A Pasture Instead of Paris: Two Flight Accounts

Amelia Earhart crossed the Atlantic Ocean alone in May 1932. How might her description differ from a historian's? Below are two accounts of that flight. The first retells part of Earhart's book, The Fun of It, in new words, not quotations. The second is an original historical description written from a historian's viewpoint.

From the Pilot's Seat

I took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, on May 20. I was the pilot, and nobody else was aboard. My plan was to fly across the Atlantic and reach Paris, France. During the flight, I had to pay attention to the weather and to my airplane. Clouds and trouble with my instruments made that work more difficult. An instrument that should have shown my height was not working properly.

After crossing the ocean, I chose to land rather than continue to Paris. I brought the airplane down in a pasture near Londonderry, in Northern Ireland, on May 21. The trip had lasted almost fifteen hours. Reaching a field instead of an airport was not my original plan, but I had completed the ocean crossing by myself.

A Place in Aviation History

On May 20–21, 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic. Solo means alone; nonstop means without landing along the way. Her route began in Newfoundland and ended in Northern Ireland. Although Paris had been her planned destination, landing elsewhere did not change her achievement: she had piloted the airplane across the ocean without another person aboard.

The flight also changed Earhart's place in aviation, the activity of flying aircraft. In 1928, she had crossed the Atlantic as a passenger while other people flew the airplane. Four years later, she made the crossing as the pilot. This difference helps explain why the 1932 flight mattered. It provided a widely noticed example of what a woman pilot could accomplish.

Reading the Accounts Together

Both accounts describe the same completed crossing and the change in landing place. Their focus, or main attention, differs. Earhart's firsthand account follows what she did and the problems she handled. The historian's secondhand account adds the earlier flight and explains the later flight's importance. A firsthand account comes from someone who experienced an event. A secondhand account is written by someone who gathers information about it. Reading both helps us connect one person's experience with a larger historical picture.