The ''Spirit of Columbus'' is a Cessna 180 Skywagon that was flown by Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock from March 19 to April 17, 1964, on the first solo flight by a woman around the world. She nicknamed the plane ''Charlie''. The trip began March 19, 1964, in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, and ended April 17, 1964, in Columbus, Ohio. It took 29 days, 11 hours and 59 minutes, with 21 stopovers and almost .Mock, Jerrie (1970) ''Three-Eight Charlie''. Philadelphia, Lippincott. The flight was part of a "race" that developed between Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith who had flown from a field near San Francisco, CA on March 17, 1964; Smith's departure date and flight path was the same as the aviator

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

's last flight. Although they were not in direct competition with each other, media coverage soon began tracking the progress of each pilot, fascinated with who would complete the journey first. Mock was the first to finish. The story of this race is told in a book written by Taylor Phillips entitled, ''Racing to Greet the Sun, Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith Duel to Become the First Woman to Solo Around the World'' (2015). Jerrie Mock was subsequently awarded the Louis Blériot medal from the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...

in 1965. In 1970 she published the story of her round-the-world flight in the book ''Three-Eight Charlie''. While that book is now out of print, a 50th anniversary edition was later published including maps, weather charts and photos. ''Three-Eight Charlie'' is a reference to the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

, N1538C, of the Cessna 180 Skywagon Mock used to fly around the world. The airplane hangs in the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

of the Smithsonian. In June 2007, Mock flew to Chantilly, Virginia, to see the ''Spirit of Columbus'' for the first time in many years. Mock "was so pleased to see her plane 'airborne' again". The plane previously was in storage, but with the opening of the Udvar-Hazy Center, is now back on display.

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* {{Columbus, Ohio Individual aircraft in the Smithsonian Institution Aviation in Ohio Women aviators