22–24 June 1937: Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, undergoes maintenance at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, while Amelia and Fred Noonan visit a volcano.
“I went for an inspection trip myself. My first objective was an active volcano, to the crater rim of which one can drive in half an hour up a beautiful mountain road. . . At 5,000 feet the trees began to dwarf and the vegetation became less dense. At 6,500, only scrub trees which bred in and soil persisted. I could smell sulfur fumes for some time before rounding the last curve leading to the lower edge of the pit. Hundreds of feet below, emerald water had collected in a pool at the bottom. Here and there jets of yellow-white steam issued from crevices. . . .”
—Amelia Earhart
© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes
July 2nd nears.