AIRWAYS HISTORY
AMELIA EARHART
In Adventures of a Yellowbird , the history of Northeast Airlines written by Robert Mudge , published in 1969 , the story goes that Amelia Earhart was brought into the fold by Paul Collins after the idea of starting an airline had been devised by the three gentlemen . In that version , Amelia ’ s primary rôle was to bring a publicity angle to the enterprise .
According to Sam Solomon ’ s biography , Aviation ’ s Mr . Sam , by James Haggerty ( published in 1974 ), Amelia Earhart was a primary member of the founding group . In summer 1933 , while the four friends were sitting on the living room floor of the Putnam home in Rye , New York , wondering what to do next with their lives in the midst of the Great Depression , it was Amelia Earhart Putnam who supposedly said , “ Let ’ s start an airline .”
Earhart eventually sold her stock in National Airways to undertake record-breaking flights and accept a post at Purdue University . In retrospect , her major contribution to Boston-Maine ’ s development appears to have been the draw of her celebrity persuading people to fly for the first time . The enduring mystery of her disappearance in 1937 while attempting a round-theworld flight is one of aviation ’ s most famous tales .
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78 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2024 www . airwaysmag . com