A NOTE ABOUT SOURCES
In addition to the books and articles listed above there are also countless newspaper accounts about the exploits of Amelia Earhart, which are too numerous to be cited separately. Among the primary sources are the files of the Boston Herald, the Boston Traveller, the New York Times, and the New York Herald Tribune, both in the original editions on file at The Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences in New York and on microfilm. They began in 1928 with AE’s Friendship Flight, then to 1932 and 1935, and finally through the tragic year of 1937.
The basic story of AE’s life can be found in her books and articles and in George Putnam’s writings. GP had a keener eye for detail than AE: where Amelia needs to be rewritten, George elicits admiration for his skill; but this is true only for “ground operations.” In the air—for the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of flying—Amelia is the master, although she is sometimes vague and often inconsistent. I am indebted to GP for the ground story and to AE for the air story.
For most of the facts of the last flight—and many readers would wonder how I came upon them, I found them in AE’s logs, which she sent home with her other gear before the take-off from Lae, New Guinea. Some of the logs are now at Purdue University; these and others GP used for AE’s book Last Flight, which he arranged for publication. The communications between AE and the Itasca came from the cutter’s radio log, which Commander W. K. Thompson included in his official report, dated July 19, 1937. Some of the details of the Navy’s search were obtained from the deposition of the Lexington’s commanding officer, Captain Leigh Noyes, dated October 4, 1938, and from the affidavit of Richard D. Black, dated November 22, 1938. These three documents are in the possession of Clyde E. Holley, AE’s former attorney, in Los Angeles, California.