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The 20th Century
Lot 188
EARHART SPEECH ON AVIATION SAFETY. EARHART, AMELIA. 1897-1937. Typed Carbon, "Few people realize where aviation is today," 4 pp, 4to, n.p., n.d. (but c.1928), pages toned and thumbed,
21 November 2023, 10:00 EST
New YorkUS$10,000 - US$15,000
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EARHART SPEECH ON AVIATION SAFETY.
EARHART, AMELIA. 1897-1937. Typed Carbon, "Few people realize where aviation is today," 4 pp, 4to, n.p., n.d. (but c.1928), pages toned and thumbed, with penciled note at upper margin, "carbon—original MSS by Amelia Earhart."
Amelia Earhart shot to international fame in 1928 when, accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz, she became the first woman to complete a transatlantic flight. Not content with that record, she went on to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 and was an important ambassador for the aviation industry throughout America and the world.
This typescript is an early speech of Earhart's, given not long after her first transatlantic flight (she references data from 1927 in these pages). It is a bit unpolished, as if it might be one of her first public speaking engagements. The piece opens: "Few people realize where aviation is today. Some newspapers have a tendency to headline a minor accident and the public reads principally the mishaps of air travel. / However, aviation could not have progressed to the point where it is, without the help of the press. The situation is one of misunderstanding, I think, for many reporters don't know the terms of flying nor are they familiar with the reactions of a plane in the air."
Earhart continues by giving statistics on plane safety, mentioning that in 1927, government-operated mail planes flew 2.5 million miles and private mail planes flew 4.5 million miles with a total of only 7 fatalities between them. She writes: "I am often asked about safety in flying. From the best estimates it is calculated that on a mileage basis flying would make a better showing than automobiling if figures could be obtained. Railroading is safer than either. Do not think aviation will ever be without accident for nothing in life is so."
Earhart argues that infrastructure will go a long way toward making flying safer, especially better landing fields. She describes the various planes currently in use, including the smaller planes she flies herself, and even describes what she wear when flying: "I have a wool sport ensemble and close fitting hat. I have to wear goggles but they are not necessary in cabin planes." She tells a story of landing in Arizona and stumbling onto a chicken dinner served by the Ladies Aid and closes by warning parents that they should try flying because if they don't, their children will regard them as passe.
Amelia Earhart shot to international fame in 1928 when, accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz, she became the first woman to complete a transatlantic flight. Not content with that record, she went on to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 and was an important ambassador for the aviation industry throughout America and the world.
This typescript is an early speech of Earhart's, given not long after her first transatlantic flight (she references data from 1927 in these pages). It is a bit unpolished, as if it might be one of her first public speaking engagements. The piece opens: "Few people realize where aviation is today. Some newspapers have a tendency to headline a minor accident and the public reads principally the mishaps of air travel. / However, aviation could not have progressed to the point where it is, without the help of the press. The situation is one of misunderstanding, I think, for many reporters don't know the terms of flying nor are they familiar with the reactions of a plane in the air."
Earhart continues by giving statistics on plane safety, mentioning that in 1927, government-operated mail planes flew 2.5 million miles and private mail planes flew 4.5 million miles with a total of only 7 fatalities between them. She writes: "I am often asked about safety in flying. From the best estimates it is calculated that on a mileage basis flying would make a better showing than automobiling if figures could be obtained. Railroading is safer than either. Do not think aviation will ever be without accident for nothing in life is so."
Earhart argues that infrastructure will go a long way toward making flying safer, especially better landing fields. She describes the various planes currently in use, including the smaller planes she flies herself, and even describes what she wear when flying: "I have a wool sport ensemble and close fitting hat. I have to wear goggles but they are not necessary in cabin planes." She tells a story of landing in Arizona and stumbling onto a chicken dinner served by the Ladies Aid and closes by warning parents that they should try flying because if they don't, their children will regard them as passe.