F.A.Q. Fridays: Vol. II

Despite the fact that Chris is obviously a SORE LOSER (see comments from previous entry), I am going to answer his question for today’s installment of FAQ Fridays.

Chris says:

Educate us about your favorite historical figure. I like random bits of knowledge. If possible, pick someone off the beaten path so the information is new to us. I'll be waiting...

Wait no more, Chris. You may now proceed to bask in my infinite wisdom.

I found an online quiz that told me what historical figure I am most similar to. The answer was Amelia Earhart, everyone’s favorite ill-fated aviator. Don’t ask me why; I’ve never crashed a plane into the ocean and vanished forever. I wouldn’t call her my favorite historical figure, but then again I don’t really have one, so Amelia is as good as any.

Amelia Earhart was actually a pretty cool lady. She was born in 1897, during the glory days of William McKinley’s presidency before he got shot. You probably already know that she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, but just in case you didn’t, there it is. What you may not know is that she was a best-selling author, founder of an organization for women pilots called the Ninety-Nines, and receiver of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Amelia grew up in Atchison, Kansas, and liked to wear bloomers even though it was not considered proper attire for little girls at the time. As a kid she liked to sled, climb trees, and shoot rats with rifles. No, really. Wikipedia says so. In 1909 her family moved to Des Moines, which is really, really exciting. No offense to Des Moines. Amelia was kind of a loner – her high school yearbook even has a picture of her with the caption “A.E.: The girl in brown who walks alone.” Depressing, huh?

In 1920 Amelia and her father visited an airfield where she got to ride in a plane, and she then decided she would be a pilot. She worked odd jobs to earn enough money for flying lessons and eventually learned how to fly. In 1928 she got a call asking if she would like to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic (among a group of men, of course) because she “had the right image.” She accepted, and the flight took 21 hours. Then she was a celebrity, and people called her “Lady Lindy” because she resembled Charles Lindbergh, which I don’t think is very nice. No woman likes to be told she looks like a man.

On her wedding day to George Putnam, she wrote him a note that said: “I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly.” This is not very nice to say to your husband.

In 1932 she flew solo from Newfoundland to Paris. Hooray for her. But apparently this wasn’t enough, because she soon started planning a flight around the world, which was unheard of at the time. This turned out to be a bad idea. She was somewhere in the north Pacific Ocean when radio transmission was lost, and search efforts continued for two days before they presumed her dead. In other words, she lived out the rest of her days among the natives of some remote Pacific Island while eating mangoes and wearing palm fronds and DID NOT crash into a watery grave.

But yeah, she probably crashed into a watery grave. Some people think she landed safely on a place called Gardner Island, which was uninhabited at the time, and eventually died there after her plane washed out to sea. Others think she was actually spying on the Japanese at the request of FDR. She may even have been Tokyo Rose. Or she could have completed her flight, moved to New Jersey, and changed her name to Irene Craigmile Bolam. Seriously.

Thus concludes the Geekiest Post Ever. Thanks, Chris!