Tuesday, February 19, 2013

American History Part 3




  So, this week I chose an inspirational Hero of mine with a No Fear, Can Do attitude!


Amelia Earhart




 Born on: July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart joined the faculty of the Purdue University aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation. She was also a member of the National Woman's Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

 During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

 An absolute hero and inspiration of mine since a very early age. I first learned of Amelia Earhart in 1984, from a display at my favorite restaurant of the time. My parents used to take me to a restaurant in Morgan Hill called "The Flying Lady". Sunday's with my folks were the best! Dixieland Jazz playing, Great Food and so much to look at and learn, I never wanted to leave! I absolutely loved going here! It was like a time capsule for Aviation, Vintage Cars and pretty much popular culture of the time as-well… It was Huge!!! I remember these hand carved and painted logs, that were turned into W.C. Fields, Judy Garland, Albert Einstein, Groucho Marx and many other Hollywood Celebrities or Prominent Members of American History. It was here that I became fascinated with Aerospace Technology, Flight and defying gravity. I had a few toy planes at home that I immediately disassembled to attempt to figure out how they work… I think without this early fascination, I would have never looked into joining the United States Air Force. I was deeply saddened to hear that the restaurant was closed in 1994. My Dad and I played our last round of Golf their in 1993, shortly before they closed. I remember being a bit bummed that I didn't eat as much as usual that day… I just always thought it would be around.

Lockheed Vega 5B "Old Bessie"


 Amelia grew up a bit of a "Tomboy" with her younger sister who she lovingly called "Pidge". They climbed trees, kept animals, got dirty and just like the Wright Brothers even built planes and gliders to launch off the roof of their barn… to pilot and crash. Unlike the other girls who lived nearby, the girls favored wearing "Bloomers" since they offered more freedom and protection at play. Amelia's fascinations with all things aviation would continue for life and she would approach such interests with unbridled zeal! However, upon her first introduction to an opportunity to take a ride on a plane at the Iowa State Fair, she passed… Stating that the aircraft looked, "a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting".

 In 1915, after a long search, Earhart's father found work as a clerk at the Great Northern Railway in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Earhart entered Central High School as a junior. Edwin applied for a transfer to Springfield, Missouri, in 1915 but the current claims officer reconsidered his retirement and demanded his job back, leaving the elder Earhart with nowhere to go. Facing another calamitous move, Amy Earhart took her children to Chicago where they lived with friends. Earhart made an unusual condition in the choice of her next schooling; she canvassed nearby high schools in Chicago to find the best science program. She rejected the high school nearest her home when she complained that the chemistry lab was "just like a kitchen sink." She eventually was enrolled in Hyde Park High School but spent a miserable semester where a yearbook caption captured the essence of her unhappiness, "A.E. – the girl in brown who walks alone."

 Fast Forward a bit… In Long Beach, on December 28, 1920, Earhart and her father visited an airfield where Frank Hawks (who later gained fame as an air racer) gave her a ride that would forever change Earhart's life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly." After that 10-minute flight (that cost her father $10), she immediately became determined to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, including photographer, truck driver, and stenographer at the local telephone company, she managed to save $1,000 for flying lessons.

  Earhart had her first lessons, beginning on January 3, 1921, at Kinner Field near Long Beach, but to reach the airfield Earhart took a bus to the end of the line, then walked four miles (6 km). Earhart's mother also provided part of the $1,000 "stake" against her "better judgement." Her teacher was Anita "Neta" Snook, a pioneer female aviator who used a surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck" for training. Earhart arrived with her father and a singular request, "I want to fly. Will you teach me?"

 Earhart's commitment to flying required her to accept the frequently hard work and rudimentary conditions that accompanied early aviation training. She chose a leather jacket, but aware that other aviators would be judging her, she slept in it for three nights to give the jacket a "worn" look. To complete her image transformation, she also cropped her hair short in the style of other female flyers. Six months later, Earhart purchased a secondhand bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she nicknamed "The Canary." On October 22, 1922, Earhart flew the Airster to an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300m), setting a world record for female pilots. On May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license (#6017) by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

 It's this level of "Can Do" and "Never Give Up" attitude that first attracted me to Amelia's History. Up till the point when I first began to read about her, everyone of my Hero's had been Men. She changed everything! But it was her 1932 Transatlantic Solo Flight, that sealed the deal!

Earhart and "Old Bessie"1935


 At the age of 34, on the morning of May 20, 1932, Earhart set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland with the latest copy of a local newspaper (the dated copy was intended to confirm the date of the flight). She intended to fly to Paris in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5B to emulate Charles Lindbergh's solo flight. Her technical advisor for the flight was famed Norwegian American aviator Bernt Balchen who helped prepare her aircraft. He also played the role of "decoy" for the press as he was ostensibly preparing Earhart's Vega for his own Arctic flight. After a flight lasting 14 hours, 56 minutes during which she contended with strong northerly winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems, Earhart landed in a pasture at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland. The landing was witnessed by Cecil King and T. Sawyer. When a farm hand asked, "Have you flown far?" Earhart replied, "From America." The site now is the home of a small museum, the Amelia Earhart Centre.

 As the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, Earhart received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover.

 Amelia made 2 attempts of flight to circumnavigate the globe. The first on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1937. This flight was short lived as they only made it to Honolulu, Hawaii a planned stop along the way, but due to technical difficulty, became the destination for this attempt.


Earhart and Noonan May 1937


 While the Electra was being repaired Earhart and Putnam secured additional funds and prepared for a second attempt. This time flying west to east, the second attempt began with an unpublicized flight from Oakland to Miami, Florida, and after arriving there Earhart publicly announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe. The flight's opposite direction was partly the result of changes in global wind and weather patterns along the planned route since the earlier attempt. On this second flight, Fred Noonan was Earhart's only crew member. The pair departed Miami on June 1 and after numerous stops in South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, arrived at Lae, New Guinea, on June 29, 1937. At this stage about 22,000 miles (35,000 km) of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles (11,000 km) would all be over the Pacific.

 On July 2, 1937, midnight GMT, Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae in the heavily loaded Electra. Their intended destination was Howland Island, a flat sliver of land 6,500 ft (2,000 m) long and 1,600 ft (500 m) wide, 10 ft (3 m) high and 2,556 miles (4,113 km) away. Their last known position report was near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles (1,300 km) into the flight. The United States Coast Guard cutter Itasca was on station at Howland, assigned to communicate with Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E and guide them to the island once they arrived in the vicinity.

Now there is much speculation regarding the crash and location of Earhart and Noonan, since communications became strained and her last transmission was 8:43am on July 2nd. Now this is where things get silly… Various Morse code signals were received over the next 3-5 days from the general vicinity, but nothing could be validated.



 Search efforts began exactly one hour after her last transmission and lasted until July 19, 1937… Four Million dollars were spent in this effort to find the downed aviators, but ultimately proved unsuccessful. The world lost not one but two pioneers in the field of Aviation in July 1937. But it was this Woman who gained the popularity and recognition. She and her adventures captivated the hearts and minds of future thrill seekers, pilots, historians, men, women and children the world over. I can to this day see her "Can Do" attitude in many great Men and Women! Danica Patrick is a great example of this. Her love and passion for Male dominated "Automotive Racing" gained her 2005 Rookie of the year for not only the Indianapolis 500, but the IndyCar Series Season! She recently became the 2012 NASCAR Most Popular Driver, however many attribute that to her stunning beauty and not her driving skills. Only time will tell.



Want to know more about this Amazing Woman?



Thank you for your time and interest.
"Cheers!"

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

American History Part 2



 So in continuing with American History Month AKA Black History Month, I have chosen an outstanding American to recognize, on his birthday!

  That's right, our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.




  Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky. To understand Lincoln, first you must know his family. Thomas Lincoln, moved to Kentucky at an early age with his family. Shortly after their move to Kentucky from Virginia the family was ambushed by a Native American War Party in 1786. Thomas with his brothers and sisters, watched as their Father(Abraham Lincoln, namesake to the afore mentioned 16th President Abraham Lincoln) was brutally killed defending his family and home. Thomas was left to make his own way on the frontier, and that he did. Thomas bought and sold several farms, including "Knob Creek Farm". Married Nancy Hanks and started a family. The family attended a Separate Baptists church, which had restrictive moral standards and opposed alcohol, dancing, and slavery. Thomas enjoyed considerable status in Kentucky—where he sat on juries, appraised estates, served on country slave patrols, and guarded prisoners. By the time his son Abraham was born, Thomas owned two 600-acre (240 ha) farms, several town lots, livestock, and horses. He was among the richest men in the county. However, in 1816, Thomas lost all of his land in court cases because of faulty property titles.

  The family moved north across the Ohio River to free (i.e., non-slave) territory and made a new start in what was then Perry County but is now Spencer County, Indiana. Lincoln later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery" but mainly due to land title difficulties. In Indiana, when Lincoln was nine, his mother Nancy died of milk sickness in 1818. After the death of Lincoln's mother, his older sister, Sarah, took charge of caring for him until their father remarried in 1819; Sarah later died in her 20s while giving birth to a stillborn son.

  Sounds like a pretty crappy go of things right? Like the cards were stacked against him and that he may as well just give up... But he never did, never settling for just circumstance or "the way it is" he rose against obstacle after obstacle.

  As a "Pre-Teen" he was considered scrawny and lazy due to the fact he didn't exactly enjoy the hardships of frontier living. However as a Teen and Young Man, he grew into his own, taking on all chores of the home and even giving all earning's he made outside the home to his father until he was 21 years of age(as was customary of the time). Thomas Lincoln's new wife was the widow Sarah Bush Johnston, the mother of three children. Lincoln became very close to his stepmother, and referred to her as "Mother". He attained a reputation for brawn and audacity after a very competitive wrestling match to which he was challenged by the renowned leader of a group of ruffians, "the Clary's Grove boys". As an ambitious 22-year-old, Lincoln decided to seek a better life and struck out on his own. Canoeing down the Sangamon River, Lincoln ended up in the village of New Salem in Sangamon County. In the spring of 1831, hired by New Salem businessman Denton Offutt and accompanied by friends, he took goods by flatboat from New Salem to New Orleans via the Sangamon, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers. After arriving in New Orleans—and witnessing slavery firsthand—he walked back home.



 Now Lincoln was never regarded as a "School Learned" young man, self educated he loved to read. Reading and often re-reading books like The Bible, Aesop's Fables, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Robinson Crusoe. In spite of only having been Self-Educated, Lincoln became a Country Lawyer, a Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator during the 1830s, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives during the 1840s. Not to mention, the 16th President of the United States. Serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln successfully led the United States through its greatest constitutional, military, and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862, and put into effect on January 1, 1863, declared free the slaves in 10 states not then under Union control. This changed history forever!



  On April 14th at approximately 10:13pm, while attending the play "Our American Cousin" at the Henry Ford Theatre, Lincoln was Assassinated by well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, John Wilkes Booth. Booth snuck up behind the President as he sat in his state box in the balcony and with a single shot, point blank to the back of Lincoln's head killed our 16th President. Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped. After being on the run for 10 days, Booth was tracked down and found on a farm in Virginia, some 70 miles (110 km) south of Washington, D.C. After a brief fight with Union troops, Booth was killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26.

 Lincoln's story is a fantastic one, and I have barely scratched the surface! Only touching on particular high points. To learn more about this Great American Leader, Father, Husband and Hero, please visit your local library.


"SUPER HERO!!!"


Thank you for your time, please remember to leave a comment if you are so inspired.
"Cheers!"




Monday, February 4, 2013

Black History Month / American History


 I don't think American History should be segregated simply because of the color of someones Skin... Haven't we learned anything from our past? Perhaps it's the "Separation and Segregation" of such histories that continue to divide this Nation.

 That being said, each Monday of this month I will choose to Spotlight an American History maker, regardless of their Skin Color, Sex or Choice of Religion.

This Monday, er Today.


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 I have chosen, George Washington Carver.

 George Washington Carver was an American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, and Inventor. 

 Carver's reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. He also developed and promoted about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin. He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP.


Hard at Work.

 I have a personal soft spot for this mans work... I LOVE Peanut Butter! It's Peanut Butter that caused me to have an interest in this American and his work. I think it was in 3rd Grade when I first started reading books about his life's work. I have always had a particular interest in Science and during this time in my life I would read book after book of Scientists and their contributions to the World. Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Eva Ekeblad, Antoine Lavoisier and many others. I grew up like a sponge soaking it up! Chemistry and Biology were the primary subjects of my study. I loved to create! It's quite possible I would have never shown interest in these fields of Science had I never enjoyed my first "Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich".

 So thank you George Washington Carver and all of your course work, developments, study and innovations at the Tuskegee Institute. One of the smartest men ever! Having first been born into slavery, but bearing no grudge. Instead showing interest in helping his fellow Man and his Country. After the Boll Weevil had done much damage to Cotton all over the South, an alternative crop and mindset was needed. That's where this man, the "Black Leonardo" came in and helped change the world. Thank you Sir!


At The Tuskegee Institute 1902

 "George Washington Carver believed he could have faith both in God and science and integrated them into his life. He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science."-Man of science and of God by: Gilmore, Jodie

 Carver viewed faith in Jesus as a means of destroying both barriers of racial disharmony and social stratification. He was as concerned with his students' character development as he was with their intellectual development. He compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for his students to strive toward:


  • Be clean both inside and out.
  • Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
  • Lose, if need be, without squealing.
  • Win without bragging.
  • Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
  • Be too brave to lie.
  • Be too generous to cheat.
  • Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.


 This Man of Great Faith and Science, led the world in a new way of thinking. I'm proud to have him as a Hero and Cultural Icon to look up to. Prior to his death on January 5, 1943, He is quoted as having said:

 "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." -George Washington Carver


Want to know more about this Great American? Start at your Local Library.


"There is no shortcut to Achievement" -George Washington Carver


Thank you for your time.