Amelia Earhart's 20 Minutes and 40 Miles - A Talk by Chris Denchfield

Join us at Historic Croydon Airport for a fascinating evening exploring one of aviation’s greatest mysteries: the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

Amelia Earhart was a global legend in the 1920s and 1930s. She died in mysterious circumstances flying over the Pacific, and at least 4 groups of people are still looking for her.
Chris’s talk will give some context to her life outside flying and her connections with the UK; she was also a style icon and women’s emancipation and humanitarian champion.
Amelia really wanted to meet Jean Batten, the ‘Garbo of the Skies’, but unfortunately this did not happen; sadly, Jean also died in mysterious circumstances. Her record-breaking aircraft, which was kept in flying condition after her death, was once on display at Redhill airfield, where Chris was invited to examine it closely.
Chris had realised that, if he could use a state-of-the art flight simulator for Amelia’s last flight - of the sort used in aircraft crash investigations - to determine the veracity of the navigation, fuel-loading and usage, as well as the weather systems (especially if all of this was calibrated with her documented radio calls), then results could be obtained very swiftly and easily for multiple scenarios.
We will see the careful calculations, calibrations and diagrams that Chris used to confirm that Amelia’s planning was good and that her navigation, piloting skills and the aircraft would have got her to her destination. He believes that she was within 20 minutes and 40 miles of safety.

📍 Croydon Airport House
📅 30 September 2026
🕖 7:00pm – 8:00pm
🎤 Presented by Chris Denchfield
💷 Members: £5 | Non-members: £7.50

Please come along to hear about Amelia’s story and support your local Air Ambulance Service!
Book early to secure your place for this captivating journey into the final flight of a pioneering aviation legend.