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Author Topic: Research needed:"One more good flight..."  (Read 5291 times)

Ric Gillespie

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Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« on: November 07, 2021, 09:06:51 AM »

Earhart is often quoted as having said prior to her ill-fated world flight, " I think I have one more good flight left in my system."  But I can't find a reference to a specific date or letter.   I'd like to use the quote but I need the source.
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Karen Hoy

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2021, 12:45:58 PM »

This website (not much of a source) says the quote was made to the New York Herald Tribune

http://www.simpsonstreetfreepress.org/wright-free-press/history/amelia-earhart

Was the quote included Last Flight? Did it appear in the article announcing her syndication deal for round the world coverage?

I don't have access to the Herald Tribune archives.

LTM (who love a good bibliography),

Karen Hoy 2610 CR

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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2021, 02:50:50 PM »

Bill Mangus says it was a comment she made in Miami before leaving for Puerto Rico.
I think he's probably right and I think he probably made the comment to Carl Allen of the New York Herald Tribune.

I'll check Last Flight.
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Bill Mangus

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2021, 02:55:13 PM »

Here's the link to the site where I found it:

https://www.conservapedia.com/Amelia_Earhart

Couldn't find that quote in "East to the Dawn" but Allen is mentioned in that chapter.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2021, 02:58:30 PM by Bill Mangus »
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2021, 03:47:36 PM »

It's not in Last Flight.
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Matt Revington

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2021, 05:29:52 PM »

There is this quote not quite a perfect match from this biography.

“ Just One More Flight
At 5:56 on the morning of June 1 Amelia’s friend Carl Allen watched the silver Electra lift off the runway at Miami Airport. This was to be her last “stunt” flight. “I have a feeling there is just one more flight in my system,” she told him. “… this trip around the world is it.” After that she was going to settle down “for keeps,” to fly only for lecture tours, for research at Purdue, and “for fun.””
https://erenow.net/biographies/amelia-earhart-a-biography/21.php

Edit: however on page 198 of this book “ Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon
By Kathleen C. Winters”  the author cites a telegram from Allen saying the interview with the quote in question actually took place in Oakland in March 1937 before the first world flight attempt,

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=UCS_YY677z0C&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=carl+allen+herald+tribune&source=bl&ots=fUeY7NLWjm&sig=ACfU3U3z0IW9J-3IHLsgx-g7FBiRmdv8QQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-o7mAzIf0AhUXXc0KHWERCFYQ6AF6BAgREAM#v=onepage&q=carl%20allen%20herald%20tribune&f=false

« Last Edit: November 07, 2021, 07:27:38 PM by Matt Revington »
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Walt Holm

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2021, 11:10:21 PM »

The earliest printed references to that quote that are in the newspapers.com archive come on 4 Jul 1937 and 24 Sep 1937. There were syndicated articles on each of those days appearing in many papers.

The 4 July 1937 article was listed as coming from New York, by a "special correspondent" who claims that Amelia made this comment to him just before leaving Oakland for Honolulu on the first attempt.  Most of the papers leave it at that, but the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an interesting line at the end of the article: "(C., Herald-Tribune Syndicate)".   Perhaps this is a reference to Carl Allen?

The 24 September article was listed as being written by GPP.

I've sent jpegs of both articles to Ric.
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2021, 07:34:14 AM »

Thanks Walt.  The Richmond Times Dispatch gives me the source reference I need. 
The full quote is,
" I have a feeling there is one more good flight left in my system and I hope this trip around the world is it. Anyway, when I have finished this job I mean to give up long distance 'stunt' flying"

It's a remarkable statement that reveals a let's-get-it-over-with weariness and cynicism much at odds with the popular myth about her eagerness to circle the globe.
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Don White

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2021, 04:38:25 PM »

It is my impression that what she was eager for was not the flying itself, but to do it while it still had enough publicity value that could be monetized.

LTM (who knows the value of publicity)
Don
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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2021, 05:08:08 PM »

Thanks Walt.  The Richmond Times Dispatch gives me the source reference I need. 
The full quote is,
" I have a feeling there is one more good flight left in my system and I hope this trip around the world is it. Anyway, when I have finished this job I mean to give up long distance 'stunt' flying"

It's a remarkable statement that reveals a let's-get-it-over-with weariness and cynicism much at odds with the popular myth about her eagerness to circle the globe.

She's also admitting that the round the world flight is in fact a stunt.

Andrew
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Randy Jacobson

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #10 on: November 09, 2021, 07:51:07 AM »

Thanks Walt.  The Richmond Times Dispatch gives me the source reference I need. 
The full quote is,
" I have a feeling there is one more good flight left in my system and I hope this trip around the world is it. Anyway, when I have finished this job I mean to give up long distance 'stunt' flying"

It's a remarkable statement that reveals a let's-get-it-over-with weariness and cynicism much at odds with the popular myth about her eagerness to circle the globe.
What is the date for the statement?
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #11 on: November 09, 2021, 07:57:55 AM »

What is the date for the statement?

We don't have a specific date, but it was in Oakland prior to the departure of the first attempt - so it was some time between March 11 and March 17, 1937.
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #12 on: November 09, 2021, 10:36:04 AM »

It is my impression that what she was eager for was not the flying itself, but to do it while it still had enough publicity value that could be monetized.

After her long-distance record flights in her Vega in 1935 she recognized that the days of private venture aviation record-setting were coming to a close.  The few records that remained to be set required larger aircraft far more expensive than she could afford and there was increasing pressure for the government to shut down stunt ocean flying.  She removed the special fuel tanks from the Vega, entered into a charter/flight instruction business deal with Paul Mantz, and accepted a part-time student advisor consulting position with Purdue University.  It was Putnam who saw Purdue's infatuation with Amelia as an opening to get her a new airplane with which she could continue to make headlines - and money.  He sold Purdue on the idea that what Amelia wanted was a ship with which she could do genuine scientific research such as high altitude flying. A world flight was mentioned only as a possible finale to a program of research flights.  Amelia affirmed that ambition in interviews, but what she really thought is hard to know because she did not write about it in private correspondence and she was never hesitant to mislead the public when it suited her purpose.  If she was serious about wanting to do scientific research, it was an unrealistic pipe dream.  She had neither the education nor the skill required for developmental test flying.  Putnam's letters make it easy to know his motives. From the beginning, his focus was on a world flight that "would put us on easy street." 
By the time she got to Oakland in March, the world flight had already proved to be far more complicated and expensive than anticipated.  Her disillusionment is reflected in her "one more good flight" comment.  The debacle in Hawaii made things that much worse.  Had she quit then, her reputation - and her prospects for capitalizing on her fame - would be in tatters. There is no evidence Putnam pressured her to try again.  Whether prodded by pride or practicality, the decision to keep going was hers. 
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Don White

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Re: Research needed:"One more good flight..."
« Reply #13 on: November 09, 2021, 02:59:37 PM »

It is my impression that what she was eager for was not the flying itself, but to do it while it still had enough publicity value that could be monetized.

After her long-distance record flights in her Vega in 1935 she recognized that the days of private venture aviation record-setting were coming to a close.  The few records that remained to be set required larger aircraft far more expensive than she could afford and there was increasing pressure for the government to shut down stunt ocean flying.  She removed the special fuel tanks from the Vega, entered into a charter/flight instruction business deal with Paul Mantz, and accepted a part-time student advisor consulting position with Purdue University.  It was Putnam who saw Purdue's infatuation with Amelia as an opening to get her a new airplane with which she could continue to make headlines - and money.  He sold Purdue on the idea that what Amelia wanted was a ship with which she could do genuine scientific research such as high altitude flying. A world flight was mentioned only as a possible finale to a program of research flights.  Amelia affirmed that ambition in interviews, but what she really thought is hard to know because she did not write about it in private correspondence and she was never hesitant to mislead the public when it suited her purpose.  If she was serious about wanting to do scientific research, it was an unrealistic pipe dream.  She had neither the education nor the skill required for developmental test flying.  Putnam's letters make it easy to know his motives. From the beginning, his focus was on a world flight that "would put us on easy street." 
By the time she got to Oakland in March, the world flight had already proved to be far more complicated and expensive than anticipated.  Her disillusionment is reflected in her "one more good flight" comment.  The debacle in Hawaii made things that much worse.  Had she quit then, her reputation - and her prospects for capitalizing on her fame - would be in tatters. There is no evidence Putnam pressured her to try again.  Whether prodded by pride or practicality, the decision to keep going was hers.

What he said.

I remembered this from Finding Amelia.

It occurred to me, in reading this thread, to consider what if she had never attempted the world flight. She was already famous, could already get paid to appear, and had the faculty position at Purdue. This might have been enough for some people. For her (or Putnam, or both of them) this was not enough. She wanted one last big accomplishment to put her "on easy street" for life.

Then it occurred to me that the world flight around the equator would be one thing she did first, not merely being the first woman to do what a man had already done, as were her previous flights. As "Lady Lindy," she had always been following some man, while Lindy did things no one had done before he did. That alone, which could stand on its own merits as a flying achievement, could be enough to make it worthwhile.

Don
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