St. John's NL: Spirit of Harbour Grace. Amelia Earhart
One of the destinations on the agenda of this second trip to Newfoundland was Harbour Grace. It's a small fishing community about an hour and a half from St. John's on the Trans-Canada Hwy. A very enjoyable drive. Go on a week day with less traffic.
This town has a very interesting aviation history. Anyone influenced by or interested in aviation should absolutely visit it. I always wanted to see Amelia Earhart's aviatress statue and tribute at Harbour Grace. She had a very special connection with this town where she arrived in May, 1932 to begin her solo transatlantic flight. Her statue was placed there in 2007 on the 75th anniversary of her flight.
Amelia chose Newfoundland as the starting location for the attempt as it is closer to Europe than any other part of the continent.
Amelia had many achievements:
- breaking the women's altitude record
- reaching 14,000 feet in October, 1922
- being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in June, 1928
- setting a speed record of 181.18 mph in July, 1930
- the Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society
- the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress
- the Cross of the Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government
- helped found the Ninety-Nines, a female aviators organization in 1929
Learn even more in detail about her achievements here. Just amazing!
It was amazing having the opportunity to visit Amelia's statue and tribute.
In her own words:
“My ambition is to have this wonderful gift produce practical results for the future of commercial flying and for the women who may want to fly tomorrow’s planes.”
Happy travels!
