Famous woman aviator Amelia Earhart stands with a couple of
spectators near her biplane – a French Avro-Avian – while the craft sits
on a crude runway in the farming community of McNeal in the Sulfur
Springs Valley just north of Douglas.
Earhart’s destination was Los Angeles, where a national air meet was
in progress. Attempting to avoid publicity, she chose small,
out-of-the-way landing fields for refueling stops. Her landing at McNeal
on Sept. 12, 1928, was a surprise to the community.
The airport at McNeal had been built a few years before. According to
the Douglas Daily Dispatch, there was “a smooth landing field which is
rated as one of the best in this part of the west, it being clean of
obstacles…”
Few pilots had landed at McNeal, so when residents heard a plane
approaching at 11:30 a.m. on the 28th, many went out to the airfield to
see what was going on. It was a great surprise when the famous pilot
alighted from the plane.
McNeal residents were delighted to have her as their guest. The
Lady’s Aid Society was holding a convention at the time and invited
Earhart to attend. One resident was quoted “…we not only gave her the
key to the city, but tore the gates from their hinges and then dispensed
with the necessity of using a key.”
According to the Dispatch article, Earhart did “little talking” but
did say she had landed at McNeal to “avoid the rush and hubbub” of
larger fields. She also expressed an appreciation for the hospitality of
McNeal residents and said she was falling in love with the West.
The plane was refueled during her three-hour layover. Then, without revealing her destination, Earhart took off once more.
She touched down briefly at Tucson, then landed in Casa Grande to
stay the night. The next day she headed west but was unable to gain
enough altitude to clear the Sand Tank and Maricopa mountains. Instead
she took a southern route, following the Southern Pacific railroad
tracks. She made a last stop in Yuma before flying to Los Angeles.
In reaching Los Angeles, she became the first woman to fly solo
across the United States. But despite her having encountered half a
dozen mishaps and overcome all kinds of uncertainties during the
journey, she was too nervous to land at Mines Airfield where the show
was taking place. Instead, she landed at Glendale field, where she told
the press, “I don’t profess or pretend to be a flyer. I am just an
amateur, a dub, flying around the country for the amusement there is in
it for me. I certainly wouldn’t attempt to participate in any of the
events at Mines field when I didn’t have the nerve enough to land there
today around a swarm of ships.”
Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
in 1932. Three years later she became the first person to fly solo from
Honolulu to California. In 1937, she attempted to fly around the world
with a copilot, Frederick J. Noonan. Her plane was lost on the flight
between New Guinea and Howard Island and her fate remains a mystery.
– Tom Vaughan. Photo courtesy Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum.
0 remarks:
Post a Comment