Jerrie Mock

Photo of Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly solo around the world

Most people think of Amelia Earhart as the first woman to fly around the world in 1937, although she didn't make it all the way. Jerrie Mock of Newark, Ohio, did succeed, however. Sponsored by The Columbus Dispatch, she flew her Cessna 180 into the record books between March 19 and April 17, 1964 as the first woman to fly solo around the world. Her plane was called the "Spirit of Columbus," but Jerrie called it "Charlie." She managed the trip despite radio malfunctions, desert sandstorms, an electrical fire and iced wings. She also encountered male prejudice in other countries where she landed. They thought she should not be doing that, and could not make it. Little did they know that Jerrie had decided to do this when she was four years old. Her landing at Port Columbus was met by 5,000 people, including her family and Governor Rhodes.

Jerrie lived in Florida until her death in 2014, and her plane hangs proudly in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Jerrie wrote her own account of her feat in 1970, Three-Eight Charlie , available at the Licking County Library.