
{"id":327466,"date":"2025-08-24T14:41:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=327466"},"modified":"2025-08-24T14:42:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:42:29","slug":"amelia-earhart-a-promise-of-the-sky-in-havana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/society-cuba\/cuban-history\/amelia-earhart-a-promise-of-the-sky-in-havana\/","title":{"rendered":"Amelia Earhart: a promise of the sky in Havana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not every day that you get to meet a figure of the century. Much less so if it\u2019s an aviation luminary like Amelia Earhart. With a captivating and inspiring personality, the woman born and raised on the banks of the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas, expanded the boundaries of what was humanly possible, breaking a dozen records \u2014 for speed and altitude \u2014 in the air and many barriers for women on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the 1920s, aviation was beginning to take off. Hence Amelita, who developed her passion for adventure from an early age, faced the immense challenge of convincing a skeptical public that women could and should fly. \u201cI hope men and women achieve their goals on an equal footing,\u201d she said in her role as a pioneering feminist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She was a bold and indomitable woman who spoke about mechanics and airplanes; she shone in a male environment, knew no obstacles, broke conventions, and set horizons for herself that no one had achieved, not men, much less women. Lady Lindy \u2014 she had been baptized with the female equivalent of Charles Lindbergh himself \u2014 spent a few hours in Havana, and was received here as if she had \u201clanded on the moon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>In style<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under an auspicious sky, at around eleven o\u2019clock in the morning on January 9, 1929, a twelve-seat Fokker F-10 trimotor aircraft was spotted, looking imposing among the clouds, preparing to land swiftly at Columbia Airfield. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation and a murmur began to fill the air. It was the beginning of something impressive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHavana will soon be the hub of the world\u2019s largest air route. An airline will connect the twenty-one nations of the Americas over 13,000 miles. The initiative for this work of civilization and progress falls to Pan American Airways,\u201d the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diario de la Marina<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> announced on the eve.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327469\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327469\" style=\"width: 823px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-2-Con-gerentes-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327469\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-2-Con-gerentes-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"823\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-2-Con-gerentes-1.jpg 823w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-2-Con-gerentes-1-300x260.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-2-Con-gerentes-1-768x666.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-2-Con-gerentes-1-750x651.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 823px) 100vw, 823px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327469\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The young aviator with General Harry New (right) and another postal official minutes before flying to Cuba in January 1929. Photo: Courtesy of Joseph Crespo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That day, on a flight that departed from Miami International Airport to Havana, and that would later have stops in Camag\u00fcey, Santiago de Cuba, Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and Santo Domingo, before arriving at its final destination, San Juan (Puerto Rico), the inaugural date of the Antilles Airline was encapsulated. It was a combination of long-haul routes coordinated by Pan American \u2014 which had already been flying to Cuba for fifteen months \u2014 which followed two days later with a new flight to Panama and would grow exponentially southward in the following months.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327470\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327470\" style=\"width: 1134px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327470\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1134\" height=\"791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1.jpg 1134w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1-1024x714.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1-768x536.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-3-Boarding-a-Fokker-F-10-Miami-1929-1-750x523.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1134px) 100vw, 1134px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327470\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moment when the delegation for Pan American\u2019s inaugural flight to Havana boards the Fokker F-10 at Miami Airport. Photo: Courtesy of Joseph Crespo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At that time, the goal was already to reduce travel times and distances were measured in hours and minutes instead of miles or kilometers. This air option reduced the average thirteen-hour time to Havana by ship to just a two- hour flight. Two planes served the route: the first took off from Miami at eight in the morning and landed in Havana at 10:15, while a second departed at 9:15 and arrived at 11:30. They returned to their base in Florida at 11:15 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Tickets, which cost $55, could be purchased at the corporate office at 13 Prado Street. Considered the maritime key to the Gulf, Cuba was also becoming the key to the skies of South America.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The military camp\u2019s airfield was packed with hundreds of guests eager to witness history in the making. Among the authorities present were General Rojas, Secretary of War and Navy; S\u00e1nchez Aball\u00ed, Secretary of Communications; Carlos Miguel de C\u00e9spedes, Secretary of Public Works; and Colonel Sanguily, Chief of Air Force. Grant Mason, Pan Am\u2019s manager in Cuba, along with several officials and technicians, gallantly attended to the crowd, while the Sixth District music band livened up the atmosphere. To close the event, five fifteen-minute flyovers would be conducted so that select guests could admire the capital\u2019s progress from above.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327471\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327471\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-5-Christening-of-Ford-Tri-motor-Cuba-w-Amelia-Earhart-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327471\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-5-Christening-of-Ford-Tri-motor-Cuba-w-Amelia-Earhart-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-5-Christening-of-Ford-Tri-motor-Cuba-w-Amelia-Earhart-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-5-Christening-of-Ford-Tri-motor-Cuba-w-Amelia-Earhart-1-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-5-Christening-of-Ford-Tri-motor-Cuba-w-Amelia-Earhart-1-768x530.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-5-Christening-of-Ford-Tri-motor-Cuba-w-Amelia-Earhart-1-750x518.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327471\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amelia Earhart appears next to Minister Carlos Miguel de C\u00e9spedes in the platform, from where she addressed the audience. Photo: Courtesy of Joseph Crespo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><b>Ambassador of the air<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amelia Earhart arrived in Havana aboard the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christopher Columbus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Pan American\u2019s flagship, escorted in the air by Cuban military pilots Captains Martull and Laborde. In a masterful publicity stunt, the company\u2019s president, Juan Trippe, saw her as the \u201cideal girl\u201d to promote his new expansion, so he offered her an exclusive seat on the passenger list.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The entourage included General Harry S. New, Director General of the United States Post Office; William McCracken, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aviation; Colonel Hambleton, vice president of the transatlantic airline; postal officials, businessmen and journalists. Eight airplanes of different models \u2014 including two Fokkers, two Lockheed Vega monoplanes, and a Sikorsky amphibian that carried only mail \u2014 formed the fleet participating in that inaugural voyage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the slender figure of Amelia Earhart appeared at the cockpit door, the spectators erupted in applause and cheers. The tropical sun bathed her face in gold as, with a shy smile, she friendly shook hands with everyone who approached to greet her. She wore a beige suit and, over her short blond hair, a small hat that matched her suit. A coat hung over her arm and two golden wings gleamed on her chest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cuba<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Ford with three Wasp engines and comfort for twelve passengers, was immediately taken out of the hangar. Under the command of Captain Swinson, another American aviation ace, this was the plane designated to fly the Havana-Santiago route three times a week, with a stopover in Camag\u00fcey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A small ladder was placed in front of the nose engine, serving as a platform, onto which, as usual, the godparents climbed: Dr. Carlos Miguel de C\u00e9spedes and Miss Esther Rojas, daughter of the Secretary of War. She pulled a cord and a bottle of champagne wrapped in a blue bag broke with a muffled noise on the metal frame, christening the brand-new aircraft.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327472\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327472\" style=\"width: 1140px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327472\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1140\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1-1024x551.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1-768x413.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-6-DM-1929-01-20-1140x613-1-750x403.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327472\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two snapshots of Miss Esther Rojas christening the trimotor \u201cCuba\u201d, which would continue the route to Santiago. Photo: Taken from Diario de la Marina (January 20, 1929).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minister C\u00e9spedes welcomed the foreign delegation and gave the official speech. He then asked the star guest to come up to the platform and address the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moved, Amelita began by sharing her sorrow at not knowing Spanish to express her gratitude in that language for such a warm welcome. She confessed that the Cubans\u2019 welcome had reminded her of the feelings she had experienced in June 1928, when she landed in South Wales and the crowd rushed to glorify her as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic; although she always made it clear that she was not at the controls of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Friendship<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The famous pilot also extended her fairy godmother touch to Cuba, evoking in her speech \u201cthe connection between both peoples, now united because on two previous occasions they have fought together for freedom.\u201d She also praised the fact that, with the opening of the air route between Cuba and the United States, a leap forward had been made to contribute in various ways to the progress and unity of the Americas as a whole.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327473\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327473\" style=\"width: 1140px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327473\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1140\" height=\"627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1-1024x563.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1-768x422.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-7-DM-1929-01-20-copia-1140x627-1-750x413.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The press did not overlook the emotions that the Cuban capital aroused in the famous U.S. aviator. Photo: Taken from Diario de la Marina (January 9, 1929).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327474\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327474\" style=\"width: 1140px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327474\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1140\" height=\"615\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1-1024x552.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1-768x414.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-8-DM-1929-01-09-1140x615-1-750x405.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327474\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The press did not overlook the emotions that the Cuban capital aroused in the famous U.S. aviator. Photo: Taken from Diario de la Marina (January 9, 1929).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><b>\u201cI\u2019ll fly back\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the end of the air parade, the event\u2019s organizing committee gave the young legend of the skies a special luncheon in her honor. She was accompanied by Cuban and U.S. authorities who had gathered at the Columbia grounds.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327475\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327475\" style=\"width: 1019px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-4-Amelia-poco-despues-de-aterrizar-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327475\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-4-Amelia-poco-despues-de-aterrizar-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1019\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-4-Amelia-poco-despues-de-aterrizar-1.png 1019w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-4-Amelia-poco-despues-de-aterrizar-1-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-4-Amelia-poco-despues-de-aterrizar-1-768x462.png 768w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-4-Amelia-poco-despues-de-aterrizar-1-750x451.png 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1019px) 100vw, 1019px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shortly after landing at the Columbia airfield, escorted by Cuban captains Laborde and Martell. Photo: Bohemia magazine (January 20, 1929).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a bouquet of flowers in her hand and pleased after so many courtesies, around three in the afternoon Amelia Earhart was ready for the return trip home. While waiting, she was talking with her childhood friend Mary Johnson when a reporter from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diario de la Marina<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> approached her to find out about her impressions of her brief stay in Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMiss Earhart, have you been able to confirm that Havana is a wonderful city?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI have confirmed it,\u201d she replied with her luminous, courteous smile, \u201calthough not as fully as I would have liked. I only had time to see it from above upon my arrival. Later, on the way to the hotel where I had the pleasure of being greeted, I was able to admire part of the most beautiful place in the world and the best place to live. Once in the city, I marveled at the avenue built along the sea, the buildings and the promenades. I wish I could stay a few days, but that\u2019s impossible; I have to return to Miami right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWill you come back?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSurely, and I\u2019ll fly back. Maybe soon. I want to see Havana up close and have time to capture it all. I thought about flying to Puerto Rico and, on the way, seeing your countryside. I love Cuba\u2019s eternal springtime and I like the affable nature of your people, who have welcomed me with cordial enthusiasm, something I will never forget.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_327476\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-327476\" style=\"width: 367px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-9-Social-febrero-1929-Editado-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-327476\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-9-Social-febrero-1929-Editado-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"367\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-9-Social-febrero-1929-Editado-1.jpg 367w, https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Foto-9-Social-febrero-1929-Editado-1-191x300.jpg 191w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-327476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another vivid detail of Amelia Earhart during her brief stay in Cuba. Photo: Taken from Revista Social (February 1929).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She was a woman of commitment. And although life and time prevented her from fulfilling her promise to return to Cuba, those four hours she spent in Havana were enough to engrave her glorious name in the nation\u2019s memory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She still had history to write in the air derby. She continued flying and earning social respect. In 1932, she crossed the Atlantic solo and secured a leading place in the annals of aviation. She gave lectures on the growing role of women and their universal rights, wrote articles in magazines, and founded the Ninety-Nines organization of women pilots. She married publisher George Palmer Putnam and her prenuptial letter is memorable, in which, above all, she bluntly defended her freedom: \u201cLet us avoid interfering with each other\u2019s work or pleasure, and let us not allow the world to witness our joys or disagreements. Perhaps I shall be forced to maintain a place where I can go to be myself, from time to time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Born with wings to fly, she had in mind something high-profile and much more challenging: a 27,000-mile journey that would take her across five continents. She wanted to circumnavigate the world aboard her Lockheed Electra and ended up disappearing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean in July 1937. She was about to turn 40. Amelia Earhart, her navigator Fred Noonan and the plane were never seen again. Her end, as tragic as it was epic, remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the century.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world\u2019s most beloved aviator and the first woman to cross the Atlantic landed in the Cuban capital at the beginning of the 20th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12346255,"featured_media":327468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13912],"tags":[35030,22988,19256],"ppma_author":[34888],"class_list":["post-327466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuban-history","tag-amelia-earhart","tag-cuban-history","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Amelia Earhart: a promise of the sky in Havana | OnCubaNews 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