Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her life, Earhart embraced celebrity culture and women's rights, and since her disappearance, she has become a cultural icon. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean and she set many other records; she was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1937:
The Rutan Model 76 Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. It was piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base's 15,000 foot runway in the Mojave Desert on December 14, 1986, and ended 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds later on December 23, setting a flight endurance record. The aircraft flew westbound 26,366 statute miles at an average altitude of 11,000 feet (3,350 m).
Frederick Joseph Noonan was an American flight navigator, sea captain and aviation pioneer, who first charted many commercial airline routes across the Pacific Ocean during the 1930s. As the flight navigator for famed aviator Amelia Earhart in their pioneering attempt at circumnavigating the globe, they disappeared somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937.
The Lockheed Model 10 Electra is an American twin-engined, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, which was produced primarily in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. The type gained considerable fame as one was flown by Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan on their ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937.
Hugh Milburn Stone was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" on the Western series Gunsmoke.
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Spanish Civil War in the Yankee Squadron. He was known as the "bad boy of the air". He received numerous fines and suspensions for flying stunts such as flying under bridges or flying too close to buildings.
The Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra was an American civil passenger and cargo aircraft built by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation during the late 1930s. An outgrowth of the earlier Model 10 Electra, the Model 14 was also developed into larger, more capable civil and military versions.
Weldon Heyburn was an American character actor.
Love on the Run is a 1936 American romantic comedy film, directed by W.S. Van Dyke, produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Reginald Owen in a story about rival newspaper correspondents assigned to cover the marriage of a socialite. The screenplay by John Lee Mahin, Manuel Seff and Gladys Hurlbut was based on a story by Alan Green and Julian Brodie. Love on the Run is the seventh of eight cinematic collaborations between Crawford and Gable. At the time of its release, Love on the Run was called "a lot of happy nonsense" by critics, but was a huge financial success, nonetheless.
Toward the Unknown, originally called Flight Test Center and titled Brink of Hell in its UK release, is a 1956 American aviation film about the dawn of supersonic flight filmed on location at Edwards Air Force Base. Starring William Holden, Lloyd Nolan and Virginia Leith, the film features the screen debut of James Garner.
Reaching for the Skies was an aviation documentary TV series made by BBC Pebble Mill in association with CBS Fox. The first episode was transmitted in the United Kingdom on 12 September 1988 and in the US in 1989.
Henry Tyndall "Dick" Merrill was an early aviation pioneer. Among his feats he was the highest-paid air mail pilot, flew the first round-trip transatlantic flight in 1936, was Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal pilot during the 1952 presidential elections, set several speed records, and would go on to be Eastern Air Lines' most experienced pilot with over 36,000 hours until his retirement in 1961. In total, Merrill flew over 45,000 hours as pilot in command, covering over eight million miles.
The Bennett Aircraft Corporation Bi-motored Transport Commercial Number One (BTC-1) Executive was a 1930s American eight-seat light transport aircraft built by the Bennett Aircraft Corporation. In the ten-year span of its known life, the Bennett BTC-1 was identified in print by four different names: the Bennett, the Breese Bennett, the Bowlus Bennett and the Globe BTC-1.
Amelia is a 2009 biographical film about the aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. The film stars Hilary Swank as Earhart, and co-stars Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Joe Anderson. The film was directed by Mira Nair and based on The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell. The film received predominantly negative reviews, with critics polarized over the performances and criticizing the film's story. It was also a box-office bomb, grossing $19.6 million against a budget of $40 million.
Ann Dearing Holtgren Pellegreno is a professional musician, teacher, author, and lecturer. In 1967, Pellegreno and a crew of three successfully flew the same type aircraft, Lockheed 10 Electra, to complete a world flight that closely mirrored Amelia Earhart's flight plan in 1937. On the 30th anniversary of Earhart's disappearance, Pellegreno dropped a wreath in her honor on tiny Howland Island and returned to Oakland, California, completing the 28,000-mile commemorative flight on July 7, 1967.
Sky Patrol is a 1939 American film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring John Trent, along with Marjorie Reynolds, Milburn Stone and Jason Robards Sr. The film also featured actor and comedian Jackie Coogan, who began his film career as a child actor in silent films.
Amelia Earhart is a 1976 American biographical drama television film directed by George Schaefer and written by Carol Sobieski. It stars Susan Clark as Amelia Earhart, and John Forsythe as her husband, George P. Putnam.
The Man Who Found Himself, also known as Wings of Mercy, is a 1937 American aviation film based on the unpublished story "Wings of Mercy" by Alice B. Curtis. The film marked the first starring role for 19-year-old Joan Fontaine, who was billed as the "new RKO screen personality", highlighted following the end of the film by a special "on screen" introduction. Unlike many of the period films that appeared to glorify aviation, it is a complex film, examining the motivations of both doctors and pilots.
Flight Into Nowhere is a 1938 American adventure film directed by Lewis D. Collins, and produced by Larry Darmour for Columbia Pictures. The film stars Jack Holt, Jacqueline Wells and Dick Purcell. In the low-budget action film, the locale of South America jungles provides an exciting venue for "flyboy" Jack Holt, who is trying to establish a new route for an American airline.
