The International Forest of Friendship is an arboretum and memorial forest beside Lake Warnock in Atchison, Kansas. It is a memorial to the men and women involved in aviation and space exploration, and open to the public daily.
The forest was started in 1976 by the city of Atchison and the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots. Fay Gillis Wells is credited as founder and original co-chairman. [1] The forest contains trees representing all 50 American states and the 35 countries where honorees reside. Each tree has its own flag, and many have unique associations, including trees from George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Bicentennial American Spruce, a tree from Amelia Earhart's grandfather's farm, a redbud from President Dwight D. Eisenhower's farm, and an American sycamore grown from a seed taken to the Moon by Command Module pilot Stuart Roosa on Apollo 14. The Moon tree is dedicated to seventeen American astronauts who died furthering space exploration.
A trail through the forest contains granite plaques with the names of over 1,200 aviation notables, including Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Jeana Yeager, Rajiv Gandhi, the Wright Brothers, Sally Ride, Chuck Yeager, Beryl Markham, Jerrie Cobb, Stephania Wojtulanis-Karpińska, General Jimmy Doolittle, President George H. W. Bush, General Colin Powell, and Lt. Col. Eileen M. Collins, Capt. Lynn Rippelmeyer
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, she embraced celebrity culture and women's rights, and since her disappearance has become a cultural icon. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo 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.
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.
George Palmer Putnam was an American publisher, writer and explorer. Known for his marriage to Amelia Earhart, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in the United States during the 1930s.
Geraldyn M. Cobb , commonly known as Jerrie Cobb, was an American pilot and aviator. She was also part of the Mercury 13, a group of women who underwent physiological screening tests at the same time as the original Mercury Seven astronauts, and was the first to complete each of the tests.
The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Founded in 1929, the Ninety-Nines has 153 chapters and 27 regional 'sections' across the globe as of 2022, including a 'virtual' chapter, Ambassador 99s, which meets online for those who are too busy or mobile to be in one region for long.
Fay Gillis Wells was an American pioneer aviator, globe-trotting journalist and a broadcaster.
Ruth Rowland Nichols was an American aviation pioneer. She is the only woman yet to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude, and distance for a female pilot.
Last Flight is a book published in 1937 consisting of diary entries and other notes compiled by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart during her unsuccessful attempt that year at flying solo across the Pacific Ocean. Her husband, publisher George Palmer Putnam, edited the collection which was published posthumously as a tribute to his wife.
20 Hrs. 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship is a book written by pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. It was first published in 1928 by G. P. Putnam's Sons, but has continued to be reprinted in periodic new editions. A special "Author's Autograph Edition" of 150 signed and numbered copies was also produced in 1928. Wilmer Stultz was the pilot. Each copy of this special edition contained a miniature silk American flag carried by Earhart in her flight on the Friendship from Boston to Wales.
Mary Anita "Neta" Snook Southern was a pioneer aviator who achieved a long list of firsts. She was the first woman aviator in Iowa, first woman student accepted at the Curtiss Flying School in Virginia, first woman aviator to run her own aviation business and first woman to run a commercial airfield. Yet "Snooky", as her friends called her, was fated to be remembered for her relationship to Amelia Earhart. Her autobiography I Taught Amelia to Fly captures the essence of her fame and she is linked to Earhart, as her first instructor.
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.
Ann Dearing Holtgren Pellegreno is a professional musician, teacher, author, lecturer, and farmer. In 1967, Pellegreno and a crew of three successfully flew a similar aircraft 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 over tiny Howland Island and returned to Oakland, California, completing the 28,000-mile (45,000 km) commemorative flight on July 7, 1967.
The Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots (MWP) is a non-profit museum and research institute that seeks to preserve the unique history of women in aviation. It is located on the second story of the international headquarters building of the non-profit International Organization of Women Pilots: The Ninety-Nines ("99s") on the grounds of Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) museum houses the largest collection of historical women aviator artifacts in the world.
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.
Amelia Rose Earhart is an American private pilot and former reporter for NBC affiliate KUSA-TV in Denver, Colorado. In 2013, Earhart started the Fly With Amelia Foundation, which grants flight scholarships to girls aged 16–18.
Emily Joyce Howell Warner was an American airline pilot and the first woman captain of a scheduled U.S. airline.
Gladys "Penny" Thompson was an American aviator and women's intercontinental air race-air show promoter and aviation publisher-editor during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1953, she married Miami Herald humor columnist Larry Thompson, and for 20 years until his death, she was featured often in his daily column, "Life With Larry Thompson" and in three books he authored. She founded the Miami-Dade Mother's of Twins Club and the Twins Easter Parade.
Rose Lok (1912–1978) was the first female Chinese American pilot in New England.
Penny Rafferty Hamilton is an American retired pilot, aviation educator, writer, and photographer. She is noted for her two-year study of women in aviation, the Teaching Women to Fly Research Project, which identified barriers to women training as pilots and presented 101 strategies to increase the participation of women in aviation. She also interests children in aviation, giving talks in schools and libraries as the character "Penny the Pilot". She and her husband jointly hold a World Aviation Speed Record set in 1991. In addition to writing for aviation magazines, she has published books on the history of Granby, Colorado, where she has resided since 1989. She was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is an aviation museum located at Amelia Earhart Airport in Atchison, Kansas focused on Amelia Earhart.
39°31′57″N95°08′57″W / 39.5324°N 95.1491°W