National Amelia Earhart Day celebrates the inspiring life of famous American pilot, Amelia Earhart. July 24 was chosen in honor of her birthday.
Earhart’s fateful flight around the world began on June 1, 1937, out of Oakland, California. She and navigator Fred Noonan left New Guinea on July 2 with 7,000 miles remaining of their journey. However, this would be the last day they’d be seen alive. Their disappearance remains a mystery to this day, although numerous theories have been proposed.
At The New England Air Museum come see the Lockheed 10-A “Electra.”
The “Electra” was the first all-metal multi-engine plane produced by Lockheed and was designed to compete with planes such as the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. It carried 10 passengers and a crew of two or three and had a range of 810 miles. This example, Serial No. 1052, was initially delivered to the U.S. Navy in February 1936 for use as a staff transport by the Secretary of the Navy, Claude Swanson. During World War II, it was used to transport the Assistant Secretary of Naval Air, David Ingalls. After the war, the airplane went through nine owners, and was used primarily to carry freight and passengers.
A sister ship, Serial No. 1055, was flown by Amelia Earhart when she disappeared over the Pacific during her attempted round-the-world flight in July 1937.
In 1984, this airplane was purchased for use in a planned reenactment of the Earhart flight and it was to be restored by United Technologies. Unfortunately due to a set of circumstances, the project was terminated and the plane was given to the Museum.
