Amelia Earhart accidental Derry landing commemorated
- Published
Amelia Earhart went missing over the Pacific Ocean in 1937
Amelia Earhart's historic landing in Londonderry on 21 May 1932 will be commemorated.
Earhart took off from 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 and she landed in Derry.
To celebrate the 89th anniversary of Derry's accidental place in aviation history, radio operators from around the world will share her story .
People from over 99 countries are expected to listen to the special event, which will be broadcast from locations connected to the aviation pioneer's life.
Locally, the Derry-based Amelia Earhart Legacy Association (AELA) will collaborate with the North West Group Amateur Radio Club for the special radio operators' event at 15:30 GMT on Friday at the site of her landing 89 years ago.
Earhart's 14-hour journey ended abruptly when she had to set her Lockheed Vega 5B plane down on farmland at Ballyarnett.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane Brian Tierney will be speaking live from Gallagher's field to officials in Atchison, Kansas in the United States, the birthplace of Earhart, and the mayor of Harbour Grace in Canada, where Ms Earhart took off on the famous flight.
Amelia Earhart got a great send-off from Derry as she prepared to fly on to London after her surprise visit
AELA chairwoman Brenda Stevenson, said this was "a very significant day" for the history of Amelia and the city.
Ms Stevenson said she hoped the event would spread the word of Amelia Earhart's amazing story and the special part that Derry and its people played in her history.
The North West Group Radio Club's Damien Keys said members from the amateur radio group had "worked tirelessly" to try and make this happen.
"Our association began with the Amelia Earhart Legacy Association a number of months ago and we spun an idea that we could maybe make a radio contact with all the places that touched Amelia across her life," Mr Keys said.
"Not only her birthplace in Kansas, but also where she took off from in Harbour Grace in Canada."
Due to coronavirus restrictions this is a private event, but those interested are invited to listen the broadcast live.
Amelia Earhart, pictured in London in 1932, after becoming the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo
After completing her transatlantic challenge, Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly across the Pacific.
In 1937, Ms Earhart set herself the challenge of being the first woman to fly around the world.
This challenge, however, would prove too great and she disappeared after taking off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, bound for Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A rescue attempt lasted 17 days and scoured more than 250,000 square miles of ocean, but she was never found.
The aviator remains a household name across the world, and an airport in her home state of Kansas was named in her honour, as well as an airport lounge at City of Derry Airport.