Sunday, July 29, 2012

Women in planes

 Not your everyday road sign.

On the way to the festival I had to drive through Burry Port, previously only known to me as the place my auntie was born. It's a small village on the coast - as you'd expect from somewhere with 'port' in its name though that never struck me before - but it has a place in history as it turns out.

I noticed signs for the Amelia Earhart monument and mused to myself why there should be one somewhere so unlikely. My knowledge of history, great moments etc, is sadly lacking, so on my way back I made a small diversion and sought out the monument - of which there are two.













The original was erected to commemorate the landing there of Miss Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, in 1928. The second, which is in the harbour, is at the place where she actually landed. It says it was rededicated on the 75th anniversary in 2003. (I'd misread it and thought it had been put up then but maybe it's been there since the beginning.)

Reading up on the event, it seems that Miss Earhart didn't pilot the plane at all. She was listed as assistant pilot but never took the controls. The huge fuss was made simply because she was the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air I suppose. She still remains one of the great pioneers of aviation history.

1 comment:

nick said...

She never took the controls? That's a bit of a fraud then. She could at least have pretended to take the controls....