Amazing upholstered leather and rattan chair once installed as seating aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m, NX4204 aircraft known as the ‘Friendship,’ the plane that carried Amelia Earhart as a passenger during her historic transatlantic flight in June 1928, making her the first woman to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in an aircraft. The chair measures approximately 20.25 x 37.5 x 28, and features an engraved plaque to back of top rail: “Friendship, Trans Atlantic Plane, Amelia Earhart, 1927, Donald Woodward.” In very good condition, with wear from age and use, including a tear to the leather at the top of the back cushion.
The first known owner of the ‘Friendship’ chair was Donald Woodward of Le Roy, New York and Palm Beach, Florida. An heir to the Jell-O Company and president of the food and pharmaceuticals company Kemp and Lane Corporation, Woodward, among his various business dealings, held a great interest in aviation and later built a small private airport in his hometown. In 1927, Woodward purchased Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s newly outfitted Dutch Fokker aircraft for $62,000, with the intention of leasing the plane to socialite Amy Phipps Guest, who promptly named the aircraft ‘Friendship.’ When Guest’s plan of a transoceanic journey was ruled out by her family, she made sure another female candidate, one with experience as a pilot, was selected.
On June 17, 1928, the 30-year-old aviatrix Amelia Earhart joined pilot Wilmer Stultz and copilot/mechanic Louis Gordon as a passenger (the ‘aircraft commander’ according to Guest) aboard the ‘Friendship’ as they made the 20-hour transatlantic flight from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland, over to Pwll near Burry Port, South Wales. In an interview conducted soon after the landing, Earhart hinted at her eventual solo flight in 1932, suggesting that ‘maybe someday I'll try it alone.’
In the hours immediately following Earhart's landing in Wales, the orange-and-gold, float-equipped, three-engine monoplane was flown to Southampton, England where Woodward began modifying the Friendship as a sightseeing plane for his new airport back in Le Roy, which opened in October 1928. The ‘Friendship’ was ultimately sold to an Argentinean businessman the following spring, but before the transaction was completed, Woodward removed the aircraft’s four leather seats, keeping them as souvenirs. To each he attached small brass plaques engraved with his name, the name of the plane, Amelia Earhart’s name, and the date 1927; although Earhart’s flight was in June 1928, Woodward engraved the plaques with 1927, likely in reference to the year he bought the plane from Admiral Byrd.
Accompanied by a copy of Wings Over LeRoy: A History of the Donald Woodward Airport by Brian J. Duddy, which features an image of one of the four passenger seats from the Friendship, as well as an image of Earhart in the Friendship's doorway, a matching chair seen behind her; two newspaper articles relating to the auction and subsequent donation of another ‘Friendship’ chair to the Le Roy House Museum; a souvenir program for the opening of the Donald Woodward Airport from October 12-14, 1928; and a miscellany of paperwork, photographs, and newspaper printouts relating to the town of Le Roy, New York, the Earhart connection, and the legacy of the Woodward family. Earhart visited the 'Friendship' at the Donald Woodward Airport in January 1929—just seven months after the transatlantic flight—and was reportedly pleased with her historic plane's home, saying, 'We need more airports like this.' She further took time to pose for pictures and sign autographs for the Le Roy locals.
The chair is also accompanied by a detailed letter of provenance that tracks its ownership for the past 91 years. The timeline is as follows:
1. Donald Woodward purchases the ‘Friendship’ in 1927
2. Woodward removes the chairs and gifts one to his friend and business partner Stewart James Johnston in 1929
3. Johnston and his wife Marge retain the chair until the mid-1950’s, and then present it to their eldest son, Stewart Luther Johnston, and his wife, Linda A. Johnston
4. The Johnston’s give the chair to their daughter and son-in-law, the chair’s current owners, Mary L. Tilton and Douglas R. Tilton, Sr., in 1990
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