Chegando em Fortaleza com o capitão Noonan. (Fortaleza Nobre)
4 June 1937: On Leg 8 of their around-the-world flight, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, fly the Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, from Paramaribo, Nederlands Guiana (today, Suriname), to Fortaleza, Brazil, a distance of 1,330 miles (2,141 kilometers). They stay there to rest for a day.
“The weather at Paramaribo was perfect except for a morning mist from the Surinam River, when we took off to skim the tree-tops and then pull up. Speaking of trees, we had plenty of them on this jump to Fortaleza in Brazil – trees and water. During the day we flew over 960 miles of jungle, added to hops of 370 miles by compass course over open sea, a total of 1,330 miles, or a trifle more than half the transcontinental distance between New York and Los Angeles. . . After about ten hours’ flying I was glad to see Fortaleza sitting just where it should be, according to the maps, between the mountains and the sea, on a brown, sandy plain, in the arc of a crescent-shaped indentation just west of Cape Mucuripe. . . Fortaleza is a town of 100,000 people, a potent metropolis whose name few of us in North America have even heard. In my own ignorance I had thought of Natal as a more important place. That, of course, because Natal figures so largely in aviation matters. Fortaleza’s airport was so fine we decided to make final preparations for the South Atlantic hop there rather than at Natal, the actual jumping-off place for that much-flown stretch. . . .”
—Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed L-10E Electra NR16020 at Fortaleza, Brazil. (Fortaleza Nobre)Great Circle route from Paramaribo, Suriname, to Fortaleza, Brazil, 1,142 nautical miles (1,314 statute miles/2,114 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
Amelia Earhart supervises refueling her Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, at Caripito, Venezuela. (Unattributed)
3 June 1937: Leg 7. Amelia flew her Electra from Caripito, Venezuela, to Paramaribo, Nederlands Guiana, a distance of 615 miles (990 kilometers). She arrived at 12:50 p.m., local time.
Amelia Earhart boards her Lockheed Electra 10E NR16020 at Caripito, Venezuela, 3 June 1937. (Unattributed)
Rain clouds hung thick about Caripito as we left on the morning of June third. We flew over jungles to the coast, and then played hide-and-seek with showers until I decided I had better forgo the scenery, such as it was, and climb up through the clouds into fair weather. An altitude of 5,000 feet topped all but the highest woolly pinnacles. . . Soon we saw the river Surinam, a silver streak meandering to the coast, a wide tidal stream full of floating green islands of small trees and water plants, and bordered with vast stretches of mud. Twelve miles from its mouth is Paramaribo, capital of Dutch Guiana, and twenty-five miles further inland the airport. . . No make-shift airport this, but one of the best natural landing areas I have ever seen. . . .
—Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, departs Caripito for Paramaribo, 3 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan arrive at Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, 3 June 1937. (Stichting Surinaams Museum)Great Circle route from Maturin, Venezuela, the closest existing airport to Caripito, to Paramaribo, Suriname: 539 nautical miles (621 statute miles/999 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
Fred Noonan and Amelia Earhart board the Electra at San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2 June 1937. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
2 June 1937: After an overnight stay at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan continued on Leg 6 of their around-the-world flight, to Caripito, Venezuela, approximately 611 miles (984 kilometers) southeast. They arrived at 1:18 p.m., local time.
“I rolled out of bed at a quarter of four in the morning, hoping to make a dawn take-off from San Juan, but actually the Electra did not lift her wheels from the runway until nearly seven o’clock, with the sun well above the horizon. . . I flew at 8,000 feet most of the way, bucking head winds of probably thirty miles an hour. . . The coast of Venezuela in the hazy distance was my first glimpse of South America. As we drew near I saw densely wooded mountains and between them wide valleys of open plains and jungle. I had never seen a jungle before. . . close-knit tropic jungles are in a pilot’s eyes about the least desirable of all possible landing places. . . A muddy river wound through the mountain pass we followed, a reddish-brown snake crawling among tight-packed greenery. A few miles inland lay the red-roofed town of Caripito, with squat oil tanks on the outskirts. There was a splendid airfield, with paved runways and a well-equipped hangar. It is managed jointly by Pan American Airways and the Standard Oil Company.“
—Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart is greeted on her arrival at Caripito, Venezuela, 2 June 1937.Great Circle route from Isla Grande Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Maturin, Venezuela, location of the closest existing airport to Caripito. 548 nautical miles (630 statute miles/1,014 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
Amelia Earhart in the cockpit of her Electra with George Palmer Putnam, at Miami, 1 June 1937. (Wichita Eagle/Associated Press)
1 June 1937: After a takeoff accident at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, on 20 March 1937 ended Amelia Earhart’s first attempt to fly around the world, her damaged Lockheed Electra 10E was shipped to Lockheed at Burbank, California, for extensive repairs.
When the airplane was once again ready, she and her husband, George Palmer Putnam, navigator Fred Noonan and aircraft mechanic Ruckins D. “Bo” McKinney had flown the Electra from Burbank to Oakland to restart the around-the-world flight, this time heading eastward because of seasonal changes in worldwide weather patterns.
With overnight stops at Burbank, Tucson, and New Orleans, they arrived at Miami, Florida on 24 May. The cross-country flight was not publicly announced, and considered a “shake down” following the repairs.
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Model 10E Electra, NR16020, just prior to departure, Miami, Florida, 1 June 1937. Note that the Electra’s rear window has been replaced by sheet aluminum. (Miami Herald)
With most of the problems that came up resolved, Earhart and Noonan were finally ready to go. The press was notified, the Electra refueled, and they departed Miami for Isla Grande Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 903 nautical miles (1,039 miles/1,673 kilometers) across the Caribbean Sea, and their Flight Into History.
I closed and fastened the hatch . . . Then I started the motors. The engines had already been well warmed so now after appraising for a moment their full-throated smooth song, I signaled to have the wheel chocks removed and we taxied to the end of the runway in the far southeast corner of the field. Thirty seconds later, with comforting ease, we were in the air and on our way.
—Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, taking off at Miami, Florida, 1 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)Great Circle route between Miami Airport, Florida, and Isla Grande Airport (now known as Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport), San Juan, Puerto Rico, 903 nautical miles. (Great Circle Mapper).
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020
22 May 1937: Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020 was repaired at Tucson, Arizona after its left engine, a Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H1 nine-cylinder radial, caught fire while restarting after a fuel stop the previous day. Amelia Earhart and her Navigator, Fred Noonan, and two passengers, flew to New Orleans, Louisiana, on the 22nd.
Although she was actually on the third leg of her second around-the-world-flight attempt, no public announcement had yet been made. She—well, prevaricated—when speaking to local newspaper reporters.
The Arizona Daily Star reported:
Fire Delays Amelia Earhart Here While She Plans Flight
Will Start on World Trip Near the End of This Month She Says While Searching for Fire Extinguisher After Dousing Small Blaze In Plane
Temporarily grounded in Tucson due to a minor fire which did little damage to the motor of her $90,000 Flying Laboratory, Amelia Earhart announced here last night that with good weather, her second globe girdling trip would start sometime near the end of this month. The route will be the same except for minor changes called for by shifting weather conditions.
The The Blaze Miss Earhart said was just minor and was caused when an overheated motor “backfired.” It was quickly smothered by a mechanical chemical extinguisher which Miss Earhart released. She said this shot the chemical into all parts of the engine and put the fire out. The damage was negligible she said and she expects to take off today for some eastern city, probably El Paso.
With Husband
Miss Earhart, with her husband, George Palmer Putnam, New York publisher, Captain Fred Noonan, and her mechanic, Bo McKneely, had just landed at the municipal airport after a flight from Burbank, California, when flames shot from the engine. The aviatrix, who had left the plane, saw the fire break out in the left motor as the plane was being taxied to the hangar. The plane was stopped and she extinguished the blaze with the automatic extinguisher connected with the motor.
The huge craft, twin-motored Lockhead [sic] Electra, was taken to the hangar, where attendants cleaned the soot and chemical from the engine.
Just Out of Shop
Miss Earhart and her party came to the Pioneer hotel last night after the plane was taken care of in the municipal hangar. She said the plane had just been out of the factory at Burbank for two days after having been completely overhauled following the crack-up in Honolulu. “It’s just like new now,” and has to be taken on a shake-down flight. I’d like to put 50 hours on it before the big flight.”
Thursday they flew from Burbank to Oakland and return and yesterday they came here. Putnam is returning to New York and Miss Earhart will fly him part way. “I’m just flying anywhere,” she said, “merely to check the plane and see that everything is working properly. We made all of our fuel tests before and of course don’t have to do that again. Our course this time will be much the same as the last one with the exception of a few changes due to shifting weather. That course was made for conditions as they were in March and now, 60 days later, the weather has altered in some places. The route will be primarily around the world following the equator.”
Something to Do
Miss Earhart said she would like very much to make this first around the world flight. “If I don’t some one else will,” she added. She said lone flyers have pioneered all the present commercial and it’s up to lone flyers to continue making new courses. “And besides this flight gives me something to do,” she concluded.
In the meantime Miss Earhart was without a serviceable fire extinguisher. Her trick mechanical one that so neatly put out the fire last night was exhausted and as it must be filled with a special “under pressure” system which the local airport did not possess, she could not have it recharged until she returns to Burbank. She also carries in her plane several of the small quart size hand operated extinguishers. These were also played on yesterday’s blaze by mechanics and were empty.
Extinguishers Needed
Putnam and Miss Earhart decided that they would have to have some serviceable fire fighting equipment before they left in the morning, just as a precautionary measure. They decided, at least, to get their small hand operated extinguishers recharged. Surely, they thought, they could get them filled in Tucson.
A half hour on the telephone calling everyone possible from he fire department to the airport revealed no recharge chemical for the extinguishers. They decided to abandon that idea and get an extinguisher, but the little ones they had cost $14. Now $14 is a good bit to pay for additional extinguishers even for a $90,000 plane, when you already have some and all you need is the chemical.
Filler Provided
Finally the night man at the Motor Service company said he had one dandy big extinguisher of the “turn upside down and let ‘er go” variety which he thought would be just swell for Miss Earhart’s Plane. The phones buzzed again and Putnam said, “Buy it, then we’ll have something.” But this extinguisher, bright and shiny with a pretty red handle, was not filled. That was an easy problem and was soon solved by Chief Joe Robert’s men. He carefully measured each chemical and filled it properly. The copper extinguisher was promptly delivered to Miss Earhart. She started to write out a check to pay for teh apparatus and said, “What date is today?”
She was told “May 21.”
“Why that’s right,” she said, “five years ago today I landed in Ireland.”
Made History
Miss Earhart went on talking about her propsed trip. She might also have mentioned that on that trip five years ago she made world history, being the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean, her flight was from Newfoundland to Ireland. In January 1935, she flew from Hawaii to California and in May of the same year she flew from Mexico City to New York in a non-stop jump. This past March she set a new record in her flight from California to Honolulu.
The fire extinguisher man pocketed the check and left. Then half of Tucson called up with extinguishers of all descriptions. Her mechanic secured recharges for the hand extinguishers and all was well. She was told to be sure and keep this newly purchased extinguisher in an upright position. Not expecting to do any loops, she said she would.
—The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona, Vol. 96, No. 142, Saturday Morning, 22 May 1937, at Page 1, Columns 6 and 7, and Page 5, Columns 2 and 3
“The next morning at Tucson a dense sandstorm blocked our way, but despite it we took off, leap-frogging at 8,000 feet over El Paso with a seemingly solid mass of sand billowing below us like a turbulent yellow sea. That night we reached New Orleans. . . .”
— Amelia Earhart
Great Circle route between Tucson, Arizona, and New Orleans, Louisiana. 1,069 nautical miles (1,230 statute miles/1,980 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
