPs the Congressional Gold Medal.

The women who flew had moxie and an adventurous gene. In that 1940-1944 timeframe, most people had never travelled aboard a plane, much less flown one. Short, tall, slim, wide, women joined the WASP program knowing how to fly. Since flying lessons were expensive, most women came from wealthy families. The military trained male pilots from scratch, but not the female civilian volunteers.

Jacqueline Cochran, the driving force and head of the WASP program, was a pioneering aviator. But disbelieving men threatened the WASP program from the start. WASPs had to fight to remain in service. Men found the program unacceptable and hard to swallow, not believing that women could release men for combat and place themselves in danger. And these male voices were loud.

Yet, along the way, women fell in love.

 

After proving themselves above and beyond the call of duty, Commander Arnold said, “Let the record stand. Women can fly as well as men, and in many cases, better.”

Still, as war drew to a close in the summer of 1944, women’s flight training programs closed. Flight instructors didn’t want to lose their jobs to women, so they lobbied Washington for the WASPs’ jobs saying, “It’s unacceptable for women to replace men.” Men said they were heads of families and sole providers and as such needed the jobs more than women.

And yet, along the way, women fell in love.

In my book, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS, about WASPs, you’ll discover a tumultuous romance, live through many of the adventures real American women experienced, and discover the answer to what happened to the WASPs. I hold WASPs in extremely high regard! Only a few of them remain alive today.

This month I’m giving an autographed copy of my historical romance, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS, to one person who leaves a comment. I pick the name from a hat. So please answer the question: In my next book of the Women of Courage series, would you rather read about a lady spy, a lady nurse, a WAC, a WAVE, a donut dolly, a victory garden grower, or a Rosie the riveter?

ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS is a World War II romance where Steel Magnolias meet Band of Brothers. While test flying planes as a Woman Air Service Pilot, WASP, Mandy McCabe escapes her dead-end life in Hangman’s Hollow, Tennessee. Major Harvey Applegate lost his wife to the WASP program, and he’s convinced Yankee Doodle Gals have no place flying in the war effort. He determines to protect the WASPs by sending them packing back to the home front. Will their new love survive the test? One love. Two goals. Someone has to give.

ANNE GREENE delights in writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer, and about gutsy heroines. Enjoy her Women of Courage series spotlighting heroic women of World War II, first book Angel With Steel Wings. Read her Holly Garden Private Investigating series, first book Red Is For Rookie. Look for Anne’s newest novella, The Marriage Broker and The Mortician in the anthology The California Gold Rush Romance Collection. Anne’s highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. Buy Anne’s books on http://www.Amazon.com. Visit Anne at AnneGreeneAuthor.com. and http://www.facebook.com/AnneWGreeneAuthor.

Amelia and Eleanor - Birds of a Feather

By Marilyn Turk

In the 1930’s two women dominated the headlines: aviator Amelia Earhart and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Earhart was an adventurous child, raised to be a nonconformist by her mother Amy, who dressed Amelia and her sister in bloomers instead of skirts like other girls wore. Dubbed as “tomboys,” the sisters climbed trees and roamed the nearby woods. At the age of ten while at the state fair, Amelia saw a biplane and fell in love with the notion of flying.

Amelia was convinced that women could do anything men could do and kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management and mechanical engineering.

As a teen, she was fascinated by an air show given by a World War I flying ace. A few years later her father took her to an airfield where she was treated to a ride in an airplane. By the time the plane lifted off the ground, Amelia was hooked on flying.

Amelia Earhart

She went on to national fame when she began her flying career, marking many “firsts” among aviation feats for women. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly nonstop across the Atlantic alone, flying from Newfoundland to Ireland on a flight that was just shy of 15 hours. She received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society. As her fame grew, she developed friendships with many people in high offices, such as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor’s background was much different. After the death of her parents, young Eleanor was raised by her grandmother, a woman of wealth and high social standing. Eleanor was groomed to be one of the ladies of society as well and was sent to a finishing school in England. However, at the school, Eleanor was taught to think independently and she developed her self-esteem among fellow students.

She returned to New York where she was presented as a debutante and began doing charity work with the women’s Junior League. She became passionate about helping others and spent hours volunteering in the city slums, a habit frowned upon by wealthy relatives.

Eleanor married Franklin Delano Roosevelt who went on to become president of the United States. When he was afflicted with polio in 1921, Eleanor took on a more active role in politics, dramatically changing the role of First Lady. Not content to stay in the background and handle domestic matters, she showed the world that the first lady was an important part of American politics. She gave press conferences and spoke out for human rights, children's causes and women's issues, working on behalf of the League of Women Voters. She also focused on helping the country's poor, stood against racial discrimination and, during World War II, traveled abroad to visit U.S. troops.

So it came as no surprise that the First Lady of Aviation and the First Lady of the United States admired and respected each other. As a frequent guest to the White House, Amelia and Eleanor discovered their mutual desire to fight both racial and sexual discrimination, as well as, help the disadvantaged of the post-depression era. Outspoken about their concerns, these women braved public opinion by doing things not done before.

At a White House dinner party on April 20, 1933, Amelia invited Eleanor to go on a night flight to Baltimore and back. The president was away, but other dinner guests, including the president of Eastern Air Transport, went to the nearest airport, Hoover Field in Arlington, VA. Dressed in their evening clothes, the party boarded an Eastern Air Transport twin-engine Curtis Condor. Earhart, dressed in a white silk gown and wearing white kid gloves, was at the controls of the plane for most of the flight.

Eleanor had hopes to someday take flying lessons from Amelia, but the president objected to the idea, so Eleanor’s dream to be a pilot never materialized. 

Marilyn Turk lives in and writes about the coastal South, especially its history. Rebel Light, the first book in her Coastal Lights Legacy series, and her Lighthouse Devotions, will be published in 2015. Her historical suspense, The Gilded Curse, will be published in March 2016. She writes a weekly lighthouse blog @ http://marilynturk.com. 

FLY GIRLS - LADY WWII PILOTS

Anne Greene here. I’ll be doing a series of postings in the next few months on the many important roles women played during World War II. Also today I have a BOOK GIVE-AWAY, so please leave a comment for a chance to win. 

In 1942, the United States faced a severe shortage of pilots. President Roosevelt decided to train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat overseas. Congress named the females Women Airforce Service Pilots – WASP. The ladies surprised US Army Air Force Command General, Hap Arnold, who wasn’t sure “A slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather.”

 

More than 1,100 lady civilian volunteers flew every type of military aircraft including the B-26 and B-29 bombers as part of the WASP program. They tested overhauled crippled fighter planes, they towed targets to give ground and air gunners training to shoot with live ammunition, and they ferried untested planes from factories to military bases across the country. The WASP expected to become a branch of the military. Congress never passed that bill.

WASPS weren’t granted military status until the 1970s. And now 65 years after their service, President Obama signed a bill awarding the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal. 

The women who flew had moxie and an adventurous gene. In that 1940-1944 time frame, most people had never been aboard a plane much less flown one. Short, tall, slim, wide, women came to the WASP program knowing how to fly. Since flying lessons were expensive, most women came from wealthy families. The military trained male pilots from scratch, but not the female civilian volunteers.  

Thirty-eight WASPs lost their lives serving their country. 

Jacqueline Cochran was the driving force and head of the WASP program. Jacqueline was a pioneering aviator. But the WASP program was threatened from the start and had to fight to remain in effect. Many people found the program unacceptable. Some found it hard to swallow that women could release men for combat duty and place themselves in danger. And as the war wound to an end, these voices grew louder.   

But in 1944 Commander Arnold said, “Let the record stand that women can fly as well as men, and in some cases better.” 

 

Yet, as the war seemed to draw to a close in the summer of 1944, flight training programs closed. Instructors didn’t want to lose their jobs to women, so they lobbied for the WASPs jobs saying “It’s unacceptable for women to replace men.” Men said they were heads of families and sole providers and as such needed the jobs more than women. 

My book, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS, about WASPs releases soon. In it you’ll discover a tumultuous romance, live though many of the adventures real American women experienced, and find the answer to what happened to the WASPs. I hold WASPs in extremely high regard! 

In coming months I’ll also be posting about the WAC, the NURSE, the WAVE, and the SPY, all brave American women who served America during the war to end all wars. So make a note to visit with me at Heroes, Heroines, and History every 14^th day of every month. Some months I’ll have chances for give-aways to the lovely people who leave comments.  

This month I’m giving an autographed copy of my historical romance, MARRIAGE BY ARRANGEMENT, to a person who leaves a comment. I pick a commenter’s name from a hat. So tell me, Did you have a female relative, Grand-mother, aunt, cousin, third cousin twice removed who served in the military during World War II? Leave a comment even if you didn’t. A donut dolly, a victory garden grower, or a bond seller all filled needed niches during the war. These deserve comments as well.

 

BIO: ANNE GREENE delights in writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer, and about gutsy heroines. She and her hero husband, Army Special Forces Colonel Larry Greene, visited Scotland, resulting in her award-winning Scottish historicals, Masquerade Marriage and Marriage By Arrangement. Moody Press published her first book, Trail of Tears, an American historical. A Texas Christmas Mystery also won awards. Elk Lake Publishing contracted two series. Her Women of Courage Series spotlights heroic women of World War II. The first book of the second series, Holly Garden, PI, Red Is For Rookie, releases in 2015. Anne makes her home in McKinney, Texas. Two of her four children live nearby. Tim LaHaye led her to the Lord when she was twenty-one, and Chuck Swindoll is her Pastor. Her highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. To learn more of Anne, visit her at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com.  She writes a novel teaching class on her blog www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com