Amelia Earhart: Great nephew visits landing spot in Derry
When Paul was a young boy, he and his grandmother would often go to events across the United States to honour the aviation pioneer. They travelled from Hawaii to California and many places in between and a visit to Derry was on their to-do list.Unfortunately, Grace passed away in 1998 and never made it to Northern Ireland with Paul.So, recently, when Paul was planning a family trip to Ireland, a friend, who is originally from Derry, suggested he could make his dream come true.And when he finally did this week, it was an emotional moment. "My grandmother would feel like I have completed a task, it is such an honour," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme. For his son James, it was special visiting the site as they had been travelling to Amelia Earhart events, just as Paul and Grace did before she died."They [Paul and Grace] always wanted to come to Ireland and that was going to be their final thing but they didn't have enough time to do it together so it feels really special for me to be able to complete the trip with my father," James said. The father and son had just completed a trip to Grace's ancestral home, which was also the home of Amelia, before coming to Derry."This a great way to finish it up to see where she landed," Paul said.
The Ballyarnett landing
Amelia Earhart had taken off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland in Canada, in a bid to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.Hoping to land in Paris, bad weather and technical problems altered her course.On 21 May 1932, her 14-hour journey ended abruptly when she was forced to bring her Lockheed Vega 5B plane down in the Gallagher family's field at Ballyarnett, on the northern edge of Derry.She stayed the night with the Gallagher family, before traveling on to London, and then heading back to the US.Mrs Gallagher told the BBC in 1935 when Ms Earhart landed, the only thing she wanted was a telephone to tell her husband she had landed safely.Earhart later wrote that having landed without any money, Mr Gallagher, "owner of the field in which I landed, assured me, however, that I had no occasion to worry about money 'as we will see you through'".
Elish Quigley and Nicole McElhinney, from the Amelia Earhart legacy association accompanied the family to the Ballyarnett site and explained what it must have been like when Amelia accidentally landed there back in May 1932. Paul wondered what sort of reception his aviator great aunt would have received."Women back then didn't really drive planes, they just drove cars and when she landed there was a farmer who was smoking a cigarette and because of the aviation fuel, she had to ask him to put the cigarette out," Nicole said.Paul laughed."They couldn't believe there was a women standing who had just popped out of this wee red plane, it was just fantastic," said Nicole."Paul kept the memory of Amelia alive and now we have this fantastic story attached to our story in Derry as well" said Eilish.
Visit complete, the Morriseys will now fly back to the United States with a renewed determination to keep alive the memory of one of the best-known aviators of all time."Its extremely special that I can pass this onto my son, like my grandmother did to me and carry on the legacy of Amelia," Paul said.
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Daily Mail
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- Daily Mail
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The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
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Telegraph
13 hours ago
- Telegraph
The 747 has disappeared from Europe, with the exception of one airline
It was easy to spot the aviation geeks walking past gate B32 at Frankfurt Airport. Each slowed from their purposeful stride, or stopped entirely, transfixed. For parked on the apron in the near darkness, with twinkling navigation lights suggesting imminent distant adventures, was a Boeing 747-8. Huge, majestic – and very rare. There are 25,000 blue whales, an animal to which the jumbo jet is frequently compared, navigating the planet, but now only around 50 747s in active passenger service, the vast majority of top-tier carriers having retired them in favour of newer models. Their decline has been long and drawn out, but was hastened by the Covid pandemic, which saw hundreds sold to cargo airlines or simply scrapped. It seems this four-engine behemoth, first flown commercially in 1970, is no longer financially viable in an era of increasingly-efficient twin-engined jets. The final passenger-configured jumbo was delivered eight years ago, and Boeing has no plans to restart the production line. But one European airline hasn't turned its back on the 747 just yet. Germany's Lufthansa, perceived by many to be aviation's kings of efficiency, still operates 27 jumbo jets – 19 of the newer 747-8s, and eight older, slightly smaller 747-400s – and is even upgrading some jumbo jet interiors with swanky new Allegris seats at a cost of $2bn. Why the lingering attachment? Part of the reason is simple and unromantic economics. According to aviation analysts, operations out of its Frankfurt and Munich hubs are each at take-off slot capacity. So, with flight numbers capped, Lufthansa really needs its biggest aircraft, and the 364-seat 747s-8s drop neatly between the Airbus A350 (293 seats) and A380 (455 seats). Furthermore, jumbos, despite their age, have a cracking range of up to 8,000 miles and remain among the fastest passenger jets in the sky (reaching speeds of up to 706mph). 'It's a very good aircraft for very long range, and with a load of 35 tonnes of cargo it makes the 747-8 very economic for us, especially for long-range flights to cities like Buenos Aires and Tokyo, and 'hot and high' airports like Mexico City and Johannesburg [heat adversely affects take-off and landing performance],' said Captain Sebastian Stockhoff, a chief pilot who flies 747s and 787s for Lufthansa. 'That's especially so because [the 747] has eight first-class seats, 80 business-class seats and 32 premium economy [plus 244 economy]. So on routes like New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo, the aircraft is not just very reliable, it's for us very economical because of the higher-class products we have in big volume. 'For flights of around 13 or 14 hours… especially now with the political issues, where you cannot fly across Russia and with rerouting around some Middle Eastern areas, [the 747 means] you can still fly non-stop with some cargo loads [...] it's the perfect aircraft.' But there's another, less tangible factor. Lufthansa recognises that the public, from aviation geeks to ordinary travellers, have plenty of love for the 'Queen of the Skies'. Indeed, affection for the 747 is clearly evident amongst passengers, according to Stockhoff. At Newark Airport, he said, the Lufthansa 747 parks with its nose close to the window, right beside the boarding gate. 'It's quite funny; it takes a while until the passengers are on board the aircraft because they all want to take a photo of the 747,' he explained. Surprisingly agile, very fast Pilots also love the jumbo jet, said Stockhoff, whose first 747 flight was into Orlando in 2015. 'It's very logical [to operate]. There are not so many computers, so you feel more connected to the aircraft.' Cabin crew, he added, love its huge galleys. Bruce Dickinson, lead singer with rock band Iron Maiden, is a former airline pilot, and flew the band's 747-400 tour plane 'Ed Force One', named after the band's mascot, 'Ed', back in 2013-2014. In 2023, he told Flight Global: 'On the ground it's quite stately. In the air it's surprisingly agile, and very fast.' Plane-spotting king Jerry Dyer of Big Jet TV is equally admiring: 'Her design and profile mean she's more majestic in flight than any other aircraft, particularly during a bank. Plus, she has history.' My first 747 flight, in the early 1980s, was on a Lufthansa jet. The plane hadn't been visible from the boarding gate, so entering the cabin was a bit of a Tardis moment. When you're used to narrow-bodied planes, it is surreal stepping inside. My last was on a Virgin Atlantic flight to Mexico. Nine hours in, the 747 ticked up to 41,500 feet – it felt like an effortless demonstration that she still had it. That the landing was, as fans say, a real 'greaser', followed by a cruise-liner-like docking at the terminal, confirmed its majesty.
