The Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation is holding the grand opening ceremony for the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum on Friday, April 14. Located at the Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport (K59) in Atchison, Kansas, the museum features the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E, called Muriel, as its centerpiece. It will also offer 14 interactive “STEM and history storytelling” exhibit areas.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate our grand opening and welcome visitors of all ages to journey through Amelia Earhart’s trailblazing life as a world-renowned aviator, innovator, educator and activist,” said Karen Seaberg, Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation founder and president. “It is an honor to bring Amelia’s courageous and persevering legacy to life in her Atchison, Kansas, hometown where the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is dedicated to inspiring all generations in the pursuit of flight.”
Friday’s ceremony, which is open to the public, will begin at noon local time with “remarks from elected officials, Museum leaders, and special guests including members of the Earhart family.” Following the grand opening, museum hours will run Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Organizers noted that pilots flying in to visit the museum will be able to tie down their aircraft free of charge. As previously reported by AVweb, construction began on the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum last year aided by contributions from companies including FedEx, Garmin International and Lockheed Martin.
Further information is available on the museum’s website at ameliaearharthangarmuseum.org.
“to journey through Amelia Earhart’s trailblazing life as a world-renowned aviator, innovator, educator and activist,” ”
She was a self promoting opportunist that neither innovated, educated nor trail-blazed.
She was in it to be famous, write books, and make money.
Other than promoting the American way, she was was hardly a great aviator and that is what eventually ended her career and life.
Booo you
Objectively, she was a failed aviator. In a previous attempt, she wrecked her plane. Then failed in her Pacific crossing attempt, taking herself and her passenger to their deaths. Don’t forget, that was in 1937. By that time large all metal 4 engine aircraft were flying. Scheduled trans-Pacific service had already begun. The B-17 prototype flew in 1935. Her flight was a full 10 years after Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic. That 10 years was an eternity in aircraft development. So, Earhart’s flight was superfluous, and a tragic stunt by that time. So, media hype is largely what her reputation is based on, not true accomplishment in aviation.
I would pick Amelia as a role model over many other polarized role models of todays world.
My parents back in her day never thought of her as a “role model” so much as any other circus act, like wing walkers and going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Only difference was that she glomed onto the fame of Lindbergh in order to self promote herself. I rather wish people chose Richard Feynman or Steve Wozniak as role models rather than self-destructive and personal fame seeking daredevils. YMMV.
Ruminations.
Honest reality from people who lived at the time.
People today are surprisingly clueless about history.
Self-promotion is very often an essential early step toward getting something done that is the slightest bit out of the ordinary. If a person can master applying this skill in a non-ego-driven way, they can bring into their vision many other individuals who will help along the way.
Concur.
Concur x 2
I hope someday the Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan’s final resting place is discovered. This looks like a terrific museum and look forward to visiting.
Looks like a good Dx for a visit. Of course, predictable negative blather from folks.
Glad to see that the museum is about to open. I would love to be there. Seems like even in aviation articles we have comments from people who are as negative as the news we see and read. Can’t we just leave the negativity to the outside world and leave aviation alone.
Kudos to all who put the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum.
Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh achieved amazing things in early American aviation inspiring others to get involved. Lindbergh was a barnstormer, and air mail pilot, gaining worldwide fame as the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic and lived long enough to achieve greater glory and defamation in the process. Earhart was also a pioneer, as she was a daring woman who became an avant-garde pilot, a fascinating feat in her time. She showed and reinforced that women could do anything men could do and encouraged other women to follow their dreams as aeronauts. There is room for all in aviation history.
I believe we should respect the dead, but also to be honest about their life. Facts are facts and we should not bend the rules because of fame or fortune. That’s how history is lost. Let’s limit make believe to superheroes.
On the Dark Side of Superheroes.
Amelia Earhart, a badass aviator, innovator, educator, and activist, disappeared while trying to fly around the world in 1937. Some people think she might have been a government spy, while others accuse her of being too “manly” and hooking up with her flight instructor. Talk about mile-high club!
Charles Lindbergh, the dude who flew solo across the Atlantic, got a lot of heat for his views on Jews and for being BFFs with Nazi Germany. He had a thing for the ladies but apparently not his flight instructor. Lindbergh was all about staying out of World War II, and some think he was a hero for it, while others think he was a bonehead. Either way, Earhart and Lindbergh are early American aviation influencers.