After Amelia shut down the engines, the commanding officer instructed his men to secure the Electra in the Navy hangar. After loading their luggage into Bill’s car, they headed toward the hotel. As he drove out of the airport, Bill pointed, “Amelia, look at the street sign.” As they passed it, Amelia smiled as she read: Amelia Earhart Road.
“They renamed the road after your flight from Hawaii to Oakland two years ago,” Bill explained with pride.
After the short trip from the airport, they arrived at the front entrance of the Oakland Airport Inn. They checked in and awaited the arrival of the others.
28
“Come on, Dani, everyone’s ready to go,” Daric urged from the office doorway, eager to get on the road.
“Just give me a second. I’ll be right there,” Dani replied, while gathering up some papers from the desk. Daric had already made his way back outside to tell the others they were ready for the road trip to Oakland.
“Ouch, what happened to the Caddy?” Daric asked when he saw the dented and scratched passenger side of G.P.’s car. He had seen only the driver’s side when it had left the hotel in the morning.
“G.P. said a blue pickup truck sideswiped them yesterday on their way to the airport. Lucky no one was hurt,” Harry said. “The jerk didn’t even stop; just drove away as if nothing had happened.”
Harry, Paul, and Terry Minor were in G.P.’s Cadillac. Daric climbed behind the wheel of Amelia’s car. They were all waiting outside the Union Air Terminal for Dani to exit the building.
“Whoa,” Dani uttered in total awe. She was staring at a beautiful pale yellow 1936 Cord 810 Sportsman convertible coupe: pure automobile royalty in its time. The front-wheel-drive Cord had a 2-barrel Lycoming 288 CI V-8 engine under its “coffin-nose” hood with wrap-around louvers mounted on a 125-inch wheelbase. The regal design featured chromed bumpers and wheel covers and a plush tan leather interior with needle gauges on an engine-turned bezel and an electric pre-select shifter on the steering column.
“No kidding,” was Daric’s reply. “Get in. I can’t wait to get this baby on the road and open her up.”
“Just mind the speed limit, okay. We can’t afford to get a ticket. There would be too many questions we wouldn’t be able to answer,” Dani said, opening the suicide door and sliding into the car, pulling it closed behind her. “Hey, where’s the seat belt?”
“They haven’t been invented yet,” Daric stated, putting the car in gear and pulling out of the airport behind the Cadillac.
“What’s wrong with your finger?” Daric’s tone showed concern, which surprised her.
“It’s nothing. I was making a bunch of phone calls. You know, they don’t have buttons on their telephones,” Dani said sadly, as she looked at the bandage wrapped around her sore index finger. “The phones are rotary dial. After all the calls I had to make, I got a blister on my dialing finger. It’s no big deal.”
“And what have you got there?” Daric asked, referring to the pages Dani was sorting through on her lap, while trying to keep them from blowing out of the car, with its convertible top down.
“I need to organize my notes for Amelia for the last few stages of her flight,” Dani replied, not taking her eyes off what she was doing. “I had to write everything out long-hand. The office had a typewriter, an old Smith Corona, but its keys were too stiff to use. It’s as if it hadn’t been used in years, which is probably the case.”
After driving for a few hours, Dani, out of shear frustration, had given up on organizing her notes and had put them away. Now that she was no longer focussed on her work, Daric finally felt he could broach a subject that had been on his mind for a while now.
“Dani, don’t you think it’s kind of odd that Dad hasn’t brought us back home yet?”
“Daric, you have to realize that time doesn’t travel at the same speed. It’s sort of like a river; the current will travel quickly, like raging rapids in some places, but it can also be tranquil, in other parts,” Dani supplied from her abundant knowledge.
“So, what are you saying?” Daric needed clarification.
“While we have been in this time period for four days, it may be only a matter of a couple of minutes or hours at home,” Dani said encouragingly.
“Well, there is one thing I’m certain of, and that is that we must never take these bands off. When Dad tries to bring us back home, we have to be ready. And these bands are the key,” Daric asserted.
They sat in silence again, uncertain about what was around the next corner and about when they would get back home. The thought that neither of them wanted to utter aloud was: what if they never got back home?
29
Daric leaned on the horn to signal the Cadillac in front of him that he was pulling off the road. He had been looking for a gas station for the last hour as the Cord 810 got lower and lower on fuel. He drove the car up to the only gas pump at the station and turned off the engine. He noticed Paul had received his signal, as the Cadillac up ahead pulled a U-turn and headed back to the gas station, stopping on the other side of the pump.
The trip so far had been uneventful. The roads were almost deserted. There were a few cars travelling in the opposite direction. The only vehicle going their way was about a quarter of a mile behind them; Daric sometimes caught a glimpse of it on the road’s long straightaways.
Daric had exited the car and was reaching for the hose, when he heard, “Hey, what do ya think yer doin’?”
Daric turned to a man wearing dark blue coveralls and a cap with an Ethyl patch above the brim. He was wiping his grease-covered meaty hands on a dirty slate-grey rag that had been another color years ago.
“I was getting some gas,” Daric replied innocently to the angry gas station attendant.
“That’s my job pal, so step back,” he snarled.
Paul had gotten out of the Cadillac and told the flustered attendant, “Fill ‘em both up.”
Paul turned to Daric, noticing how confused he looked. “Come on, let’s get some cold drinks.” They made their way over to a fire-engine red Coca-Cola cooler against the station’s front wall. Paul lifted the lid and pulled out five cold bottles of Coca-Cola. Popping the tops, he took a long slug from one of the small bottles. “Man I was thirsty.” Paul sighed after he had swallowed.
Harry was leaning against the car exchanging small talk with the attendant. The girls were making their way back to the cars from the restroom and eagerly accepted the cold drinks from Daric and Paul.
The station attendant had fuelled the Cord 810, checked the oil, cleaned the windshield and headlights and was now fueling the Cadillac. When he saw Daric returning to his car, he thrust out his hand and demanded, “That’ll be $1.40.”
Daric could only stare blankly at the attendant. Did he just say $1.40? That can’t be, Daric thought.
“That’s okay, I’m paying for both. We’re travelling together,” Paul told the attendant.
Daric did some quick math while Paul waited for the attendant to finish filling the Caddy. The gas came to ten cents per gallon—amazing. What a difference a few years could make.
Paul paid the attendant for the gas and the cold drinks. Both cars were back on the road fifteen minutes after pulling off to continue their trip to Oakland. It would be several hours before they arrived at their destination and Daric knew that the next time they needed to gas up, he’d stay in the car. He now knew what “full-service” meant.
But one thing was gnawing at Daric; something he couldn’t quite figure out. While they were getting gas, the car that had been a quarter of a mile behind them hadn’t passed the gas station.
30: Thursday, March 11, 1937
G.P. made prior arrangements for Amelia to meet the press after an early morning flight. She pulled herself out of the cockpit and gracefully walked down the sun-glistened wing of the Electra to face the eager cro
wd of reporters. G.P. gently helped her down.
“Miss Earhart? How was your flight?” one young reporter yelled, anxious to be the first to direct a question in what, he was sure, would be a long string of questions to the beautiful aviatrix.
“We practised some blind flying this morning, and all went as planned,” Amelia said, smiling warmly at the young man, who appeared to blush slightly in the early morning’s rose-tinted sunlight. “Everything is set to go,” she continued, “except for a couple small adjustments. I really don’t want to put any unnecessary time on the engines before the world flight.”
“Miss Earhart, when are you planning to start your world flight?” another reporter asked.
“We will just study the weather and wait to see if conditions are favorable on Sunday. Then, if they are, away we’ll go.” Amelia couldn’t hide how anxious she was to get started on this new and exciting adventure.
“Are you scared?” the first young reporter asked, clearly concerned for her safety.
“No, not scared, just thrilled,” she replied.
“Mr. Putman, are you worried for your wife’s safety, considering the dangers of the flight she’ll be undertaking?” another reporter enquired, picking up on the previous line of questioning.
“I’m not worried,” he said with confidence. “Amelia is an accomplished aviator. She knows what she’s doing. I would like to go along,” he conceded. “But on a flight like this, when it comes to a question of one-hundred-eighty-five pounds of husband or one-hundred-eighty-five pounds of gasoline, the gasoline wins.”
31
Later that afternoon, G.P. and Amelia met Harry, Paul and Dani in G.P.’s temporary office, at the Oakland Airport administrative building, for a final review of all the flight details.
“G.P., before you get started, I’ve set up an interview with Fred Noonan for tomorrow morning,” Bill said, as G.P. walked into his office.
“Great, Bill, thanks. Amelia and I will be here early tomorrow morning.”
For the next two hours, G.P. sat listening to the group check and double check all the arrangements that had been made for the world flight; it was overwhelming.
“Here are the details for the end of the world flight you asked me to get, Amelia,” Dani said eagerly. “I’ve covered the trip from the Parnamirio Airport in Natal, Brazil to Fortaleza, Brazil, then to the Zandery Airport in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, and on to Caripito, Venezuela. From there, to San Juan, Puerto Rico and finally to Miami. You said you had the Miami-to-Oakland leg covered, but I included that, too,” Dani finished.
Amelia smiled at Dani after she had finished her report. She had known Dani would do a great job, and she had done it in short order, too.
G.P. hadn’t realized how many details there were. Now that he knew, he was starting to seriously wonder whether Amelia would be able to handle all of this, in addition to flying the airplane. He knew she wasn’t sleeping well, and this would definitely seem to be the reason why, in his mind, anyway. There was just too much for her to think about. He needed to find a way to reduce her load.
After the meeting, G.P. asked Paul to remain behind after the others had left the office. “Paul, I’m concerned about Amelia’s workload. After sitting in here and listening for the past couple of hours, I’m completely overwhelmed. And I’m not the one having to fly an airplane, with the whole world watching,” he said apprehensively.
“Would you consider flying with Amelia, on the first leg, from here to Honolulu, to take some of the responsibilities off her?” G.P. asked. Before Paul could say no, G.P. quickly continued, “You could oversee any servicing the plane might need in Honolulu before the next leg to Howland Island; that would give Amelia a chance to rest.” G.P. stood up, walked over and looked out the window for a moment before continuing. “You know, she hasn’t been sleeping very well.”
Paul could see by G.P.’s uncharacteristic slumped posture that he was worried, so he tried to reassure him. “G.P., Amelia’s flown this route before, mind you from the other direction. She will be fine, she knows what . . .”
G.P. spun around to face Paul. “True, but this is only the first leg of three for the Pacific crossing, all to be completed in a matter of days. And not only does Amelia need to attend to all the details of the flight, she also has to attend press conferences and she has to write her daily articles for the Tribune.”
G.P. drew in a slow breath, then continued. “Paul, I’m concerned. It’s the first leg of a long flight and I just want to make sure everything goes as planned.” G.P. didn’t want to beg, but he knew he had to lighten Amelia’s load, somehow and having an extra pilot on board would be a tremendous help.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But on one condition,” Paul said.
“Name it.”
“You send my fiancée ahead to meet me in Honolulu,” Paul said. Terry and Paul were planning to take a small trip once Amelia left on her world flight. He thought Honolulu would make a wonderful trip and a great honeymoon destination if he could talk Terry into getting married while they were vacationing in paradise.
“Done.” G.P. quickly shook hands with Paul to seal the deal. He was relieved to have got a little extra help for Amelia and Harry on the first leg of their flight.
“G.P., since we’re sending Terry ahead, why don’t we also send Dani and Daric,” Paul suggested as an afterthought. “Dani could keep Terry company on the crossing. When we get to Honolulu, Dani could help with any last-minute details for the Howland and New Guinea legs. Daric would be there to give me a hand overseeing any repairs to the airplane. He knows that airplane just about as well as Bo.”
“That’s a lot of extra money we just can’t spare right now,” G.P. was embarrassed to admit.
“Look, you know yourself that Amelia wanted Bo to accompany her on the world flight, but he couldn’t because his father is quite ill. At least this way, she’ll have someone who has been working with Bo, and who according to him, is a real natural around engines,” Paul pressed.
“Before you say no,” Paul jumped in, “let me look into the various options for passage to Honolulu. I might be able to get all three of them on a cheaper fare. I’m sure they won’t mind,” Paul added, hoping to convince G.P.
“All right, I can’t argue with that line of thinking. It may help put Amelia’s mind at ease knowing her second mechanic will meet her plane in Honolulu. Go ahead and book their passage. I’ll let Daric and Dani know they just got a free cruise to Hawaii,” G.P. said.
Paul was turning to leave G.P.’s office and make the necessary arrangements when he heard G.P. say, “Thanks, Paul.”
“Don’t mention it,” Paul said. He knew how much was at stake here.
* * *
Later that afternoon, they received a telegram via Lockheed. It was from Kelly Johnson and, as he had promised, it set out his recommendations for optimum power and key flight procedures. He also reminded them to check the spark plugs before they left on their flight. The message concluded by stressing that it was critical for them to stay within 2,000 feet of the recommended altitude.
32: Friday, March 12, 1937
As previously arranged, G.P. and Paul met with Fred Noonan to ask him whether he would assist with the navigation, but only as far as Howland Island. They both believed this task was far too challenging for Harry to handle. Fred agreed to help.
After the interview, with Amelia and Harry joining the group, they drove in the pouring rain to Alameda to finalize arrangements with Pan American Airways and the Coast Guard.
Pan American had informed them they had a survey flight to New Zealand that was departing for Honolulu shortly before Amelia’s planned departure. Because the Electra was a faster aircraft, it would easily overtake the survey flight. That meant they would have to use altitude to provide enough separation to avoid a possible mid-air collision.
Harry met with the Coa
st Guard to outline the communication plan for the trip to Howland Island. They would work out the plan for the leg to New Guinea from Howland later.
The skies had started to clear, and the sun was desperately trying to make an appearance by the time they got back to Bill Miller’s office at the Oakland Airport. Paul immediately sent a message to Kelly Johnson, asking him to recalculate the optimum performance charts. They needed to fly 4,000 feet higher than his previously recommended altitude. Paul asked him to include the new power-setting and fuel-burn charts for a cruising altitude of 8,000 feet.
G.P. introduced Fred Noonan to the rest of the team and explained his role: to assist with the navigation as far as Howland Island.
Fred Noonan was taller than Harry and Paul, at just over six feet. He was very slim with dark auburn hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. There was a protrusion on his forehead just over his right eye . . . a souvenir from a bar fight in his younger days.
“I’d like to get a chance to check out the navigation equipment on board before we start for Honolulu,” Fred conveyed, after the introductions had been concluded.
“The meteorologist said the weather was supposed to be clear tomorrow, for a short period, anyway. Why not go early in the morning?” Bill proposed.
“Let’s meet at the hangar at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow. We can test the compass and radio equipment while we’re at it,” Amelia added.
“Great, that’s settled,” G.P. said. “Harry, can you meet with the press and tell them Fred will be joining the flight as far as Howland Island to assist with navigation? And don’t forget to finish the communication plan. The Coast Guard needs to get that information out to their ships.”
Almost as an afterthought, Paul added, “Oh, I got Terry, Daric and Dani on the S.S. Malolo, departing at 4:00 P.M. tomorrow for Honolulu, arriving on March 17th.”
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