Aviation pioneer 'visits' Fort Scott

Friday, August 17, 2012

"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word -- excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it." -- Pearl Buck

Inhabiting historical figures is something at which Ann Birney excels. Her specialty is Amelia Earhart and she brought the fabled aviator to life earlier this week at the Old Congregational Church in Fort Scott.

The presentation was sponsored by the Historic Preservation Association of Bourbon County. Sporting pilot's garb, Birney shared Earhart's childhood memories and how she was a tomboy from the get-go. Her first "flight" was going down a hill in her hometown of Atchison, the highest point in the city. Speeding down the incline she noticed a horse-drawn carriage. She tried to catch the attention of the driver, but he had his ears covered and the horse had blinders on, so no one heard or saw her. Somehow she managed to slide between the horse's legs, creating a scene worthy of the words "ta-da," which Earhart uttered afterward.

Buzzed by a plane while walking down the street with her sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, known as "Pidge," in Toronto, Canada, she was exhilarated. "I wanted to be in that plane so bad. I wanted to be that pilot so bad," Birney said as Earhart. Her father gave her $5 for her first plane ride, which she took in December 1920 and it changed her life.

She told her family she wanted to learn to fly, "knowing full well I would die if I didn't get to."

To pay for lessons, Earhart at some points had three or four jobs. Her father had moved the family to Southern California. Birney said Earhart wanted to find a woman teacher and settled on Anita "Neta" Snook. To prepare, she kept cutting her hair an inch at a time so her mother wouldn't notice.

After her first lesson, she had to wait a few weeks until she could afford another one. The men on the airfield called her a "dude." She figured it was because her leather jacket was shiny and new. To cure that, she slept in it to crease it and then put greasy oil on it. The only thing the guys called her after that was "a natural."

The family moved to Massachusetts and Earhart went to work for Denison House in Boston, a settlement house, which helped immigrants make their way in America. In 1928, while working there, she got a phone call from Capt. Hilton H. Railey asking if she'd like to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.

Although she was aware that quite a few people had died trying, Earhart didn't mind that. What she was nervous about was the interview, because she wanted to fly so badly. She got the chance and had a couple of close calls while she was making her way. Earhart meant to land in Paris, but wound up in a field in Londonderry, Ireland. Newsreels taken the day after she landed show Earhart being cheered by crowds as she gets out of her plane, but the only thing actually there the day she arrived were sheep and a farmer.

Her husband, George P. Putnam, was one of the people who chose her to fly. He had published Charles Lindberg's biography and wanted another bestseller. Although she broke many aviation records in her time, she wanted to fly around the world. During her attempt, Birney suspects she ran out of fuel and went down in the ocean in July 1937. She was 39, but during her life, Birney said, she championed aviation and people.

"She spoke to people's hearts," when it came to aspirations, Birney said. She told women not to let others get them down by telling them they couldn't achieve their goals. Birney said Earhart is her favorite person to portray because she's really comfortable with the aviator and does her well.

"Then it's a matter of audience, because it's all in the audience -- whether it's five people or 400 it's what's happening between me and the audience," Birney said.

An Emporia native, Birney grew up in Topeka, graduating from Topeka West High School. She holds a bachelor's degree in American literature from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a master of library science from Emporia State University and a doctorate in American studies from the University of Kansas. Birney co-directs "Ride Into History" in Admire, Kan., with Joyce Thierer. Both have travel around the country offering presentations on figures from history.