Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock, the first woman to fly solo around the world, has died on September 30 at the age of 88.
Mock, a Newark, Ohio, native known as “the flying housewife,” died in her Florida home.
In 1964 she took off from Columbus, Ohio, in a 1953 Cessna 180 single-engine monoplane named the Spirit of Columbus.
Twenty-nine days and 23,103 miles later, the 5ft, 100lb mother of three landed safely back in Columbus.
Mock was one of the first female aeronautical engineering students at Ohio State University and began flying in 1958 at the age of 32.
She wrote Three-Eight Charlie in 1970 about her solo world flight. The book was republished this year in celebration of the flight’s 50th anniversary.
A statue of Mock was erected at the Port Columbus International Airport. Her plane, the Spirit of Columbus, was put on display at the National Air and Space Museum in 1976.
