- Jun 15, 2022
- 2 min read

Karachi

In the early hours of June 15, 1937, the Electra took off from Assab, Eritrea, bound for Karachi, which was part of India at the time. "First we cut across a deep indentation on the Eritrean coast, and thence at an angle flew over the narrow southern entrance to the Red Sea called Bab-al-Mandah to the Arabian shore. That reached, we straightened out over the desolate southeastern tip of Arabia, checking over Aden after the sun was well up, one hundred and seventy-five miles on our way."

Once the flight had passed Ras el Hadd, on the eastern end of Arabia, the Electra cut across to Gwada, where they check in around 5 o'clock; then they followed the coast southeastward finally arriving at Karachi around 7:05 p.m. "I think our elapsed time for the 1,920 miles from Assab to Karachi was 13 hours and 10 minutes. Perhaps we could have done better if my manual mixture-control lever had not jammed. With it misbehaving, I could not regulate the quantity of fuel consumed by the right engine, which gulped gasoline unconscionably. I was afraid I should run out of fuel, so I reduced the speed to economize."

In Karachi, officials informed Amelia that a nonstop flight from the Red Sea to India had not previously been made; she was the first.

Upon arrival the plane and its occupants went through a fumigation process; a process that both Fred and Amelia had grown accustomed to. Having arrived from Africa, which was a yellow fever district, both fliers were suspects; however, their robust healthfulness "appeared beyond question once the British medical authorities had at us."

A nice surprise awaited Amelia, she had an incoming call from her husband GP. The conversation, as far as AE wrote, concerned the condition of the Electra, how she [Amelia] was holding up, where the next stop was, and before she signed off told GP that the following day she would send him an estimate of when they should reach Howland Island and that she would see him in Oakland.