Chief Askew's Diary: May 27, 1930

Another quiet day in Newnan; pilot breaks flight record, lion cub in tow

While it was another “very quiet” and “pretty” day in Newnan, there was excitement in the world of aviation. This was a time when pilots were breaking speed records all over the world.

British aviatrix Amy Johnson had just become the first woman to fly solo to Australia from England, a journey of 11,000 miles. Like her contemporary Amelia Earhart, she would lose her life in a crash, though her whereabouts were well known; she was flying for the RAF in England in 1941 when her plane crashed into an estuary of the Thames River.

Today a skilled and publicity-courting pilot succeeded in breaking the east-to-west cross-country speed record. Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in his historic 1927 flight with a cat aboard. Roscoe Turner brought along a lion cub.

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The picture of Roscoe Turner with his lion cub Gilmore was accessed via Wikipedia Commons.