Happy Landings To You, Amelia Earhart

The Second of July. Amelia Earhart Day.

It was on this day in 1937 that aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart's last flight ended in tragedy.

Some friends have for many years marked this occasion with an annual Amelia Earhart Day party. So, Monday night I will go there, and as the band plays we all sing "Happy Landings To You, Amelia Earhart". Farewell, First Lady of the Air.

Walter Hinton

On the subject of Aviation pioneers, I had the priviledge to know one as a neighbor when I was young.

Walter Hinton was one of the early flyers in the days of wood and canvas airplanes. Lots of his comrades died young, but Hinton lived into his 90s. He was full of interesting stories and was glad to show me his scrapbook full of photos, newspaper articles, and cases of medals. His most celebrated exploit was to pilot a "flying boat" across the Atlantic in 1919. Lindberg is remembered for crossing the Atlantic non stop solo 8 years later, but Hinton and the 6 man crew of the NC4 were the first to fly across an ocean (stoping in Newfoundland and the Azores to refuel along the way).


At right is a photo of Hinton about 1926 he gave me. Click on it for a larger version where you can see a painting of the NC4 on his wall while he listens to his new Brunswick Panatrope (the first commercial electric phonograph) which the president of Brunswick gave him after hearing Hinton give a stirring speech on the future of Aviation.

Hinton's other aeronautic acomplishments include exploring the Arctic by baloon, making the first flight from North America to South America (on the second try-- he floated on a wing in shark infested waters off Cuba for a while at the end of the first try), and exploring the Amazon by hydroplane. In this last role you can see pictures of him on pages 379 and 404 of the April 1926 National Geographic Magazine.

Nowadays folks who enjoy the thrill of living dangerously might do extreem sports... Hinton was one of perhaps the last generation where such people could make a contribution to civilization by being Explorers and Pioneers.