Fabricating Amelia: How the Aviatrix Became Legend
This is part of my Virtual Book Tour in support of Fighting for Space. For more information, see the bottom of this article.
By 1935, Jackie Cochran was well on her way to fame as a pilot, and her romance with Floyd Odlum brought some social benefits as well. One day, she was in the Manhattan apartment she shared with her betrothed, Floyd Odlum, when the phone rang.
“I’ve got quite a treat for you.” It was Jackie’s friend Paul Hammond on the line inviting her to dinner.
“Having dinner with you is always a treat, Paul.”
“But this time I have a real treat, Jackie. There is someone I want you to meet who will be here, too. Amelia Earhart.”
Jackie might have been on her way to becoming a household name, but Amelia Earhart was the unquestioned queen of the air.
Manufacturing a Heroine
In May of 1927, Charles Lindbergh made history with the first non-stop transatlantic solo flight from New York to Paris. It was a sometimes harrowing, 33-and-a-half hour journey in the Spirit of St. Louis that turned an unknown airmail pilot into a romantic hero. In short order, Lindbergh sold his story to publisher George Palmer Putnam. The memoir titled “We” chronicled the pilot’s early life leading to the…
