Amelia Earhart Flew in for Hellertown Hugs

The next time you stop in for a bite to eat at Wendy's or , look across Rt. 412 toward I-78 and imagine hearing the buzz of Amelia Earhart's red Lockheed Vega monoplane. Earhart--who disappeared over the South Pacific 75 years ago this month--landed on the airfield that once existed there, twice in 1929.

The Bethlehem Steel Realty Corp., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Company, held hundreds of acres in the Bethlehem area. The company also sold homes and offered financing for the Bethlehem Steel employees. Bethlehem Steel Realty Corp. sold land where the current Hellertown interchange to 78 exists today to the city of Bethlehem for use as an airport in 1928. This was the first airport in the Lehigh Valley. The deal was signed between A. Newton Roberts, manager of the real estate company, and Mayor James M. Yeakle on July 12, 1928. The 78 acres were sold for $500 an acre. The city built a hangar for $39,187.95 in 1929 and purchased surrounding land for $24,499.31.

The municipal airport was dedicated on the weekend of Oct. 5 and 6, 1929, attracting thousands of visitors from as far away as Philadelphia. Amelia Earhart, the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airplane, flew in to help dedicate the new airport. Another trans-Atlantic pilot, Clarence Chamberlin, made an appearance that day. Various stunt pilots, parachute jumps, target games with flour sack bomb drops and air races entertained the crowd.

Jesse Paul Jones of Lancaster Aviation became the first director of the airport. Jones was famous for his daring trick flying and throughout his career would teach several hundred people to fly. He was a master mechanic, pilot and beloved teacher, and continued to fly well into his 80s. The next manager in 1932 was James S. Christman, who remained until he was lured away to manage what is known today as Lehigh Valley International Airport. Christman, a stunt pilot, was killed in a plane crash while performing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1937. Later in 1932, the group Saucon Valley Skyways rented the facility with Hellertown-born Stanley W. Keck as manager. Keck was just 24 years old at the time.

As a youth, Keck had earned the nicknames "Krazy Keck" and "Kecky." He was the son of George and Lena Keck. Stanley lived with his parents and three sisters in the old miller's house on Walnut Street. George operated the flourmill in the Wagner Grist Mill next door.

Keck learned how to fly from Jesse Jones at age 20. He went on to fly full-time and became known for being a master at aerobatics, aero-photography and organizing air shows. His wonderful air shows always attracted a crowd of Hellertonians, who were lucky that the field was within walking distance from their homes. Keck also took many photographs of Hellertown from the air during the 1930s and '40s. There was a rumor that he flew a plane underneath the Hill-to-Hill Bridge, but Keck never confirmed it. He did say that he once refueled Amelia Earhart's plane at the airport.

The municipal airport operation came to an end in July of 1934, when Bethlehem City Council was in a cash crunch due to the Great Depression. That year, the city had decided to sell the property back to the Bethlehem Steel Realty Corp. for $20,000, with the exception of the hangar. The city had hopes of selling it to an industry. This plan didn't succeed and the hangar was also sold to the realty company in 1941. Bethlehem Steel used the property for storage.

Competition was around the corner from the Allentown Airport Corp., formed in 1929 by local businessmen. The group purchased 317.5 acres on the border of Bethlehem and Allentown, with the goal of creating an airport. That facility eventually became Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton (ABE) Airport, which is today's Lehigh Valley International Airport.

Back to Amelia Earhart... She flew into the Lehigh Valley several times in 1929. Her first trip flying into the Bethlehem Airport was on Sept. 4, 1929. Upon landing, she was met by local dignitaries including Mayor James M. Yeakle and Dr. E.J. Heath, president of the local Rotary Club, along with a mob of admirers. Yeakle and Heath whisked her off to the luxurious Hotel Bethlehem. There was another mob waiting to catch a glimpse of Earhart at the hotel. The police held back the crowds so she could enter the hotel. The slender, tall blonde would speak to the Rotary Club that evening about the exciting future of aviation. Earhart complimented the community for leading the way by creating the Bethlehem Airport.

Earhart enjoyed an earlier trip to Bethlehem in 1920, that time by train, to visit her friend Louise de Schweinitz. The two had met in a course at Columbia University that year. Earhart stayed with Louise's family at their home at 18 Church Street, Bethlehem. During her visit she enjoyed boating and swimming in the Lehigh River. She also took in the Friedensville zinc mine. Louise de Schweinitz was a descendent of Count Zinzendorf, founder of Bethlehem. She went to Johns Hopkins Medical School and became a pediatrician.

Another Lehigh Valley connection was with flying pioneer Dorothea "Dot" Backenstoe Leh of Allentown. Dorothea and her husband John H. Leh, a partner in H. Leh’s Department Store, were only the second couple in America to both earn flying licenses. Dot Leh and Earhart met when they joined forces to organized The Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots from 35 countries. On Nov. 4, 1929, Earhart stopped by Allentown to spend an evening with the Lehs.

Earhart continued to break records. In 1932 she flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and that year she also flew from Los Angeles to Newark. Then, on Jan. 11, 1935 she flew across the Pacific Ocean and landed in California.

On May 20, 1937, Earhart began her flight around the world with navigator Fred Noonan. They took off from Oakland, California flying east across Florida, Brazil, Africa and Australia.

On July 2, 1937, they were 7,000 miles from completing their trip. Earhart's next scheduled stop was at Howland Island in the South Pacific, but she and Noonan never made it.

The mystery of what happened to them may finally be solved. Objects found on a small island near Howland, including fragments of glass bottles and a finger bone, may yield a DNA match to Earhart. An expedition is currently looking for additional artifacts using state-of-the-art technology.