by Don Winkler
Published in Midwest Flyer – December 2019/January 2020 issue
It was the opening day at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 1992 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. That meant lots of airplanes and large crowds of people from all over the world. Pretty chaotic, but very exciting!
I had just picked up my press schedule for the day at EAA Press Headquarters when I noticed a gentleman, short in stature and dressed in typical southwestern attire. He stood out in his pastel blue jacket and trousers with an ornate silver and turquoise bolo tie and matching Stetson cowboy hat, decorated with an EAA pin and other assorted memorabilia. The elderly gentleman was being jostled around by other members of the press with their cumbersome photo bags and gear, so I felt obligated to offer him my assistance.
“Hi, I am Don Winkler with Midwest Flyer Magazine. Can I help you locate someone?”
“Thanks! I am waiting for Paul Poberenzy,” he replied.
I started to tell him that Paul was a pretty busy guy right now, and then as I gazed at the walls, I saw several black and white mounted photographs of Amelia Earhart. “Gosh, look at that…Amelia Earhart photos,” I said to the gentleman.
“Yes. Those are mine,” he replied. “I have been asked to bring out the negatives I have stored in my safe ever since her disappearance and take them to the Smithsonian Museum. My name is Albert Bresnik and I was her personal photographer.”
Immediately, I invited Mr. Bresnik to accompany me to the flight-line and airshow headquarters. Once there, we went upstairs, sat down in an office, and we talked for over an hour. I recorded every word of our conversation.
Bresnik told me about himself and his career as a photographer.
Albert Louis Bresnik was born February 3, 1914 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the early ’30s, he was shooting pictures for Columbia Studios in Hollywood, as a press photographer. Such notables as Al Jolson, Clark Gable and others were his subjects. He said that he became a close friend of Gable’s, who deeply admired his work. Bresnik had the ability to make people feel at ease when he photographed them. This ability was the reason George P. Putnam, a well-known publisher and Amelia Earharts husband, asked Bresnik to be Earharts personal photographer. After working with her and developing a trust, Earhart mentioned to Bresnik that she never had a brother and thought they should adopt one another. Thereafter, she referred to him as her “little brother.”
Albert Bresnik had first seen Amelia Earhart flying while photographing the “Womens Air Derby,” later nicknamed the “Powder Puff Derby” by humorist, Will Rogers. This was the first official women-only transcontinental air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air
Races. Nineteen pilots took off from Santa Monica, California on August 18, 1929, with another pilot taking off the following day. Fifteen pilots completed the race that ended in Cleveland, Ohio, nine days later.
Amelia Earhart had been taught to fly by Mary Anita “Neta” Snook Southern, a pioneer aviator who achieved many aviation firsts. She was the first woman aviator in Iowa, first woman student accepted at the Curtiss Flying School in Virginia, first woman aviator to run her own aviation business, and the first woman to run a commercial airfield. Yet “Snooky,” as her friends called her, was fated to be remembered for her relationship to Amelia Earhart. Her autobiography is entitled “I Taught Amelia to Fly.” While Earhart is known for challenging the male dominated aviation community, Southern challenged them first, and Albert Bresnik was there and photographed both of them, then sold prints for 50 cents apiece. Southern died in 1991 at the age of 95.
After Bresnik had been photographing Amelia Earhart for a while, he attended a meeting she was holding to inspire young women to become aviators, and to challenge themselves to accomplish other goals. Looking around the room, she suggested that they form an association. She then counted 99 women in the room and said, “We will call ourselves the Ninety-Nines.” Bresnik recounts: “Later, they decided to add me in and I am still the only male inducted.”
As I write this story, I realize that there is more to the story than just Amelia Earhart. There is the dedication to a far greater purpose, that of motivating women to pursue their dreams. Both Amelia Earhart and Albert Bresnik dedicated their lives to this cause. Bresnik conveyed that message through the images he took of Amelia Earhart as she accomplished so many feats in aviation for women pilots.
Bresnik said that after Earhart’s disappearance, he and his wife, Gabrielle, felt her presence in their home, as well as throughout their daily lives. He told me his mission in life after her disappearance was to continue to convey her message in his public speaking appearances. Earhart and Bresnik were collaborating on a book to be called “World Flight,” documenting her historic flight circumnavigating the globe prior to her disappearance.
Bresnik had planned to accompany Amelia Earhart and navigator, Harry Manning, on the flight. After a ground-looping accident in Hawaii, and necessary modifications to the aircraft were made, there was no longer room for Bresnik. When Manning was called back for duty with the Navy, another change was made when Fred Noonan was substituted as the navigator. It makes one wonder if all of these last-minute incidents and changes in crew was coincidental.
Because of photojournalists like Albert Bresnik and his historic images of Amelia Earhart and flight, the public became more aware of opportunities for both men and women to pursue aviation careers.
Ironically, a more recent tribute to Amelia Earhart was the flight of astronaut and U.S. Marine Corps pilot, Lt. Col. Randy “Komrade” Bresnik, Albert Bresnik’s grandson, who took one of Amelia Earharts favorite scarves with him on the Space Shuttle “Atlantis” to the International Space Station.
Lt. Col. Bresnik was selected as an astronaut by NASA in May 2004. In February 2006, he completed Astronaut Candidate Training that included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Bresnik completed his first spaceflight on STS-129 in November 2009. From 2009 through 2011, Bresnik was assigned as the support astronaut on the space shuttle closeout crew tasked with strapping in the crew and closing and sealing the access hatch for flight. He was the lead astronaut on the closeout crew for the final shuttle mission STS-135. From 2012 through 2015, Bresnik served as the lead astronaut for NASA’s partnership with the SpaceX Company in the design and development of their crewed Dragon Capsule, as well as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) in the Mission Control Center.
In September 2014, Bresnik, his three crewmembers and two habitat technicians, tested technologies and training techniques for use aboard the International Space Station and future deep space exploration missions during NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO 19). Bresnik was the commander of NEEMO 19’s team of aquanauts. The mission was conducted in Florida International University’s undersea research habitat, Aquarius Reef Base, located six miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, and 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
From July 28 through December 14, 2017, Bresnik was joined by ESA/ASI Astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz 51S spacecraft. During the mission, the crew worked on over 300-plus scientific experiments and investigations, worked with four different visiting space vehicles, and conducted four spacewalks (3 USOS & 1 Russian). In addition, the crew took 808,126 photographs of the earth and inside the International Space Station during the two expeditions. Expedition 52/53 was completed in 139 days, completing 2,224 orbits of the earth and traveling 58,835,163 miles (108,962,720 km). Bresnik served as the flight engineer aboard the Soyuz 51S and Expedition 52, as well as commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 53.
In essence and spirit, Amelia Earhart completed the last 7,000 miles of her trip around the world via the International Space Station.
Those who are interested in seeing images of Amelia Earhart photographed by Albert Bresnik, can do so in the book “The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart” by Mary S. Lovell. The book features many of Albert Bresnik’s photographs.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The information on Lt. Col. Randy “Komrade” Bresnik was provided by NASA. See more stories by photojournalist, Don Winkler, on his blog at https://anothervue2.blogspot.com/
