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Click on Each Picture
Lady Mary Heath in G-EBUG, which was to become
Amelia's plane,
flew from Cape Town, South Africa to London
in the Spring of 1928.
Early on the morning of June 6, 1928, to avoid
the press, Amelia slipped out of her
hotel to a waiting car sent by Lady Heath.
They went to Croydon airfield where the Avian,
carrying the British registration G-EBUG,
was kept. Silver and blue, the small bi-plane was
festooned with plaques and medals from
its travels and had just been completely reconditioned at the Avro
factory. After going up for a two-hour flight, Amelia fell in
love with the little plane,
calling it the best of its kind in the world. Lady Heath, perhaps
caught up in the excitement of the moment,
offered to sell the Avian to Amelia. Her offer was immediately
accepted. For the third
time in her life, Amelia Earhart had an airplane of her own.
Regrettably, Amelia's original Avian has melted
away, as have many old aircraft, being salvaged
for parts one piece at a time, until there is
nothing left. Amelia's airplane finally slipped
beneath the waves of history, cancelled off the official government
records on August 11, 1936.
To resurrect, if you will, Amelia's Avian it was necessary
to travel to Australia, there to
locate a sister ship manufactured only a few weeks earlier
back in 1927.*
*From
the Amelia Earhart and her Avro Avian Booklet of Historic Aviation
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Avro
Avian at Burbank-Glendale-Pasedena Airport
