Amelia Earhart makes non-stop flight over U.S.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Amelia Earhart Putnam, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Thursday became the first woman to make a solo non-stop transcontinental flight.

She landed at Newark airport at 9:30 a.m. CST, slightly more than 19 hours after she had left Los Angeles. The men's record for a similar flight is 17 hours, 39 minutes and 59 seconds, made by Capt. Frank Hawks.

A crowd of only 150 persons was on hand to greet the tall slender flier as her fleet Lockheed monoplane glided to an easy landing. But they made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in numbers, rushing past police guards onto the field and surrounded the plane.

Miss Earhart took off from municipal airport in Los Angeles at 2:26:54 p.m. CST, Wednesday. The plane was loaded with 465 gallons of gasoline and Miss Earhart carried numerous maps, some camera films, and sandwiches and water. She was using the same plane she used on her flight to Ireland. She followed the regular air route.

As soon as she landed, she pushed her way through the throng of spectators and telephoned her husband, George Palmer Putnam, publisher, who was detained by business in New York.

Before departing from Los Angeles, Miss Earhart said she was not seeking to break the record, but merely attempting to prove that a woman could fly non-stop from coast to coast.

The regular airways route, Miss Earhart pointed out, is several hundred miles longer than a direct compass course. She estimated her average speed was 130 miles per hour.

She said she flew high most of the way, maintaining an altitude of between 8,000 and 10,000 feet. For this reason, it was believed, no points along her route definitely reported sighting her.