Bem vindo ao Brasil

CCVI

Amelia Earhart displayed the usual ignorance of Americans when it came to Fortaleza, Brazil. She knew --- or thought she knew --- more about Natal, which was the easternmost point in the Americas and the logical place where transatlantic flights hopped across the Atlantic Narrows --- “Narrow” being a relative term, since the flight between Natal, Brazil, and Dakar, French West Africa (now Senegal) is 1,866 miles. 

But Fortaleza came as a shock. Expecting a jungle outpost under the eaves of the Amazon rainforest, Earhart was utterly surprised to discover that Fortaleza was a bustling, modern city of 100,000 souls even in 1937. 

Brazil overall may have surprised her. A huge nation, the size of the Lower 48 continguous United States, much of the interior is covered by the vast Amazon rainforest, though regions of grassland and hill country also cover hundreds of thousands of square miles. In 1937, every important city lay along the coast of what is the largest country in South America.

Having crossed the Equator (the first of several times on the Worldflight) Amelia received the honorary title of “Shellback” (Noonan was already a long-time Shellback).

Fortaleza as seen from the air in 1937

Brazilian well-wishers gather ‘round the Flying Laboratory at Fortaleza

Her original destination for June 5^th was the city of Belem, but, once again, driven by the need to be “on schedule” she sidelined Belem to go on to Fortaleza, where she decided to spend an extra day readying the big Electra for its transatlantic voyage, resting, writing, and (as always) leaving unnecessaries behind to be mailed home.  

She wrote of the stop:

Looking the way we did after only a week on the way, I hesitated to visualize what disgraceful tramps we'd be before the journey's end. ... Laundering for ourselves seemed as important as for the plane.  I was on my last shirt and had abandoned hope that the appearance of my slacks, or my shoes, ever again would be respectable.  

Her compulsion to constantly fly on had left her weary and ragged, and no doubt Noonan felt and looked the same way. Also, there was little doubt that a few hours apart might do them some good. 

So, it was not until June 7^th that Earhart and Noonan pushed on to Natal. At Natal they experienced a light, persistent rain that soon turned to a storm that was to dog them all the way across the Atlantic.

It was a hop of less than 300 miles. Amelia looked forward to a “gas and go” across the Atlantic, but the rain and the need for updated weather reports meant another layover of several hours. The Electra lifted off in the small hours of the morning. Since there were no lights on the main paved runway at Natal, the Electra used an auxiliary grass field that Amelia and Fred paced out in the darkness to get some sense of its dimensions --- after a bumpy run-up they headed eastward across the Atlantic.  

Skiffs on the beach at Natal. A photograph taken by A.E.

The major cities of Brazil. Brasilia, the modern capital, was not founded until 1960. Until then, Rio de Janeiro was the capital and is still the largest city