Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special,NR16020, being serviced at Karachi, Sindh, 16 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan with their Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, at Calcutta, India, 17 June 1937.
17 June 1937: Leg 19. “From Karachi on June 17 we flew 1,390 miles to Calcutta, landing at Dum Dum airdrome shortly after four in the afternoon. Low clouds hung about during the beginning of the flight, but these disappeared as we drew near the Sind Desert. Through this great barren stretch rough ridges extended almost at right angles to our course. A southerly wind whipped the sand into the air until the ground disappeared from view in regular ‘dust bowl’ fashion. We flew along until the ridges grew into mountains and poked their dark backs like sharks through a yellow sea. these acted as a barrier to the sand, and the air cleared somewhat, so we could again see what we were flying over – dry river beds, a few roads connecting villages, and then a railroad.” —Amelia Earhart
Great Circle route from Karachi, Sindh, (now, Pakistan) to Calcutta, Dum Dum, India, 1,178 nautical miles (1,356 statute miles/2,182 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
Fokker F.VIIb/3m Friendship on Southampton Water, after the transatlantic flight.
17–18 June 1928: Amelia Mary Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air when she accompanied pilot Wilmer Lower Stultz and mechanic Louis Edward Gordon as a passenger aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m, NX4204, Friendship. The orange and gold, float-equipped, three-engine monoplane had departed from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and arrived at Burry Port, on the southwest coast of Wales, 20 hours, 40 minutes later.
Amelia Earhart wrote 20 hrs. 40 min.—Our Flight in the Friendship (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1928), describing her adventure.
Friendship had been originally ordered by Richard E. Byrd for his Antarctic expedition, but because Ford Motor Company was a major sponsor, he made the decision to switch to a Ford Tri-Motor airplane. Byrd sold the new Fokker to Donald Woodward, heir to the Jell-O Corporation, for $62,000, and it was registered to his Mechanical Science Corp., of Le Roy, New York. Woodward then leased the airplane to Mrs. Frederick Edward Guest (née Anne T. Phipps, also known as Amy Phipps) for her to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air. She chose the name Friendship for the airplane.
Amy Phipps Guest
Mrs. Guest was a daughter of Henry Phipps, Jr., an American industrialist. She was married to Captain the Right Honourable Frederick Edward Guest P.C., C.B.E., D.S.O., M.P., a prominent British politician, former Secretary of State for Air, and a member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council. Amy Phipps Guest, however, was a multi-billionaire in her own right.
Mrs. Guest was not a pilot, so Stultz and Gordon had been hired to fly the airplane. When her family ruled out her transoceanic journey, “an American girl of the right type” was selected to make the flight in her place. Miss Amelia Mary Earhart, a social worker living in Boston, was interviewed and was the candidate selected.
Although Earhart was a pilot with approximately 500 hours of flight experience, she did not act as a pilot on this flight. She was, however, the aircraft commander. Instructions from Mrs. Guest’s attorney, David T. Layman, to Stultz and Gordon, dated 18 May 1928, were very specific on this matter:
“This is to say that on arrival at Trepassey of the tri-motor Fokker plane “FRIENDSHIP” if any questions of policy, procedure, personnel or any other question arises the decision of Miss Amelia M. Earhart is to be final. That she is to have control of the plane and of the disposal of the services of all employees as fully as if she were the owner. And further, that on arrival of the plane in London full control of the disposition of the plane and of the time and services of employees shall be hers to the same extent until and unless the owner directs otherwise.”
— The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1989, Chapter 11 at Page 104.
Amelia Earhart can be seen in the open cargo door of NX4204, Burry Port, Wales, 18 June 1928. (Getty Images/Archive Photos/PhotoQuest)
It was during the planning for this flight that Earhart first met her future husband, George Palmer Putnam.
Though Friendship was equipped with aluminum pontoons for water takeoffs and landings, it was otherwise the same type as Southern Cross, the airplane that Sir Charles E. Kingsford Smith flew from the United States to Australia earlier in the month. It was built by Anton H.G. Fokker’s N. V.Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek at Veere, Netherlands, in early 1928. Friendship , serial number 5028, was the fourth aircraft in the series. Flown by Bernt Balchen, it made its first flight 16 February 1928.
The Fokker F.VIIb/3m is a three-engine high-wing passenger transport with fixed landing gear. It could carry up to 8 passengers. The airplane was was 14.6 meters (47.9 feet) long, with a wingspan of 21.7 meters (71.2 feet) and 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) high. The wing had an area of 67 square meters (721 square feet). Its empty weight was 3,050 kilograms (6,724 pounds) and the gross weight, 5,200 kilograms (11,464 pounds).
Amelia Earhart at Southampton. Left to right are, The Honourable Amy Phipps Guest, flight mechanic Louis E. Gordon, Miss Earhart, pilot Wilmer L. Stultz, and Mrs. Lucia Marian Foster Welch, Mayor of the City of Southampton. (Purdue University Libraries, Karnes Archives and Special Collections via the BBC)
The F.VIIb/3m was powered by three 787.26-cubic-inch-displacement (12.90 liter) air-cooled Wright Aeronautical Corporation Model J-5C Whirlwind nine-cylinder radial engines. The left engine was serial number 8229, the center, 8280, and the right engine, 8321. These were direct-drive engine with a compression ratio of 5.1:1. The J-5C was rated at 200 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m., and 220 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. They drove two-bladed Standard adjustable-pitch propellers. The Wright J-5C was 2 feet, 10 inches (0.864 meters) long and 3 feet, 9 inches (1.143 meters) in diameter. It weighed 508 pounds (230.4 kilograms).
The standard F.VIIb/3m had a cruise speed of cruise 170 kilometers per hour (106 miles per hour), and maximum speed of 190 kilometers per hour (118 miles per hour). Its service ceiling was 4,750 meters (15,584 feet). It had a normal range of 1,240 kilometers (771 miles). NX4204 was modified at Fokker’s American subsidiary, Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in Teterboro, New Jersey, increasing the total fuel capacity to 870 gallons (3,293 liters).
Fokker F.VIIb/3m NX4204, Friendship, at Southampton after crossing the Atlantic Ocean. (NASM)
Friendship was sold to José Roger Balet of Argentina in May 1929, and renamed 12 de Octubre, the date of an important national holiday. On 21 June 1931, the airplane was on a commercial flight from Santiago de Chile to Mendoza when it made an emergency landing in Alto Sierra. It was acquired by General Enrique Bravo for the Fuerza Aérea Nacional, November 1931.
Disassembled and crated, Fokker F.VIIb/3m s/n 5028 arrived at Buenos Aires, Argentina, 19 April 1929, aboard the Munson Steamship Line’s S.S. American Legion. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
The ultimate fate of the airplane is uncertain. Sources indicate that it was removed from service and salvaged for parts after June 1932. Other sources indicate that it was destroyed by accident or fire in September 1934.
Fokker F.VIIb/3m s/n 5028, 12 de Octubre, at El Palomar, north of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airplane was repainted red and was called “El Colorado.” (Foto Archivo General de la Nación)
Captain Emily Warner and First Officer Barbara Cook in the cockpit of Frontier Airlines’ Boeing 737, Flight 244, 16 June 1984. (Frontier News, Summer 2012, #48)
16 June 1984: Frontier Airlines Flight 244, a Boeing 737, flies from Stapleton Airport, Denver, Colorado (DEN) to Lexington, Kentucky (LEX). In the cockpit were Captain Emily H. Warner and First Officer Barbara Cook. The cabin crew for the flight were Tim Griffin, Mark Becker and Ashley McQueen.
The Chicago Tribune reported:
Women pilot flight into airline history
DENVER—Frontier Airlines teamed the first woman pilot hired by a major airline with a woman copilot Saturday for a flight from Denver to Lexington, Ky., in what one official said was the first all-female crew in commercial airline history. A spokesman for Denver-based Frontier official said the airline did nothing special to bring Capt. Emily Warner of Denver together with First Officer Barbara Cook of Denver. “That’s just the way the rotation came up,” he said. Warner, who became the first woman hired by a major airline when she joined Frontier in 1973, said of the flight: “I feel good about it. I figured I’d be flying with a gal one of these days.”
—Chicago Tribune, Vol. 130, No. 109, Sunday 17 June 1984, Section 1, Page 17 at Column 1
[Note: First Officer Turi Widerøe made her first flight as a commercial airline pilot for the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), 30 April 1969. —TDiA]
A Frontier Airlines Boeing 737-200, N7382F, circa 1984. This is the same type airliner flown by Captain Warner and First Officer Cook, 16 June 1984. (Eduard Marmet)
Emily Hanrahan Howell Warner was hired by Frontier Airlines as a second officer in 1973, and is considered to be the first woman to be hired as a pilot for a U.S. commercial airline. After her first revenue flight, she received a bouquet of red, white and blue flowers from Captain Turi Widerøe of Scandanavian Airlines System (SAS), who was the world’s first woman airline captain. In 1976, Emily Warner was promoted to captain, the first woman to hold that rank with an American airline.
Emily Joyce Howell Warner died 3 July 2020 at Littleton, Colorado. her uniform is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.
The Boeing 737-200 series was a short- to medium-range, narrow body, twin-engine civil transports. The -200 first flew 8 August 1967. It had a flight crew of two and could carry a maximum of 136 passengers.
The 737-200 is 100 feet, 2 inches (30.531 meters) long with a wingspan of 93 feet, 0 inches (28.346 meters) and overall height of 36 feet, 10 inches (11.227 meters). Flight 243’s actual takeoff weight was 93,133 pounds (42,224 kilograms). (Its maximum certificated takeoff weight was 100,000 pounds (45,359 kilograms).
The airliner was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A low-bypass turbofan engines producing 14,500 pounds of thrust, each. The 737-200 had a cruise speed of 0.74 Mach (489 miles per hour, 787 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 0.82 Mach (542 miles per hour/872 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 35,000 feet (10,668 meters).
1,010 Boeing 737–200s were built. The last one in service with an American airline was retired 21 March 2008.
UPDATE: On 30 December 1977, Captain Emilie Jones and First Officer Lynn Ripplemeyer of Air Illinois, a commuter airline based at Carbondale, Illinois, flew a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter on six scheduled flights. In September 1983, Captain Ripplemeyer and First Officer Beverly Himelfarb of People Express Airlines flew a Boeing 737 from Newark, New Jersey, to Syracuse, New York. In 1984, Captain Ripplemeyer was the first woman to command a Boeing 747 on a transoceanic route.
UPDATE 2: On 10 July 1982, Captain Cheryl Faye Peters and First Officer Rebecca Rose Schroeder of Piedmont Airlines, flew a scheduled flight aboard a Boeing 737. The cabin crew were Paula Lanier, Dolly Wenat and Cindy Perry.
First Office Lynn Ripplemeyer and Captain Emilie Jones, Air Illinois.Air Illinois de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
Jackie Cochran in the cockpit of the Canadair CL-13 Sabre Mk.3, No. 19200, parked on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base. (J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Magazine)Secretary Robert C. Seamans, Jr.
16 June 1970: Secretary of the Air Force Robert Channing Seamans, Jr., presented the Legion of Merit to Colonel Jacqueline Cochran, United States Air Force Reserve. The citation reads:
“Colonel Jacqueline Cochran distinguished herself by exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service to the United States while assigned to the Office of Legislative Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, from 3 September 1957 to 10 May 1970.
“By her diligence, devotion to duty and marked professional competence she has made notable contributions on matters of great national significance. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Colonel Cochran culminate a long and distinguished career in the service of her country and reflect the highest credit upon herself and the United States Air Force.”
Immediately afterward, retirement orders were read and Colonel Cochran’s 20 years of service in the Air Force Reserve came to an end.
During her service in the United States Air Force Reserve, Colonel Cochran had also been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters (three awards).
Jacqueline Cochran with ribbon representing the Distinguished Service Medal.
Major Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, Hero of the Soviet Union, photographed in 1969. (RIA Novosti)
16 June 1963, 09:29:52 UTC: Cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва) was launched aboard Vostok 6 from Gagarin’s Start, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The spacecraft was a Vostok 3KA and the launch vehicle was a Vostok 8K72K rocket. She was the first human female in space.
Prior to her acceptance in the cosmonaut corps, Tereshkova had been a textile worker. She was also an amateur parachutist. The qualifications for the Soviet space program were that the women be parachutists under the age of 30 years, less than 170 centimeters (5 feet, 7 inches) tall and weigh less than 70 kilograms (154.3 pounds). After an extensive training program with included pilot training in the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15UTI fighter and 120 parachute jumps, Tereshkova and three other women were commissioned as Junior Lieutenants in the Soviet Air Force.
Vostok 5 with Cosmonaut Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky had been launched two days earlier on the same orbital path. During their flights they came within approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of each other.
Valentina Tereshkova completed 48 orbits of the Earth, reaching a maximum altitude of 212 kilometers (131.7 miles). Vostok 6 re-entered the atmosphere and Tereshkova parachuted from the capsule near the Pavinskiy Collective Farms, Altai Krai (approximately 150 miles/240 kilometers southwest of Novosibirsk), landing at 08:20 UTC, 19 June 1963. The total duration of her flight was 2 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes.
Cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova before launch, 16 June 1963.
For her support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, the United States of America placed Tereshkova on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Her assets were frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with her.
The Vostok 3KA spacecraft consisted of a spherical crew module and a service module. It could support one person in a full-pressure suit for a maximum of 10 days. There were two view ports. The Vostok used pressurized gas jets for attitude control while in orbit, but was not capable of changing its orbit. The vehicle had a total height of 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5¼ inches) and total mass of 4,730 kilograms (10,428 pounds). The descent module diameter was 2.3 meters (7 feet, 6½ inches) and had a mass of 2,460 kilograms (5,423 pounds).
On descent, the cosmonaut used an ejection seat to leave the capsule prior to Earth landing, and parachuted to the ground.
Valentina Tereshkova (center, with back toward camera) with the Vostok descent module, 19 June 1963. (Space Facts)
The Korolev Design Bureau Vostok 8K72K launch vehicle was a three-stage liquid-fueled rocket developed from the Soviet R-7 “Semyorka” intercontinental ballistic missile, using RP-1, a highly refined form of kerosene, and liquid oxygen as propellant. It was 38.36 meters (125 feet, 10 inches) tall and had a maximum diameter of 10.3 meters (33 feet, 9 inches). Total mass at liftoff was 287,375 kilograms (633,553 pounds).
The first stage consisted of four boosters surrounding a central core. Each was powered by one Glushko Design Bureau RD-108 (8D75) engine with four combustion chambers and exhaust nozzles. The RD-108 was rated at 713.600 kilonewtons of thrust (160,424 pounds-force) at Sea Level. Burn time was 118 seconds. The second stage used one RD-108 engine fired for 301 seconds. The third stage had one Kosberg Design Bureau RD-0109 engine rated at 54.520 kilonewtons (12,257 pounds-force) of thrust, with a burn time of 365 seconds.
Valentina Tereshkova Monument at the site of Vostok 6 landing.
