The death of Amelia Earhart in 1937 is again front-page news. Widely admired as the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic, she disappeared with her navigator during a flight over the Pacific from New Guinea while attempting to circumnavigate the globe.
Because of her fame and the circumstances surrounding her death, numerous attempts have been made to solve the mystery. Earlier this year, a deep-sea exploration team announced that it had captured a sonar image in the Pacific that appears to be Earhart’s aircraft, located more than 16,000 feet below the surface.
If the identification of the plane is proven correct by further extensive and expensive investigation, it will at last shift public interest back to her many notable achievements. There are numerous sources available, including many biographies as well as her own books, especially “Last Flight,” published in 1937.
Earhart, who was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, was 30 in 1928 when she made her historic trans-Atlantic flight as a passenger. George Palmer Putnam, a resident of Rye, was a publisher who helped publicize Earhart’s flight and her subsequent book.
When she returned to the U.S., Putnam signed her to a book contract, arranging to help Earhart write about her flight as he had done with Charles Lindbergh. Putnam and his wife, Dorothy, invited Earhart to stay in their home in Rye to make the writing and editing of the book easier.
Earhart lived at the Putnam’s home on Locust Avenue for the next six weeks. That summer they hosted a party for her at Westchester Country Club. Among the guests was Ruth Nichols, a long-time resident of Rye, who became the only female flier to hold simultaneous records for speed, altitude, and distance. She and Earhart were good friends and frequent competitors in air races as well as co-founders of the Ninety-Nines, the first women’s pilot organization.
In September 1928, the Rye Chronicle reported:
“During the past six weeks Miss Earhart has become a familiar figure in Rye, notably at the Manursing Island Club, where she has enjoyed the swimming …. During the last fortnight Miss Earhart has been flying quietly from the polo field at Bowman Park on Lincoln Avenue in Purchase [current home of Pepsico], choosing that inconspicuous location to practice, rather than flying from Curtiss Field…”
With her book completed, Earhart was glad to be flying frequently again. After a test run from the polo field at the Westchester Country Club (which is now a driving range), she took off on what turned out to be the first transcontinental flight to California and back by a woman. Earhart called the trip a “flying vacation” that let her go ‘‘vagabonding’’ across the country from New York to California and back. She landed in 23 cities and towns, a round-trip journey of 5,500 miles.
Putnam accompanied Earhart on part of the 1928 trip, and by the time they both returned to New York their relationship had changed from professional to personal. When Dorothy decided to divorce her husband of 18 years, many thought that Earhart had stolen him, but Earhart really had provided Dorothy a welcomed excuse to get out of an unhappy marriage, according to a book written about Dorothy in 1997 by her and Putnam’s granddaughter, Sally Putnam Chapman.
Although the divorce was granted at the end of 1929, Putnam and Earhart were not married until February, 1931. It has been widely reported that Putnam proposed to Earhart six times before she agreed to marry him.
One of Earhart’s biographers commented that, “Earhart more and more treasured her time with Putnam at the spacious home in Rye, which he had designed himself in 1925. Despite their busy travel schedules, they were able to spend a good deal of time together at their home, entertaining friends and gardening.
To be continued ….