East to the Dawn
Page 63
page 357: The Purdue Research Foundation statement ...: Report of the director of the Purdue Research Foundation, G. Stanley Meikle, in Campus Copy (former Purdue publication), Oct. 1962.
page 357: “become associated in the ...”: Ibid.
page 357: Purdue had already been involved ...: PA, July 1936.
page 357: The most important subject today ...: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Apr. 7, 1936.
page 358: He arranged for a leading ...: Carl Allen, unpublished manuscript, NASM.
page 358: The furnishings ...: JM, The Christian Herald magazine, Jan. 1936.
page 358: “a Roman dream of elegance, ...” : GPP to AOE, Nov. 16, 1937.
page 358: “I am deeply sorry ...”: AE, letter to MEM, Jan. 31, 1937, SLRC.
page 359: “Please tell Pidge ...”: AE, letter to MEM, Nov. 23, 1935, Jean Backus, Letters from Amelia, p. 183.
page 359: “was just completely covered ...”: MEM, Columbia OH.
page 359: The Department of Agriculture ...: Capt. E.C. Edelmann. America’s First Lady of Flight, Fraternal Order of Air Mail Pilots, June 1, 1962.
page 360: Would Gene find out ...: GPP, letter to Gene Vidal, Aug. 3,1936, State Department records, National Archives.
page 360: The original proposed route ...: GPP, letter to Gene Vidal, Oct. 15, 1936, State Department records, National Archives.
page 361: superbly manipulative letter ...: Malvina Schneider, letter to Southgate, June 29, 1936, FDRL.
page 361: Every single country ...: Numerous letters from the State Department to foreign governments, National Archives. Only France thought to query the department as to the intrinsic safety of the so-configured Electra.
page 361: “considers the plane to be satisfactory ...”: State Department files, National Archives.
page 361: “There is no hope of permission...”: Day letter from Southgate, Mar. 8, 1937, National Archives.
page 361: “Dear Mrs. Earhart,” ...: GPP, letter to AOE, Jan. 16, 1937, SLRC.
page 362: The navy, according to internal memos, ...: Records of the office of the Chief of Naval Operations, National Archives.
page 362: “Dear Mr. President; ...: AE, letter to FDR, Nov. 10, 1936, FDRL.
page 363: “The ability of the pilot of the receiving plane ...”: Commander Aircraft, Base Force, letter to Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, Nov. 29, 1936, National Archives.
page 363: Moreover, Pan American ...: NYT, Mar. 14, 1935. Pan Am immediately began loading a supply ship at Seattle with machinery and equipment for its air bases.
page 364: The first China Clipper ...: William Grooch, Skyway to Asia, p. 129.
page 364: “whoever first moved ...”: C. B. Allen, NYHT, Feb. 28, 1937.
page 365: “there is gallantry even in ...”: Ibid.
page 365: “During the late part of 1936,” ...: Richard Black, Columbia OH.
page 365: Gene sent Robert L. Campbell, ...: Ibid.
page 365: She wrote about her ...: Acting budget director, memo to FDR, Jan. 8, 1937, FDRL.
page 366: “competent aviation mechanics ...”: GPP to secretary of war, Jan. 30, 1937, National Archives.
page 366: Brad received a phone call ...: Washburn interview. At least one other biographer, Paul Briand, Jr., interviewed Washburn. Washburn, a scrupulously honest man, must have told Briand that Amelia never asked him to be navigator, and in the interests of telling a good story, Briand left it out of his book.
page 367: He, too, remembered spreading ...: Paul Collins, Tales of an Old Air-Faring Man, p. 147.
page 367: The navy was notified ...: Telegram, naval files, National Archives.
page 368: He would be visiting ...: NYT, Mar. 5, 1937.
page 368: “I can say this much, ...”: NYT, Mar. 21, 1937.
page 368: Gene’s orders to William Miller ...: Secretary of the navy, cable of instructions, Feb. 15, 1937, National Archives.
page 369: The countdown ...: Amelia planned to put the maps into one suitcase ; that and another suitcase, containing an extra pair of slacks, a few shirts, a mechanic’s garb, a change of linen, and a toothbrush, were all she would take with her. Four half-pound Nestle chocolate bars, six cans of malted milk tablets, three one-pound packages of raisins, one package of dried apricots, one package of prunes, two cans of ripe bananas, and three cans of tomato juice would end up stored in a waterproof zipper bag.
page 369: (Amelia posed with the loop ...: NYHT, Mar. 7, 1937.
page 369: “unless the weather ...”: San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 11, 1937.
page 369: the lowest barometric reading ...: San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 13, 1937.
page 369: Amelia was handling ...: Ibid.
page 369: “Well, between 185 pounds ...”: San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 11, 1937.
page 370: The Pan Am plan ...: This account, and subsequent accounts, are based on information from William Grooch, Skyway to Asia.
page 370: “Scared?” she repeated....: NYT, Mar. 13, 1937.
page 370: black, orange, and red stripes ...: NYHT, Mar. 7, 1937.
page 370: he enlisted the aid ...: Don Dwiggins, Hollywood Pilot, p. 96.
page 371: “She was very sensible, ...”: Johnson, More Than My Share of It All, p. 53.
page 371: She didn’t drive him crazy ...: Ibid., p. 46.
page 371: four feet eight inches ...: AE, LF, p. 183.
page 371: Amelia planned to broadcast ...: C. B. Allen, NYHT, Mar. 16, 1937.
page 372: When the China Clipper ...: PA, July 1936.
page 372: “She and Putnam exchanged...”: C. B. Allen, draft of a review of The True Amelia Earhart Story, NASM.
page 372: “as she writes ...”: C. B. Allen, NYHT, Mar. 15, 1937.
page 372: “she hardly ever refuses ...”: Ibid. Years later, when Allen was searching for a scapegoat for Amelia’s disappearance, he hit upon George, and in his mind’s eye he was sure that the stay at the Oakland airport had lasted weeks, not days, and that Amelia had felt that she had to escape from her husband. Allen wrote, “Toward the end of the first week I spent with the couple at Oakland Airport, Amelia told me she would be leaving Friday afternoon ‘to get away from things here and relax in the desert until Monday at Palm Springs.’ I gave her a searching look but said nothing.” Only one trouble—it wasn’t true. Amelia was observed flying or talking at the Oakland airport every day.
page 373: Manning was “perturbed” ...: NYHT, Mar. 13, 1937.
page 373: “All were in high spirits ...”: NYHT, Mar. 14, 1937.
page 374: “The two of us, ...”: Johnson, More Than My Share, p. 44.
page 374: As she told Carl Allen, ...: NYHT, Mar. 14, 1937.
page 375: According to Page Smith, ...: Page Smith, interview with author.
page 375: “didn’t think he was a great risk” ...: Clara Livingston, interview with author.
page 375: She then asked Gene ...: Gore Vidal, New York Review of Books, Jan. 17, 1985.
page 375: “might have missed a trip ...”: Smith interview.
page 375: “Amelia Earhart urgently requests ...”: Mar. 16, 1937, SLRC.
page 375: “to assume complete responsibility ...”: NYHT, Mar. 14, 1937.
page 376: The Oakland airport switchboard ...: NYHT, Mar. 17, 1937.
page 377: “Her husband was ...: NYHT, Mar. 18, 1937.
page 378: Bill Miller sent off the cable ...: Naval message, National Archives.
page 378: He smiled ...: UPI, Mar. 17, 1937, unidentified newspaper, SLRC.
The Beginning
page 379: Paul circled ...: NYHT, Mar. 18, 1937.
page 379: “in a steep bank”: Don Dwiggins, Hollywood Pilot, p. 102.
page 379: The landing was terrible ...: JM, LITHW, XIII, SLRC.
page 379: “very fatigued ...”: Ibid.
page 380: “Mr. Mantz departed ...”: Records of the U.S. Army Overseas Operations and Commands, This information is contained in the report of the Hawaiian Air Force Headquarters inv
estigation “upon the crash of Miss Amelia Earhart’s airplane NR 16020 at Luke Field, Oahu ... and circumstances relating to her arrival and stay at Wheeler and Luke Fields, March 18 to 20, 1937,” hereinafter referred to as Hawaiian Investigation, National Archives.
page 380: He also told them, “insisted” ...: Hawaiian Investigation.
page 380: “And speaking of breakfast, ...”: AE, LF, p. 67.
page 381: “if it became necessary.”: GPP, SW, p. 281.
page 382: “The airplane spun ...”: Hawaiian Investigation.
page 382: “that I thought the take-off...”: AE, LF, p. 72.
page 382: Paul’s hard landing....: Only to Janet Mabie did she lay the blame at Paul’s feet. JM, LITHW, SLRC.
page 382: “It is amazing,” ...: GPP, SW, p. 281.
page 382: “based on the written ...”: Hawaiian Investigation.
page 383: Lockheed’s bill ...: Lockheed records.
page 383: “because she thought ...”: Harry Bruno, Columbia OH.
page 383: “On the prosaic ...”: AE, LF, p. 78.
page 384: “To you Carl....”: Carl M. Dunrud, “amelia earhart in wyoming,” In Wyoming, Jan.—Feb. 1974.
page 384: “Africa,” she had answered....: Gore Vidal, Armageddon, p. 25.
page 385: I hope your guess ...: Carl Allen, unpublished manuscript, NASM.
page 385: “No-o-o I don’t ...”: JM, LITHW, XV p. 6, SLRC.
page 385: “sneak departure.”: Dwiggins, Hollywood Pilot, p. 105.
page 386: “streaked out of the setting sun, ...”: Reporters, as often happened, suddenly materialized from nowhere as word passed that she was coming down. New Orleans Times Picayune, May 23, 1937.
page 386: “I’ve never been on the ground ...”: Ibid.
page 386: “I thought it would give ...”: AE, LF, p. 135.
page 387: “they were willing ... : Ibid., pp. 88—89.
page 387: “Oh,” she said, “that...”: Allen, manuscript, NASM.
page 388: He ventured a brusque ...: Helen Day Bible, interview with author.
page 389: “He said,” Helen recalled ...: Ibid.
page 389: “Are you going to drink ...”: Ibid.
page 389: a crowd estimated at five hundred ...: Doris Rich, Amelia Earhart, p. 257.
page 389: Fred called her back ...: Bible interview.
The Flight
page 392: “besieged” with invitations ...: Fred Noonan, letter to Helen Day, June 5, 1937, from Fortaleza.
page 392: “little by little ...”: AE, LF, p. 113.
page 392: Those routes ...: FN to Helen Day, June 5, 1937.
page 392: “change to 36 degrees” ...: AE, LF, p. 136.
page 393: “where Frenchmen are ...”: Ibid., p. 142.
page 393: They slept ...: Fred Noonan, letter to Helen Day June 22, 1937, from Java.
page 393: Amelia’s thoughts strayed back ...: AE, LF, p. 145.
page 393: “as hollow ...”: Ibid., p. 169.
page 394: “We had a glorious ...”: Fred Noonan, letter to Helen Day, June 22, 1937.
page 394: “whole attitude ...”: JM, LITHW, XIV, SLRC.
page 394: “Better wear ...”: AE, LF, p. 181.
page 394: “robust healthfulness ...”: Ibid., p. 177.
page 395: “You betja! ...”: Ibid., p. 178.
page 395: “a grand person ...”: letter from FM, reprinted in NYHT, July 8, 1937.
page 395: notes penciled on pages ...: Mary Lovell, The Sound of Wings, p. 266.
page 395: “I wish you were....”: GPP, WM, p. 292.
page 395: “giving its pilot...”: AE, LF, p. 191.
page 396: “I’m starting to have ...”: Paul Collins, Tales of an Old Air-Faring Man, p. 147.
page 396: “We hoped to squeeze ...”: AE, LF, p. 194.
page 396: “after two hours ...”: Ibid., p. 197.
page 396: The hooded clouds ...: Ibid., p. 199.
page 397: “There were details ...”: NYHT, June 22, 1937.
page 397: “filled with flowers.”: AE, LF, p. 210.
page 397: three-hour car trip ...: Fred Noonan, letter to Helen Day, June 22, 1937, from Bandung.
page 398: “licked a small trouble ...”: NYHT, June 22, 1937.
page 399: “the last conversation” ...: AE, LF, p. 178.
page 399: “I hear the dinner gong ...:” Fred Noonan, letter to Helen Day, from Kupang, June 27, 1937.
page 399: Amelia, it was noted, ... : Report by Ang Poen King, KPVM representative, Seaver Center.
page 399: “Once aboard ...”: AE, LF, p. 216.
page 400: They replaced it ...: Enclosure no. 2 to Dispatch no. 507 from the American Consulate-General, Sydney, Australia, August 21,1937, in file entitled “Round-the-World Flight of Miss Earhart,” National Archives.
page 400: “radio phone being used ...”: Ibid.
Lost
page 402: upon which Fred Noonan also relied.: Fred Noonan, letter to Commander P. V H. Weems, quoted in Mary Lovell, The Sound of Wings, p. 396.
page 403: “had some drinks ...”: Ann Pellegreno, World Flight, p. 143. Pellegreno, a pilot, replicated Amelia’s flight years later and questioned people in Lae.
page 403: “Everyone has been ...”: “By Amelia Earhart By Telephone to the Herald Tribune,” NYHT, June 30, 1937, datelined Lae, New Guinea.
page 403: “my navigator, has been unable ...”: NYHT, July 1, 1937.
page 403: RADIO MISUNDERSTANDING ...: The telegram, dated June 30, was sent at 5:53 P.M., according to Helen Schreuer (Curator, Earhart Collection, Purdue University).
page 403: The coast guard ...: Records of the U.S. Army Overseas Operations and Commands, National Archives.
page 403: Gene Vidal told ...: Gore Vidal, New York Review of Books, Jan. 17, 1985.
page 403: Since Amelia’s views ...: JM, Christian Herald magazine, Feb. 1938.
page 403: “Amelia stated that she was still ...”: Paul Collins, Tales of an Old Air-Faring Man, p. 148.
page 404: “Denmark’s a prison.”: AE, LF, p. 223.
page 404: “We commandeered ...”: Ibid., p. 224.
page 404: There was no partying ...: Pellegreno, World Flight, p. 194.
page 404: Several junior flight officers ...: William Grooch, Skyway to Asia, p. 177.
page 404: “The crew maintained ...”: Ibid., p. 89.
page 404: he was dead on course ...: Ibid., p. 194.
page 405: “Making the landfall ...”: AE, LF, p. 66.
page 405: For Earhart, Lae ...: Copy of weather report, sent to William Miller at the Bureau of Air Commerce in response to his query; dated July 22, 1937, from Richard Black.
page 406: Southeast trade winds ...: NYHT, June 4, 1937.
page 407: According to navy records, .... “The following weather forecast was received by the navigator prior departure Lae; Lae to 165 degrees E: winds ESE 12-15; 165 degrees to 175 degrees: ENE 18; 175 degrees E to Howland; ENE 15 and squalls to be detoured.”
page 407: As the plane reached ...: Pellegreno, World Flight, p. 144; Bertie Heath, interview with Pellegreno.
page 407: Not much more ...: AE, LF, p. 226.
page 408: The chart of the area ...: Number 1198, published by the Hydrographic Office for the navy in 1919.
page 408: the coordinates to the day beacon ...: Position of Howland Island, NOAA, Office of Coast Survey; James Dailey, interview with author.
page 408: emulating Amelia’s world flight, ...: Pellegreno, World Flight, p. 191.
page 409: the sky was clear to the south ...: Report of the Itasca to the Colorado in explanation of why they first started searching to the northwest.
page 409: “Cloudy weather cloudy”: Itasca, cable to Commander, San Francisco Division, July 6, 1937. There were later, edited versions, as the coast guard cleaned up its report, but all versions are similar, with very slight variations.
page 410: “This was a trick ...”: Richard Black, Columbia OH.
&n
bsp; Later
page 412: “a craft of that type ...”: AE in National Geographic, May 1935.
page 413: The sharks ...: Report of Lt. Daniel Cooper, Army Air Corps observer in charge of repairing the runways on Howland, navy records, National Archives.
page 413: “if the plane ...”: Report of the Earhart Search, navy records, National Archives.
page 413: “The pilots received three dashes,” ...: interview with Page Smith.
page 414: George’s first thought ...: cable to Itasca; the Colorado also checked out Winslow Banks, a long reef formation 175 miles east of Howland.
page 414: “have an eye ...”: J. J. Clark, Columbia OH. In 1937 Admiral Clark, later commander of the Seventh Fleet, was the air officer on the Lexington.
page 415: “made complete sense ...”: C. B. Allen, draft of a review of The True Amelia Earhart Story, NASM.
page 415: although there was also a report ...: San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 1937.
page 416: “a thorough surface search” . ...: Department of State telegram, National Archives.
page 417: “I am satisfied” ...: Charles Edison, letter to J. Gordon Vaeth, Oct. 7, 1964, provided to author by Vaeth.
page 417: In 1981 the Japanese writer ...: Fukiko Aoki, interview with author.
page 418: “but says she doesn’t know ...”: Fukiko Aoki, “Was Amelia Earhart Executed?” Bungei Shunju, April 1983.
page 418: “she was really young...”: Ibid.
page 418: “About once a year ...”: Ibid.
page 419: The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, ...: Richard Black, Columbia OH.
page 419: “raise our flag...” : Ibid.
page 420: “She was great; ...”: JM, LITHW, IX p. 13, SLRC.
page 420: never left it, ...: JM, unidentified fragment, SLRC.
page 420: “It’s worth it, ...”: quoted by Antoine Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand and Stars, in Airman’s Odyssey, p. 117.
page 421: So close was he ...: GPP, SW, p. 237.
Sources
Published Sources
Addams, Jane. Twenty Years at Hull House. New York: Macmillan, 1910.
Allen, Richard Sanders. Revolution in the Sky: Those Fabulous Lockheeds. The Pilots Who Flew Them. Brattleboro, Vt.: Stephen Greene Press, 1967.
Amory, Cleveland. The Proper Bostonians. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1947.