What I could never fathom was why they would fly a plane with wheels over thousands of miles of open ocean.
Wouldn`t have common sense dictated to use a float plane instead?
Where would you fuel it up? Air strips were rare enough in 1937, let alone ports for sea planes. You have to keep in mind that as far as aviation goes, pre-WWII and post WWII are different worlds in not only aircraft but in the infrastructure that supports them.
Yes, a float plane would have made a lot more sense - the effort was cursed with poor thinking from the outset. Lousy radio choices, poor crew layout, and to be really honest, an untalented pilot. Amelia may have had the media and the money sewn up but she was no great shakes in less-than-ideal conditions. She ground-looped that same plane in her first attempts at this flight. Hubby had a ton of money, so she had the sponsoring to go ahead and kill herself and Fred Noonan anyway.