Zachary Lee 1/21/04
8-4 Research Outline
Amelia Earhart’s Death and Disappearance
Subject: While going around the world, Amelia Earhart tragically disappeared and was lost over the Pacific Ocean.
I. Before the Flight
A. Receives an ordered twin engine Lockheed Electra on July 24,1936 (39th birthday)
1. Was financed by Purdue University
B. Plans for the round-world trip near the end of 1936.
1. Was to go from California to Hawaii and onward in that direction.
2. Friends could not change her mind.
C. Would need to prepare for journey.
1. Plane wasn’t fully equipped.
2. Would need a navigator.
3. Permission and supplies arrange by husband, George Putnam.
4. Chose Fred Noonan, of PanAm Airways and Captain Harry Manning, of the SS Roosevelt, as navigators.
D. Person in charge was Paul Mantz
1. Made sure that plane had range of 2500-3000 miles.
2. Trained Earhart in Link blind-flying and installed Sperry Robot Pilot.
E. Mantz was worried for three reasons.
1. Worried she was pushed too hard.
2. Worried if she had skills and strength.
3. Worried she might start tired.(made 136 lectures in 1937)
II. Start
A. All was ready on morning of March 17, 1937, but raining.
1. Took off at 4:30 PM with three crew and Paul Mantz, who was visiting fiancée in Hawaii; landed 16 hours later.
2. Set new speed record from Oakland to Honolulu.
B. Paul Mantz landed the plane too hard.
1. Might have been reason why right landing gear collapsed causing plane to crash.
2. Made Amelia Use Mantz only as a last resort.
3. Made Mantz say lies about her after her death.
C. Was to go to island of Howland and US Coast Guard would help.
1. Wanted to start early and quickly but storm came.
2. Tried to take off on March 20, but plane veered to side and crashed partly because it was heavy and because it’s landing gear collapsed.
III. New Start
A. Would have to fly west to east, not east to west because of the change in weather pattern.
1. Harry Manning would have to go back to work.
B. Only Noonan could come
1. Noonan had a drinking problem, which was why PanAm had let him go in the first place.
C. Repairs finished in mid-May
1. Mantz upset after he heard that Amelia had gone to Miami and how she used fuel and radio equipment.
D. New invention called direction finder (DF)
1. Helps pilots home in on radio signals, directing them over the ocean.
2. Amelia didn’t like antennas but they were needed for the DF.
3. Left behind telegraph key and antenna.
IV. Going Around the World (Africa)
A. Earhart and Noonan both had mixed feelings about new equipment.
1. Noonan had bad experience with DF.
2. Didn’t know Morse code and neither any good at radio.
3. No one knew who left antenna.
B. Headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1. Wrote articles for newspaper and log for book.\
2. To Venezuela, then to Dutch Guiana, then to Brazil for 2 days while mechanics equipped plane for Atlantic Ocean.
C. Hard rain came after Brazil.
1. Put plane on autopilot.
2. Had to keep hand on stick for the rest of the way.
D. Noonan suggested going south for Dakar. Went north.
1. Miscalculated. Went to Dakar next day.
E. Plane to be equipped for 4,350 miles across Africa with 4 stops.
1. First stop, Assab for a large supply of gasoline.
F. Went to Karachi non-stop.
1. Because Saudi Arabia denied permit to land.
2. Barely missed Karachi’s monsoon season and barely got to Akyab, Burma.
V. Going Around the World (Asia)
A.
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