11 June 1937

Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E NR16020 in Africa. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)

11 June 1937: Leg 13. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan flew the Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, from Gao, French Sudan, to Fort-Lamy, French Equatorial Africa, a distance of 910 nautical miles (1,047 statute miles/1,685 kilometers), landing at 1:55 p.m. G.M.T.

“As usual, our arising at Gao was before dawn, a start made notable by a marvelous breakfast, whose chief d’oeuvre was a mushroom omelet supplemented with cups of fine French chocolate. Thence our revised route took us to Fort Lamy about a thousand miles away. On this day’s flying to Lamy and the next, we crossed stretches of country barren beyond words, a no-man’s land of eternal want, where the natives cling tenaciously to an existence almost incomprehensible to westerners. . . .”

Amelia Earhart

Great Circle route from Gao, French Sudan, to Fort-Lamy, French Equatorial Africa, 910 nautical miles (1,047 statute miles/1,685 kilometers). Great Circle Mapper)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

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