The Life of Amelia Earhart as it Pertains to the Origins of Folklore

You’ve undoubtedly heard of Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviatrix whose final flight ended with her tragic disappearance. That being said this will not be a biography but rather a study of sorts. I’ll call it “ The Life of Amelia Earhart as it Pertains to the Origins of Folklore ”. A long title to be sure but it will make sense in a little while.
It’s tempting to start from the beginning and tell you that Amelia Earhart was born July 24th, 1897, or that she bought her first plane in July of 1921, or that she set an aviation record the summer of the very next year. And while it might seem pertinent to tell you that, in 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman, (and second person) to fly solo across the Atlantic, and that Amelia Earhart went on to set many aviation records throughout her tragically short career, I think it best that we start in 1936, at the beginning of the end for Mrs. Earhart.
More specifically the year in which she acquired her Lockheed Electra 10E, her “Flying Laboratory” as she called it. With this new plane she began planning her most ambitious mission yet. Amelia decided she would fly around the world across the equator.
For all intents and purposes Amelia Earhart was a rockstar. Beloved by Americans everywhere. In fact, according to Purdue.edu, the website I got most of these facts from, “Amelia and Albert Einstein spoke at the opening of the New York Museum of Science and Industry. Amelia testified before a Senate sub-committee on air safety, campaigned for the 1936 Democratic Party, and was honored by women geographers that same year.”
To say she was loved would be a severe understatement. Being said, It’s safe to say that most eyes were on her March, 17th 1937, when she took off from Oakland, California to make her trip around the world. Amelia landed in Honolulu to refuel exactly 15 hrs and 47 min later. Another record in a list of many. The plane was moved to Luke Field, where she attempted to take off again. If she were superstitious, this take off may have been seen as a red flag, as it ended with Amelia ground looping the plane, badly damaging it in the process. A ground loop is defined as “a violent, uncontrolled horizontal rotation of an aircraft while landing, taking off, or taxiing.” Basically it’s very bad. So bad that the plane was sent all the way back to
California to be repaired.
Now Amelia wasn’t one to be scared easily. In fact Harry Manning, the navigator on this first attempt, would later call her “bull-headed”, and while this was used as an insult, it’s hard to find fault in that description. Amelia Earhart, while skilled as a pilot, failed to complete many of the competencies required of pilots at the time, she was not well versed in how to use her equipment or radio, and more importantly, she didn’t know Morse code. Bull-headed could very well describe her mindset as she made her way to Miami, Florida for her second attempt.
Harry Manning had been replaced at this point by Fred Noonan, and on June 1, Amelia and Fred departed. Then after another planned departure from Lae, New Guinea, Fred and Amelia were never seen again. According to the National Air and Space Museum website “The government put forth an extraordinary attempt to find Earhart that went on for sixteen days, involved nine vessels, four thousand crewmen, and sixty-six aircraft at a cost of more than $4 million. All of this was to no avail” Amelia, Fred and the Lockheed Electra 10E, were never found.
This is where folklore comes in. Many theories were put forth to explain her disappearance. Some people believe Amelia was taken prisoner by the Japanese, some believe that she was a spy. A rather outlandish theory is that Amelia Earhart actually survived the crash, and moved back to America and lived the rest of her life as a woman named Irene Bolam. The real Irene Bolam was not particularly fond of this theory.
The likely truth is that they couldn’t find the tiny Howland Island they had been looking for, and the combined fact that Amelia was not competent in radio communications, and that the plane was already low on fuel culminated in a crash landing in the Pacific. Who knows how she spent her final moments, but one thing is sure. As deaths go, hers was not one befitting a hero.
But why believe that? There was no body after all. There was no plane. Who’s to say what the truth is, without proof to the contrary. This line of thinking might seem foolish, but don’t we do this all the time. We believe in ghosts that stick around after death, We believe in afterlifes where we will once again see the ones we love. We believe in the impossible because it brings us the comfort we need to go about our day. Maybe we don’t believe in folklore because we are foolish, maybe folklore is how we hold on to the things we just aren’t ready to let go of.
That is how Amealia Earhart pertains to the origins of folklore. She was not just a woman, she was a hero. A martyr, and believing in her for just a little longer might have been just what the people of America needed at the time.
While this story doesn’t quite have a happy ending, I can’t help but admire the tenacity of the famous aviatrix. The bull- headedness if you will. She must have known something might go wrong, but she persisted, and I would be remiss if I didn’t include a quote from the woman herself “Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.”
Bull-headed indeed. While I admire this quality in a woman of her caliber. Maybe this attitude was necessary to excel in her, male dominated field, unfortunately this attitude is what led to her untimely demise. Or not. I guess it depends on what you believe doesn’t it. After all, legends never die.