aviation editor. The magazine’s pride at having such a famous employee shows up in its letterhead at a time, now preserved by Purdue University. The official company name shows up centered: Hearst’s International combined with Cosmopolitan , it reads. Then only two names appear: Ray Long, Editor is on the left; Amelia Earhart, Aviation Editor, on the right.
Earhart, who enjoyed writing as much as ever, had no trouble coming up with articles about aviation that might appeal to women. She wrote several articles a year that promoted aviation and encouraged women to fly.
Obviously still flying herself, Earhart experimented with the controversial autogyro , a type of rotorcraft, or plane-helicopter hybrid, that could take off and land vertically. She was the first woman in the United States to fly one, near the end of 1930. But why stop there? She purchased one, and, within six months, she set a new autogyro altitude record of 18,451 feet.
She sold her autogyro a few weeks after setting that record, but the Beech-Nut Company, which bought it, handed it right back to her, on loan, with their logo prominently displayed on the side of the craft. They wanted Earhart to fly it everywhere. And she did. Her way. Amelia Earhart made a transcontinental flight by autogyro in 1931. Earhart went on to set a new world altitude record of 18,415 feet, and set a new women’s world speed record of 181.15 miles an hour.
Flying the unstable craft, however, had been a continuous headache. Government authorities, concerned for her safety, didn’t want to endorse it. To make that point, the Department of Commerce put its reprimand of Amelia Earhart in writing. It looked like time to slow down.
Then she took up racing. In her first entry in the Women’s Air Derby, a cross-country race from Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, Ohio – dubbed by Will Rogers as the “Powder Puff Derby,” - Earhart was tied for the lead at the last intermediate stop with her friend and rival, Ruth Nichols . When Nichols’s plane hit a tractor at the end of the runway and flipped, Earhart ran to the wreckage and pulled her friend out. Only when she was sure Nichols was safe did Earhart rejoin the race; the time she lost was the difference between winning and coming in third. Characteristically, she seldom mentioned the incident.
Thanks to her own determination and hard work plus Putnam’s promotional savvy, Earhart arguably became the most famous woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt. She helped organize several fledgling airlines, including the two that became TWA and Northeast Airlines. She did public-relations work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and Beech-Nut chewing gum, and her image was so respected that any organization she joined could count on being taken seriously.
When a group of women aviators organizing themselves at Long Island’s Curtiss Field couldn’t figure out what to call themselves, Earhart decided to take a leadership role. Now it was happening. Here was exactly the kind of group she hoped for. Should they call themselves the American Association of Women Pilots, the Ladybirds, Gadflies, or Bird Women?
After Earhart was voted the group’s first president, she recommended that they call themselves “The Ninety-Nines” in honor of the original ninety-nine charter members. The name fit so well that the club still uses it today, having grown to an international organization with several thousand members, all women.
Working Twice as Hard
Earhart gladly accepted speaking invitations for reasons of her own. She meant what she had been saying about wanting to encourage young women to study subjects sometimes perceived as reserved for men. Groups of women – not limited to female aviators – now hoped to have Earhart as a speaker, knowing that she would find a way to inspire them.
In May 1931, Earhart gave a speech for what sounded like a somewhat bland event. It was the annual dinner of the Barnard Athletic Association to
Earhart, who enjoyed writing as much as ever, had no trouble coming up with articles about aviation that might appeal to women. She wrote several articles a year that promoted aviation and encouraged women to fly.
Obviously still flying herself, Earhart experimented with the controversial autogyro , a type of rotorcraft, or plane-helicopter hybrid, that could take off and land vertically. She was the first woman in the United States to fly one, near the end of 1930. But why stop there? She purchased one, and, within six months, she set a new autogyro altitude record of 18,451 feet.
She sold her autogyro a few weeks after setting that record, but the Beech-Nut Company, which bought it, handed it right back to her, on loan, with their logo prominently displayed on the side of the craft. They wanted Earhart to fly it everywhere. And she did. Her way. Amelia Earhart made a transcontinental flight by autogyro in 1931. Earhart went on to set a new world altitude record of 18,415 feet, and set a new women’s world speed record of 181.15 miles an hour.
Flying the unstable craft, however, had been a continuous headache. Government authorities, concerned for her safety, didn’t want to endorse it. To make that point, the Department of Commerce put its reprimand of Amelia Earhart in writing. It looked like time to slow down.
Then she took up racing. In her first entry in the Women’s Air Derby, a cross-country race from Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, Ohio – dubbed by Will Rogers as the “Powder Puff Derby,” - Earhart was tied for the lead at the last intermediate stop with her friend and rival, Ruth Nichols . When Nichols’s plane hit a tractor at the end of the runway and flipped, Earhart ran to the wreckage and pulled her friend out. Only when she was sure Nichols was safe did Earhart rejoin the race; the time she lost was the difference between winning and coming in third. Characteristically, she seldom mentioned the incident.
Thanks to her own determination and hard work plus Putnam’s promotional savvy, Earhart arguably became the most famous woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt. She helped organize several fledgling airlines, including the two that became TWA and Northeast Airlines. She did public-relations work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and Beech-Nut chewing gum, and her image was so respected that any organization she joined could count on being taken seriously.
When a group of women aviators organizing themselves at Long Island’s Curtiss Field couldn’t figure out what to call themselves, Earhart decided to take a leadership role. Now it was happening. Here was exactly the kind of group she hoped for. Should they call themselves the American Association of Women Pilots, the Ladybirds, Gadflies, or Bird Women?
After Earhart was voted the group’s first president, she recommended that they call themselves “The Ninety-Nines” in honor of the original ninety-nine charter members. The name fit so well that the club still uses it today, having grown to an international organization with several thousand members, all women.
Working Twice as Hard
Earhart gladly accepted speaking invitations for reasons of her own. She meant what she had been saying about wanting to encourage young women to study subjects sometimes perceived as reserved for men. Groups of women – not limited to female aviators – now hoped to have Earhart as a speaker, knowing that she would find a way to inspire them.
In May 1931, Earhart gave a speech for what sounded like a somewhat bland event. It was the annual dinner of the Barnard Athletic Association to
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