AN AMELIA EARHART AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO PRATT & WHITNEY: “AIR MAILING PRATT WHITNEY PERSONAL CHECK TO COVER CHARGES ON MOTOR OVERHAUL. LETTER FOLLOWS AFTER TEST FLIGHT”

AMELIA EARHART (1897-1939). Earhart was an American female aviation icon. She is best known for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

ALS. 1 pg. 5” x 7”. August 30, 1931. N.p. An autograph letter signed “Amelia Earhart” to “Horner”: “Air mailing Pratt Whitney personal check to cover charges on motor overhaul. Letter follows after test flight. 85 + 10= 95. Amelia Earhart”.  She composed this on Western Union telegram stationery.  At this time, Earhart was preparing for her first solo flight across the Atlantic, which occurred the following year, and this telegram reveals her close oversight over the construction and engineering behind her planes. Earhart had a long-standing relationship with engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, partnering with them to popularize air mail as a faster national and international delivery service. She was even using one of their engines on her plane when she disappeared in the Pacific in 1937.  Horner is most likely H.M. Horner (1903-1983), an aviation pioneer who transformed Pratt & Whitney, a company that in 1926 designed one engine and had under 100 employees, into United Technologies Corporation over his 42 years with the company. In 2020, United Technologies merged with Raytheon to form Raytheon Technologies, one of the largest providers of intelligence services and aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world. The telegram is in very good condition.  A great Earhart letter about maintenance on her plane.