Description:

Earhart, Amelia (1898-1937) On the day she left on her on her solo flight to Mexico becoming the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City, Amelia Earhart signs a $105 check to the National Aeronautic Association - endorsed by the NAA's Joe Nikrent who placed a barograph aboard her plane that day to record the flight

Partly Printed Check Signed "Amelia Earhart," 6" x 2.75". [Burbank, California], April 19, 1935. Payable to "National Aeronautic Association" for $105. Completed in manuscript. Adequate contrast. Endorsed on verso "National Aeronautic Assn / By Joe Nikrent." Bank stampings on verso. Tiny bank cancellation holes nick the "A" and "l" in "Amelia." Surface creases, nicked at edges, folds at upper corners; after Earhart signed it, Nikrent may have folded it and put it in his pocket. Good condition.

There are a few holograph edits in unknown hand. "Burbank, California" was crossed out and replaced with "New York City." Also crossed out was "Burbank Branch / Security First National / Bank of Los Angeles / 101 East San Fernando Boulevard," replaced with "Fifth Avenue Bank / New York, N.Y."

Ostensibly, Amelia Earhart signed this check just before she left Los Angeles County's Burbank airport for her flight to Mexico City. It was then endorsed by the NAA's timer, Joe Nikrent, who placed a barograph aboard her plane to record the flight.

On April 19, 1935, at 9:55pm, Amelia Earhart took off from the United Air Terminal in Burbank, California, for a 1,750-mile goodwill flight to Mexico City. Joe Nikrent, who endorsed this check, was the NAA timer. He placed a barograph aboard her plane. When she arrived in Mexico City on April 20th, she landed to crowd of over 20,000 persons. At a special session of the City Council, Earhart was presented with a gold medal for her flight. She was the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City, April 19-20, 1935, completing the trip in 13 hours 23 minutes.

The National Aeronautic Association was founded in 1905 as the Aero Club of America. it was incorporated as the NAA in 1922. Until the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1926, it was the sole issuer of pilot licenses in America. The NAA is the oldest national aviation club in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. It has certified aviation and aerospace records in the United States since 1905; its current records database includes over 8,000 record flights.

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