They had such a rickety plan that everything around them had to go perfectly and they would still be rolling the dice hoping for a 6.
In fact plenty went wrong. So even rolling a 6 inflight meant they were doomed to lose. And they probably did not even roll that 6.
When you point it out, it’s a good question. Why do we celebrate her failure? Is it just the mystery? Still, it’s not like George Mallory is a bigger hero than Edmund Hillary.
From the dope I learned about Beryl Markham, who led a ten-times more interesting life than Earhart, but she never got a Star Trek episode about her.
That alone indicates that this is a fabrication. There is no way sonar alone could make that claim, especially after more than 75 years.
Possibly a combination of that plus celebrity.
Celebrity + mystery = infamy
Infamy is 10x (who am I kidding? 1000x!) more powerful than competency when it comes to cultural legacy.
'Zactly. Earhart had an amazing PR campaign. The equivalent of the modern Kardashian machine. All driven by her husband the publisher, not by her as such. And once she disappeared, he played that story up for all it was worth. And then some.
IANA Earhart expert, but I’d always wondered whether he originally approached her or she originally approached him. In any case it was a show-biz marriage meant for display on the public stage, not for private domestic bliss.
At a seminar several years ago, the commentator mentioned how important it is to get there first. She said “Lindbergh was the first to fly across the Atlantic. Has anyone even heard of the second person?” (She was of course wrong - he was the first solo flyer. Alcott and Brown flew across earlier)
It took a long time to find the answer. Nobody did it again, because once it was done, it had been done, being second would not have been a big deal. The second person to fly across the Altlantic, solo, was Amelia Earhart, five years later.
Of course a major reason Lindbergh is remembered is the kidnapping / murder of his child. Another example of how celebrity plus mystery leads to fame long term. If that hadn’t happened he’d be another minor achiever in aviation history. Worthy of mention but not celebrated.
Why do we celebrate her failure?
There is something compelling and romantic about the risk associated with exploration. Rather than being turn off, failure emphasizes the great risk, the great bravery, and the possible tragedy involved in doing what’s never been done before.
PR. Earhart was pushed into being a media star and THEN she vanished.
No but heroic failures are often celebrated- the Birts make a big deal of “Scott of the Antarctic” whose glory seeking incompetence got himself and 4 good men killed. You hear less about Amundsen, who planned his expedition well and survived- and got there first than about “Brave Scott”- who was a failure.
Nope it was the Curtis NC4 seaplane with Albert Cushing Read, the commander and navigator; Walter Hinton and Elmer Fowler Stone (Coast Guard Aviator #1), the two pilots; James L. Breese and Eugene S. Rhoads, the two flight engineers; and Herbert C. Rodd, the radio operator.
Alcott & Brown were the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Lindberg was not only the first solo, but he flew NY to Paris, not Newfoundland to Ireland, so yeah, his flight was bigger than Alcott & Brown- and of course bigger than a seaplane with refueling stops.
However, airships did the crossing before Lindberg.
Lindberg was a HUGE celebrity before that. Read a great book- One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson.
I suspect that if you asked the typical American, most would know that Lindberg made a historic flight across the Atlantic (they’d probably get the details wrong, but know that there was something about a transatlantic flight), but most wouldn’t know that his child was kidnapped.
Also,
Celebrity + death = infamy
The list is long.
This being the Dope and all, I’m gonna go right ahead with this nitpick: I don’t think you are using the word “infamy” correctly. It means famous for being evil or doing something bad. Amelia Earhart wasn’t considered evil; foolhardy perhaps, but that is different.
No, infamous means he’s more than famous. He’s infamous.
In Lindbergh’s case it was 1) enormous celebrity due to solo Atlantic flight, 2) secondary celebrity linked to personal tragedy, then 3) infamy for being a Nazi admirer/isolationist/defeatist.
Really? Maybe I’m wrong but I would guess otherwise. FWIW, googling provides this result:
"While both events made Charles Lindbergh famous, his child’s kidnapping is arguably more widely known and remembered due to its sensational nature and lasting impact. Lindbergh’s first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic was a pioneering feat that made him an international hero. However, the kidnapping of his son, Charles Lindbergh Jr., became known as the “crime of the century” and fueled a media frenzy, leading to the first “Trial of the Century”.
“crime of the century” usually referred to the 1924 murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
Again, FWIW, Wikipedia says:
"Crime of the century " is an idiomatic phrase used to describe particularly sensational or notorious criminal cases.[1] In the United States, it is often—though not exclusively—used in reference to the Lindbergh kidnapping. However, the phrase was in popular use much earlier in the 19th century and has been used repeatedly ever since.[1][2] Other criminal cases that have also been described as the “crime of the century” include the Leopold and Loeb case,[3] the murder of Patrick Henry Cronin,[2] and the Richard Speck case.[4]
I learned about his flight in junior school. I learned about his child’s kidnapping well after I left school.
Famous in the USA? Maybe. But in the rest of the world his child’s kidnapping is a footnote.
I don’t even know if this child was a son or a daughter, if they were recovered or anything more. I could, of course, research this. I have a vague idea of the “Lindberg Law” existing but I don’t know what it covers.
But the solo flight across the Atlantic is what sticks.