The search for Amelia Earhart can finally be called off! The famed aviator will be talking about her thrilling flights in two performances at 9 am and Noon Saturday, June 2, at Hays Regional Airport’s 3rd Annual Great Planes on the Great Plains Fly-In. Scholar/performer Ann Birney of Ride into History will take the audience back to 1937, just before Earhart’s disappearance over the Pacific Ocean. Birney’s performance is being sponsored by Midwest Energy, EnerSys and the Fly-In Committee.

Most people do not know that Earhart set out twice to fly around the world at the equator before she disappeared. The first time, heading west from California, she wrecked her twin-engine Lockheed Electra taking off from Hawaii. Birney, as Earhart, will take the audience to April 14, 1937. Earhart is waiting for her airplane, her silver “flying laboratory” to be repaired so that she can try again. This time, she tells the audience, she will go east instead of west, hoping to reverse her luck with the reversal in direction.

Earhart came into the public eye when she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air in 1928. The young social worker presumed that after the flight she would resume working with children at a Boston settlement house, but one book and innumerable speaking engagements later, she was instead planning more record-setting flights, and yet more speaking tours, books, and articles. Among her other records, she became the first woman and second person to solo across the Atlantic, the first person to solo over the Pacific, the first person to fly from Hawaii to California, and the fastest woman to fly non-stop across the U.S. And now, Earhart feels she has one last record-setting flight left in her . . . .

Ann Birney is a member of Ride into History, an historical performance touring troupe that has performed throughout the U.S., from the Smithsonian to Saipan. Scholar/performer Birney’s interpretation of Amelia Earhart is based on extensive research. Birney holds a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Kansas and, like Earhart, is a native Kansan. Birney has been doing her Chautauqua-style performances of Amelia Earhart since 1995. In March of 2000 she became the first person to do an historical performance for the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where she was described as “what living history should be—accurate, natural, evocative, and accessible.”

Birney’s performances are part of day-long Fly-In activities that begin with a 7 am pancake breakfast and includes military aircraft and displays; Rocket Club display; Seatbelt Convincer demonstration; Dunk Tank; Motorcycle, Classic Car and Hot Rod Show and judging; Remote Controlled Aircraft Show (weather permitting); airport fire truck water demonstrations; Ident-a-Kid; a paper airplane building workshop; and much more. The Fly-In concludes with a hot dog lunch from 11 am – 1 pm. Free parking and shuttle services from the parking lot are provided.

Drawings will be held for free Great Lakes Airlines tickets and other prizes.

All events are free and open to the public. A free will offering is accepted for the meals. Additionally, helicopter rides over Hays are available for $35 per person from 7 am to dark.

Major sponsors for this year’s Fly-In are Nex-Tech, Great Lakes Airlines and Eagle Communications.