Planning for The World Flight
Before Earhart’s departure to voyage across the equator, she and President Roosevelt had communicated about the specifics of her Last Flight. Here shows the correspondence between Earhart and President Roosevelt regarding the carefully planned approach and schedule in order to fly successfully. Earhart mentions in the letter the locations she suspects to pass by during her trip, areas such as: San Francisco, Honolulu, Australia, and so forth. She mentions that two of her concerns prior to the voyage were navigation around the continent of Africa and the task of refueling midway through the flight with the help from the Navy. Earhart assures that survey work and map preparation is being studied and that she had blessings from Mr. Putnam for any additional assistance needed. She discusses how a success like this, especially completed by a woman, could advance new discoveries for the United States. She adds that her enthusiasm, like Roosevelt’s, was anxiously awaiting for the final chance to complete the departure.
Prior to flying the Electra, the plane used for her final flight, Amelia had modifications changed and added to her Lockheed Electra 10E. Here she studied just what was essential to successfully cross the 29,000 miles of the equator. Her crew incorporated necessities such as twin engines, additional fuel tanks, and modifications to the propellor hubs. Earhart’s first attempt to fly the Electra was cut short due to technical difficulties of incorrect preparation of the propeller mechanisms and galling. Although the Electra still needed additional modifications, Earhart decided to test the plane after three days of the incident, foregoing the task. She had barely left Luke Field, her landing site, when suddenly her front gears and both propellers had collapsed. To make matters worse, her right tire had blown out, making so that the belly of the plane became off balanced and damaging itself and the runway. Frustrated by the failed attempt, Manning, Earhart’s radio operator, decided to abandon the operation, leaving Earhart without a proper navigation system. Although discouraged, Amelia went forth to her second and final attempt to fly the Electra.
