'f/1a_/3 7
N , '(. TR JfJUN £
5-W eelc Repair
Joh e ded on
Earhart Plane
on"t Be Disappointed o~
urpri ed if It Take.
Longer Flyer A. , ert
undrccl of Lett r
rging Her Lo Tr)
By Amelia Earhart
URBANK. Ca ll!., ApnJ 11.-,
k ago Los Angeles harbor mv
lane was lowered over the side
the steamer which brou!::ht t
Hawaii. Only today ·ere Lock­f!
Cd engineer able to tell me Lhe
e.·tent of the damage suffered on
the attempted take-off t Luke
Field, Honolulu. Thell pronounce­ment
is. "Five weeks w!ll be needed
!or reconditioning and repair.''
Like broken bones which .Nature
knit· slowly In her own special
process, the injured pa of 11,n air-plane
must be pain ly re-stored.
There is no sh t w un
usefulness in either ~ .U.~ec~
healing 1s desired. In IWlllfflon to
"healing," a strengthe I of cer-tain
members to withs 1,be ex-ces&
lva st.rain overloading ubjects
them ls in order for my pet. This
means some actual rede 1gning, an­othtμ'.
process which cannot be hur­ried.
As to the precious engines,
they are 'alr ady in the P ciflc au­tomotive
hops here at Burbank- be­ing
thoroughly checked. After the
plane and engines are put together
rome Ume must be allow d for test­ing.
Jtod1 to Fly in Late • b.y
All in all, it looks as if the trip
could :not be resumed before late
May. ru be neither surpri d nor dis­appointed
if the start is further de­layed.
l;n such flying projetts 11~
this J)AtJence has an important
place 1_~.ia pilot's equipment. :Sut
·v.-lth goou fortune the Electra and
I ho~ to shove off from oakland
again IJOllle time In the month of
May. Aud agabl as a peripatetic Te­porter
ni try to share what I can
of the trip with readers of the Her­ald
Tribune-ii they don't tiecoDle
"9.'eary ting for me to try to ft.n­:
lsh whal I have started.
Of se the delay ma ac to
al~ flJe original route here and
there. t'!'eather conditions will have
chaDl8B in some sections BO that
a n ber of hops planned may
not be feasible. On the other hanrJ,
some may be easier. What will be
the ftna1 balance cannot be guessed
until have studied the weather
maps ot the world and talked with
meteorologists who know the habits
of winds and rain and ocean cur­rents
around the eartp's waistline.
Whd the least shilt in the route
means can only be appreciated
wbcn it. ls realized that fuel, oil,
and supplies have to be bitted cor­respondingly.
And especially spare
parts and mechanics already ar­ranged
for at designated points offer
special problems in the replanning.
courses laid out on maps must be
replotted. and time for covering dif­ferent
distances calculated again.
.Jus£ ''H ppy Adventure"
Despite these troubles in revamp­ing
it, there seem to me many rca­J;
Ons for trying to complete the
ffight. I still think it a good Idea
and still v;ant to make it-which
Js, and ha5 been. the dominant rea­son
for the project's conception. I
believe the equ1pment is the b st
for the purpose at hand. I 'l"l'ould
rather be pilot on such an inspirilr
air voysae than on any I could
imagine in the present stale o!
aviation development.
Por this flight. let me add. I
Jnake no claims of scientific or other
accomplishment. To me it can be,
if successful. a. happy adventure.
And perhaps there 1s a place in this
i,rosaic world for the right kind of
adventuring.
I have been encouraged tn con­tinue
by hundreds of letters many
from children. by generous news­paper
comment and by the attitude
of friends, particularly those at
Purdue. Perhaps most of all .my
husband's react.ion h11s helped. I
could not carry on nearly so happily
v.1thout knoWn and unknown well­wishers.
l could .not carry on at all
without help and encouragement
from G._:P~-~P_.; .·~------~-
•
There Is. too. a humanitarian
aspect to the flight. It concerns my
navigator-to-be. Captain Fred
Noonen, who after our sixteen-hour
voyage to Honolulu seems to want
to continue as shipmate. Shortly
before the Oakland take-off he was
in a serious automobile accident.
Three days ago he survived another
highway smashup. Now he and Mrs.
Noonen are eager for him to take
to the air again for safety!
It's sad but true that the stresse ..
and st.rains of an ,airplane accident
re just as severe financially as they
are mechanically. So I am mor' or
less mortgaging the future to go on.
But what are futures for?
Mi l:arhart Expected Here
George Palmer Putnam, Miss Ear­hart's
hu band, interviewed at the
Barclay Hotel in New York yester­day,
said hJs wife probably would
make a brief visit here in about ten
days to care for some business matter5
in connection with the flight.
Mr. Putnam was asked to estimate
tr · actual cost of the accident, in
repairs and resulting changes in
plans.
"Just how much we cannot tell yet,"
be replied. "But plenty!"
He emphasized the fact. as orig­inally
announced. that the project
has no ·:sponsor." its only financial
returns which help to defray costs
being from mail "covers" for col­lectors
which will be carried, and
from Miss Earhart's writing for news­papers.
The stamp department of Gimbel
announced In connection with the
renewed Earhart flight that there will
be a second issue o! covers lJDilted in
number. They will be differentiated
fro::.i those carried on the ftrst at­tempt,
which terminated when an
accident occurred in Hawaii. These
original covers are now being held at
Honolulu and a special cachet record­ing
that Its transit was delayed be·
cause of the take-off crash on
March 20.
Cop:,r11hl. 1931, Ne Yor'lt Trlbun~ lll~
Y/:1..t/ J 7
N· Y. TR 18 VIII 'E
Miss Earha t
eturns, Eager
For New Te t
Still Confident of Succe
in Pioneer Flight Around
W ai1t-Line of the World
May Take Off in 30 Day
Husband Meets Her; Plane
Due to Land To01orro"
By Amelia Earhart
Copyrfcht, 1937, New Yort Trlb•~l't Ino.
BURBANK, Cr.lif., March 25.­This
morning I completed m
fourth voyage between Hawaii and
the mainland-two by air and two
by boat. This last return by the
steamer Maiolo was not intended
when -l-.took off a week ago. How­ever,
,the best laid plans of mice
and pilots go awry, and very awry
mine have gone.
The accident which ended the
present flight was a high price to
pay. But already, in retrospect, it
seems as if the knowledge gained
on the way almost was worth the
cost. I mean in such things as
better arrangements of navigating
acUities and radio; exact rtactions
+.he plane under heavy load con­ons
a.t various a!U.tud and its
perb performance in taking off.
nd, above all, a continu1ty of faith
the equ1pment.
1:as the accident shaken my con-dence?
That question has been asked me
several times today. The answer 1s
very clear in my mind. Nothing has
happened to change my attituqe
toward the original project. In­stead,
I feel better about the shJp
itself tl:nm I ever have. And I am
more eager than ever to fly it again.
In pioneer flying one has to take
the rough with the smooth. The ac-cident
was just "one those
things." It might hav n so
much worse that I'm very
thankful,
Learned About
The plane beha.ved 1-,uWUlly.
It.a performance in every way was
all that could be asked. out of tbla
experience, if any one baa cause to
lament, tt is the Electra. itself. For
I put burdens upon her which in
normal flying she was not built to
bear. She carried a heavy ertoad.
A8 a '2natter of !act, very few tlmes
slDce- we started our ~ershJp
bave 1 fl.own her without one.
Come to think o! it, mlitt of l'AY
ftyinl fdr some years has leen wlt.h
overloa.ded planes SCf'king distance
performance. So that the problems
-and the risks--0f this phase of
the flight were not unlamillar to
me.
As to loads, the performance data
show that hereafter I need not take
quite so much gasoline on these
long Pacific hops. Thia, coupled
with a smaller crew, means fewer
pounds to carry.
Not until the crippled plane 1s
brought back to the Lockheed plant
here at Burbank will I know the
true extent of her injuries or the
time requ1red to cure them. And,
alu. the costs. Unfortunately the
latter must play a very importani
w,rt in any plans for the future.
If all aoes well, I hope t.he plane
may be reconditioned in from thJity
to sixty days. Then. if I feel as l
now do, tht' flight will start all over
again and I'll essay my third crou­tng
to Honolulu.
I've read with interest that thta
time rm to try for a speed recotd.
Thilt ts not correct. The couna
choem ia not for speed. I intend f.o
follow ~ on,1n&l Jetaure)y plan as
aarJy aa poiltie., though perhaps
ch&Jl,led ~n.s at
postponed .ctat.e may zeqUire -.e
deviation in that route.
PniN for Navi,'a&or
Looking bact. I rea1ia.e wll&t & re­mar.
lcabl.Y pJeaaant pauage ~as the
slxteen-hopl' bop trom oakland to
Honolulu. And that despite not very
favorable weather conditions.
Pred Noonan's navigation proved
all one could expect. Throughout the
night the stars told him (Tia his
bubble ocfll,ne) where we were.
while Harrt Manning worked the
radio.
At one point, when we were within
a couple of hundred mlles from Ha­waii,
Fred told roe to drop down
through tl.e clouds and steer a cer­tain
courae.
"Keep t.he Makapuu beacon ten
tleareea on ~ starboard bow.'' he
ordered.
What .-meant was that I ahoUld
tune my lledix radio direction finder
to indicate'&bl location of the beacon,
lben he!Mfh plane as be directed.
This .I& 'lbe- :ftrst time l"ft, uaed this
:recen~ . Cjeftloped ent. On
tb1a ~c hop it was one of the
g.ost inWr..ting and Yaluab1' on
lilard, aad performed peifec&l¥. I
$llbt 1f I'd try the flight t.o tiny
Bowland l'llland without it supple­menting
.Pnd Noonan's sltllL By the
.y, Pre<l is definitely "siped Up"
ti accompany me on the ~~e­
«ir. There'll be only two o! ua 'ihen
'lie start again. Manning ia oblilllld to
nturn to his command on the At­lantic,
and Paul Mantz baa had his
J[onolulu ride. .
A allver llnlng to the present cloud
Sa the fact that now for a time I shall
not have to write any more news­paper
accounts. Hard as my report­ing
may have been on readen I
doubt 1f they can know What a chore
reporting or trying to report can be
to one whose other jobs include try­ing
to herd an airplane around the
Equator. A little later, When the
fl.lrht ls resumed, I hope to do a bet­t.
er Job, reporter-wise as well as
pllot-,nae.
-'