Where Amelia Earhart Started Her Transatlantic Flight

The airfiled Sarah Laskow (Atlas Obscura)

A Plaque That Shows This Area is Used by Amelia Earhart Google Maps StreetView (Public Domain)

Airfield plaque rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

Plaque from "The 99s" rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

Details of "The 99s" plaque. The 99s is an International Organization of Women Pilots. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

The monuments are located at the top of the airfield. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

Plaque from the Earhart Monument on Water Street rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

Airfield plaque rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

Sign marking the route via Bannerman Lake Rd. It's difficult to find, the road is mostly dirt and rock-strewn, and longer than you think. Despite being next to the highway, there is no direct access. You can snake your way up via Bannerman Lake Road, or take the longer but straighter Lady Lake Road. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

The facilities are minimal. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

This is a planned aviation monument. For the past decade it has consisted of these steps and a brick patio. It is intended to be a significant feature dedicated to Earhart and other's who used the airstrip. [Located near an off ramp of the highway, but not near the field.] rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

This sign marks the "road" [dirt track] to the airfield. Earhart Road is about 300m long and is reached via Lady Lake Road. This sign is difficult to spot amongst the trees. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

View from the end (turnaround) of the air field. The cable fence marks the boundary. Pic taken while standing in bushes. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

Sign marking the end of the field and giving directions to the entrance. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

The gate sign. The bushes surrounding it give a good indication of the rest of the field. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

The hanger. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

View of runway looking down towards fence. Generally, landings go in this direction, takeoffs towards the frame. The hill is behind me. rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

A statue of Earhart in downtown Harbour Grace Joanna Poe/CC BY-SA 2.0 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Head of the airfield. A pilot friend once explained that pilots are required to envision a theoretical obstruction at the end of the runway during takeoff, in order to ensure they lift before they run out of runway. He said takeoff from here was the scariest he'd ever done, because the obstruction was no longer theoretical. (The brush on the right actually covered about 2/3 of the strip in 2012, showing the neglected state.] rosemartland (Atlas Obscura User)

In 1932, flying across the Atlantic, alone and all in one go, was still risky. The first nonstop Atlantic flight had been completed less than 15 years earlier, in 1919. It began in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and ended in Clifden, Ireland. When Amelia Earhart decided to make the flight, no woman had ever done it alone.

Earhart had flown across the Atlantic before, in 1928, but as a passenger. “I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes,” she told the flight’s organizer. “Maybe someday I’ll try it alone.”

In May of 1932, she did. She left from this airfield in Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, and a little less than 15 hours later, after a long and difficult flight, she landed in Northern Ireland.

There’s a simple reason why so many early aviators started their trans-Atlantic crossings from Newfoundland—it’s about as close to Europe as you can get. Outside of St. John’s at Cape Spear, there’s a point that goes further east into the Atlantic than any other in North America. Flying from Newfoundland meant crossing the Atlantic by the shortest route possible.For more information and pictures of Earhart [and others!], visitors should check out the Harbour Grace Museum on Water Street.

Know Before You Go

Earhart Airfield is up a series of gravel roads from downtown Harbour Grace—there are occasional blue signs that point the way. The airfield is right next to a field of horses. The Earhart statue is in a park in downtown Harbour Grace. [Look for the plane.]Getting to the field is an adventure in itself. You will be driving on dirt roads which are barely maintained. The route via Bannerman Lake Road is difficult to find - it twists back and forth and around and you will keep thinking you're lost. If you've never been to Hr. Grace before, your best option is to take Lady Lake Road, stay on it when it turns to dirt, and when you reach the fork, bear leftish/straight. [The right fork goes to the lake.] Earhart Road will be on your left, first turn. If nothing else, you can see the big hill from the road.NOTE: As of 2012, the airfield was in a very neglected state. About 2/3 of the strip is overgrown with brush. Goats and horses are turned out to keep down the grass, so watch your step! The strip is demarcated by a steel cable and train rail fence, which you won't see much of, but be wary should you, in frustration, charge for the field through the brush! The cable is inch thick and hangs between 1 foot and 3 feet off the ground, and is extremely painful to run into.