Amazing Aviatrixes

Amelia Earhart was born and spent many happy childhood days in her maternal grandparents' home in Atchison, Kansas on the bluffs of the Missouri River.  Mike and I had the opportunity to visit the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in June of 2013.  The memorabilia and pictures give a peek into the precocious child who would become America's heroine.

Amelia Earhart's birthplace, Atchison, KS

It was some time before flying was a singular passion. During her lifetime she was a nurse in Canada as well as a social worker in Boston.  At one time she was the part owner of a trucking company and later a part owner of a flying school. In 1924 she drove her Kissel automobile 7,000 miles across country from Hollywood to Boston via Canada.  Just imagine road conditions in 1924!  But it was her feats in the air - most specifically her solo trans-Atlantic flight (the second person, and first woman to do so) in 1932 - that engraves her image into our minds.

 

Earhart's first pilot's license

Costumes worn by Hilary Swank in the 2009 movie Amelia on
display at the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum

 

www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org   Atchison, KS   self-guided tour   admission charged

 

While visiting the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum I purchased an Earhart biography by Mary S. Lovell called The Sound of Wings.  This comprehensive biography led me to another work by Ms. Lovell, Straight On Till Morning, the definitive biography of Beryl Markham, another amazing aviatrix.

 

As a pilot Beryl Markham set all kinds of records, most notably being the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic “the hard way” - east to west, against the prevailing winds. Though she broke numerous flight records, her real passion was training racehorses and indeed she broke all kinds of records in this endeavor, too.  She was also a talented writer.  Even Earnest Hemingway praised her writing.  She was a multifaceted, complex woman.

 

My first introduction to Markham was not through her amazing feats as an aviatrix but as a teller of tales of Africa.  Her engaging autobiography, West with the Night, relates her experiences growing up on a farm in Kenya where she lived within several cultures.  West with the Night captures the lyrical quality of Kenya. 

 

Mike and I had the privilege of visiting Kenya in early 2008.  Our initial travel date was delayed due to the State Department canceling travel to Kenya because of the political unrest associated with the Presidential elections in December 2007.  Even though we could see scars of the unrest, we felt safe and welcome.  We were asked by residents to assure other potential travelers that it was safe to visit Kenya. While we were there, tourists were scarce but animals were in abundance. The sheer number and diversity of animals was beyond our possible dreams. The vast beauty of the land was awe-inspiring.  I had the most peculiar feeling of being “spiritually” at home.

A pride of lions lounges in the grass on a warm afternoon,
ignoring the tourists in the raised-roof safari vans

Elephants by the hundreds roam through the nature parks

No two zebras have the exact same pattern of stripes, and the
stripes are slightly different on their left versus their right sides

Remember the old association game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"?  I suppose much of life is like that:  Somehow, everyone and everything is connected.   In the introduction of Straight On Till Morning, Ms. Lovell writes that her interest in Beryl Markham was piqued when her (now ex-) husband told her stories about an older woman who flew a Gipsy Moth airplane during the 1930s.  He had met this dynamic person while he was flying a Gipsy Moth during the filming of Out of Africa.  Ms. Lovell felt compelled to fly to Kenya to meet this enigmatic woman.

 

Lovell's book offers new insight because in addition to her very extensive research she had six weeks of personal conversations with Beryl Markham.  Lovell introduces the reader to the very personal side of Markham as well as the record breaking aviator.

 

Beryl Markham was a daring pilot who was deeply ensconced in Kenyan social life.  At one point she was a friend of Karen Blixen.  Karen Blixen is probably best known for her memoir Out of Africa.  The film version of Out of Africa focused on the relationship between Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton.  Later, after the relationship between Blixen and Hatton waned, Beryl Markham also had a love affair with Hatton.

 

WOW!  The Road Stories these people could tell!

 

Karen Blixen's house, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya

If you would like more information about these fascinating women, here are some resources:

Autobiographies
          West With The Night by Beryl Markham
          Out of Africa by Isak Dinesan (Isak Dinesan was the pen name under which
                                                                Karen Blixen wrote.)

 

Biographies
          The Sound of Wings:  The Life of Amelia Earhart by Mary S. Lovell
          Straight On Till Morning:  The Life of Beryl Markham by Mary S. Lovell

 

Novella /allegory
          The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
            (This novella is included because de Saint Exupery was a pilot, a writer, and a

              friend of Markham.  Stylistically, literary authorities believe that de Saint Exupery

              “tutored” Markham while she was writing West With The Night.)

 

Films
          Amelia (2009) biographical film of Amelia Earhart, starring Hillary Swank
          Out of Africa (1985) starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford



The Acacia Erioloba (Giraffe Thorn) tree is seen across Kenya