Amelia Earhart Letter to Winfield B. "Bert" Kinner

This collection consists of a letter dated November 27, 1927 written and signed by Amelia Earhart to Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner.

Amelia Earhart (1897--1937) in 1928 was the first woman to fly (as a passenger) across the Atlantic, and in 1932 the first woman (and second person, after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo and nonstop across that ocean. She flew many record flights, published several books and accomplished much for women in aviation before attempting on June 1, 1937, an around-the-world flight from Miami, Florida, in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra. She and navigator Frederick J. Noonan were flying from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island when they disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937. An exhaustive sea and air search, ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt, was unsuccessful in locating Earhart and Noonan. Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner (1882--1957) enlisted in the US Army Air Service during World War I, but the war ended before he was trained to fly. So, in 1919, Kinner moved to Los Angeles, California, where he rented a barn, built his first airplane and taught himself to fly. Until his retirement in 1941, Kinner remained active in the aviation business. Kinner organized the following aircraft and engine companies: Kinner Airplane & Motor Corp; Security Aircraft Corp; American Aircraft Corp; and Security National Aircraft Corp. These companies produced a variety of aircraft, including the Kinner Airster, the first aircraft that Amelia Earhart purchased. Kinner is perhaps most famous for producing the popular Kinner K-5 engine and for designing the first folding wing aircraft, the Security Airster S-1-A and S-1-B.