Solo Atlantic Flight, 1932
Scope and Contents
This subseries contains Earhart’s flight log, passport, newspaper clippings, correspondence, ephemera, a lab report and chemical analysis of acid-damaged wires on her plane, and other related items from her Solo Atlantic Flight.
Dates
- Creation: 1932
Creator
- From the Collection: Earhart, Amelia, 1897-1937 (Person)
- From the Collection: Putnam, George Palmer, 1887-1950 (Person)
Access Information
The collection is open for research.
Biographical Information
Earhart thought a transatlantic flight would bring her respect. On May 20, 1932 she took off from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, in her red Lockheed Vega 5B. She encountered many difficulties; “Earhart fought fatigue, a leaky fuel tank, and a cracked manifold that spewed flames out the side of the engine cowling,” writes the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. “Ice formed on the Vega's wings and caused an unstoppable 3,000-foot descent to just above the waves.”
Earhart had planned to fly to Paris, the same destination as Charles Lindbergh, but the weather and mechanical problems forced her to land at a farm near Derry, Ireland, completing the flight in 14 hours and 56 minutes. Acclaimed in London, Paris, and Rome, she returned home to a ticker tape parade in New York City and honors in Washington, D.C. By July and August, she was back in the Vega for her transcontinental flight
Extent
0.876 Cubic Feet (One legal-size full-width manuscript box and thirteen folders.)
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Repository Details
Part of the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections Repository
504 Mitch Daniels Boulevard
West Lafayette Indiana 47907 United States
765-494-2839
archives@purdue.edu