Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock (November 22, 1925 – September 30, 2014) was an American pilot and the first woman to
fly
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
solo
around the world.
She flew a single engine
Cessna 180
The Cessna 180 Skywagon is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which was produced between 1953 and 1981. Though the design is no longer in production, many of these aircraft are still in use as personal airc ...
(registered N1538C) christened the ''
Spirit of Columbus
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 ...
'' and nicknamed "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. 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 2023 book by Taylor Phillips, ''Queen of the Clouds; Joan Merriam Smith and Jerrie Mock's Epic Quest to Become the First Woman to Fly Solo Around the World''. 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 Mock 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
The Cessna 180 Skywagon is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which was produced between 1953 and 1981. Though the design is no longer in production, many of these aircraft are still in use as personal airc ...
Mock used to fly around the world.
Before her death, Mock, mother of three children, resided in
Quincy, Florida
Quincy is a city in and the county seat of Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Quincy is part of the Tallahassee metropolitan area, Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,970 as of the 2020 census, almost eve ...
; northwest of the state capital,
Tallahassee
Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...
.
Early life

Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock was born on November 22, 1925, in
Newark, Ohio
Newark ( ) is a city in Licking County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located east of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus at the junction of the forks of the Licking River (Ohio), Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 United ...
to Timothy and Blanche (Wright) Fredritz.
[ Her paternal grandparents were German emigrants. During her childhood, she found that she had more in common with the boys. Her interest for flying was sparked when she was 7 years old when she and her father had the opportunity to fly in the cockpit of a ]Ford Trimotor
The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American Trimotor, three-engined transport plane, transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, afte ...
airplane. In high school, she took an engineering course in which she was the only girl and decided flying was her passion. She graduated from Newark High School in 1943 and went on to attend Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
. At OSU, she became a member of Phi Mu. She left her studies at OSU to wed her husband, Russell Mock in 1945.
Flight around the world
Mock's flight began and ended at Ohio hometown's Port Columbus Airport. Her expedition's financing included a loan from ''The Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in ...
'' newspaper.
She travelled eastbound, over Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, among other countries. After stressful days traveling over the Atlantic, Mock was greeted by the president of the Aero Club of Morocco and stayed the night in a French home, where Mock reports, "there were no nightmares of thunderheads over the Atlantic. Dressed in red satin, I danced in marble palaces." Mock later journeyed to Saudi Arabia, where she landed at Dhahran Airport. In her book ''Three-Eight Charlie'', Mock says that after landing in Saudi Arabia the crowd of men around her looked puzzled. One of the men approached her aircraft. “His white-kaffiyeh-covered head nodded vehemently, and he shouted to the throng that there was no man. This brought a rousing ovation”, she recalled. Mock was quite a spectacle in Saudi Arabia where women would not be allowed to drive cars until 2017, much less fly a plane. In Egypt, she mistakenly landed at a secret off-the-map military base instead of the Cairo Airport.
Traveling the world gave Mock a new perspective and experiences. Flying over Vietnam, she noted: "Somewhere not far away a war was being fought, but from the sky above, all looked peaceful."
Accomplishments and recognition
First woman to
* First woman to fly solo around the world
* First woman to fly around the world in a single-engine plane
* First woman to fly U.S. – Africa via North Atlantic
* First woman to fly the Pacific single-engine
* First woman to fly the Pacific West to East
* First woman to fly both the Atlantic and Pacific
* First woman to fly the Pacific both directions
Official world aviation records: 1964–1969
(Sanctioned and accepted by the National Aeronautic Association
The National Aeronautic Association of the United States (NAA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a founding member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Founded in 1905, it is the oldest national aviation club in the Uni ...
and 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 ...
)
1964
* Speed around the world, Class C1-c
* Speed around the world, Feminine
1965
* Speed over a closed course of 500 km, Class C1-b
1966
* Distance in a straight line, Feminine
1968
* Distance in a closed course, Class C1-c
* Distance in a closed course, Feminine
* Speed over a recognized course
1969
* Speed over a recognized course
Awards and honors
* Federal Aviation Agency Gold Medal for Exceptional Service
* Ohio Governor’s Award
* Louis Bleriot Silver Medal(World-Wide award of Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)
* American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Distinguished Service Award
* Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Award of the Year
* Experimental Aircraft Association Special Award
* Ohio Aviation Trades Association Sparky Award
* Amelia Earhart Memorial Award, 1964
* Aero Classic Aviation Progress Award, 1965
* National Aviation Trades Association Pilot-of-the-Year Award, 1964
* Glenn Hammond Curtiss Silver Medal, Pittsburgh OX-5 Club
* Milestones in Manned Flight Trophy, Trans World Airlines
* Wadsworth, Ohio, Aero Club Special Award
* Kansas 99’s Special Recognition Medallion
* Special Award of Bexley Civic Association
* Women’s Aero Association of Wichita Award
* Award of Appreciation, Licking County (Ohio
* Columbus Transportation Club Special Award
* Sports Woman of the Year, ''Columbus Citizen-Journal'', 1969
* Citation of Wichita, Kansas, Chamber of Commerce
* September 14, 2013 was declared Jerrie Mock Day by an official proclamation from Newark, Ohio mayor Jeff Hall.
Legacy
A life-size bronze sculpture of Mock, sculpted by Renate Burgyan Fackler, was unveiled in the courtyard of The Works museum in Newark, Ohio on September 14, 2013. Mock's younger sister, Susan Reid, modeled for the statue while wearing Mock's knit skirt, sweater, and leather shoes that she had worn on her round-the-world flight. According to Wendy Hollinger, the publisher who reissued Mock's book about her flight, Mock did not especially like skirts, but "was in a skirt because she thought it would be socially acceptable, especially in the Middle East."
Mock's Cessna 180 which she flew around the world, the ''Spirit of Columbus
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 ...
'', 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, went back on display. In 2022, the plane was moved from the Udvar-Hazy Center to the new "Thomas W. Hass We All Fly" gallery in the museum on the National Mall in DC.
The United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
named a street in honor of Mock at Rickenbacker AFB
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation at Rickenbacker International Airport near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie R ...
(presently Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation at Rickenbacker International Airport near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie R ...
and Rickenbacker International Airport
Rickenbacker International Airport is a civil-military public airport south of downtown Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, near Lockbourne, Ohio, Lockbourne in southern Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The south end of the ...
) in Lockbourne, Ohio
Lockbourne is a village in Franklin County and Pickaway County, Ohio, United States. The population was 236 at the 2020 census. Lockbourne is located near Rickenbacker International Airport, and had initially provided its original name of Lockb ...
(near Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio
* Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...
).
A plaque bearing Mock's accomplishments can be found in the Tallahassee International Airport
Tallahassee International Airport is a city-owned airport five miles southwest of downtown Tallahassee, in Leon County, Florida, United States. It serves the state capital of Florida, and its surrounding areas; it is one of the major airport ...
's Aviation Wall of Fame in Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...
.
In 2022, Mock was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with ...
in Dayton, Ohio.
Death
Mock died in her home in Quincy, Florida
Quincy is a city in and the county seat of Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Quincy is part of the Tallahassee metropolitan area, Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,970 as of the 2020 census, almost eve ...
with her daughter at her side on September 30, 2014. Thanks to the help of a volunteer pilot, she took her final flight in a Cessna 180 as her ashes were returned to the clouds.
See also
*List of women's firsts
This is a list of women's firsts noting the first time that a woman or women achieved a given historical feat. A shorthand phrase for this development is "breaking the gender barrier" or "breaking the glass ceiling." Other terms related to the ...
*List of American women's firsts
This is a list of American women's firsts, noting the first time that an American woman or women achieved a given historical feat. Inclusion on the list is reserved for achievements by American women that have significant historical impact.
...
*List of firsts in aviation
This is a list of firsts in aviation. For a comprehensive list of women's records, see Women in aviation.
First person to fly
The first flight (including gliding) by a person is unknown. A number have been suggested:
* In 559 A.D., several pr ...
*Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first circumnaviga ...
*Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay
Grace Marguerite, Lady Hay Drummond-Hay (née Lethbridge, 12 September 1895 – 12 February 1946) was a British journalist, who was the first woman to travel around the world by air (in a zeppelin). Although she was not an aviator herself at fi ...
*Wiley Post
Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was an American aviator during the Aviation between the World Wars, interwar period and the first aviator, pilot to fly solo around the world. Known for his work in high-altitude flyi ...
, first man to fly solo around the world, 1933
Sources
External links
Jerrie's Cessna 180
at 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, ...
Geraldin(e) "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock (1925-)
Three-Eight Charlie 50th Anniversary
BuzzFeed article
Ohio V. The World Podcast: Jerrie Mock v. the World
October 12, 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mock, Jerrie
1925 births
2014 deaths
American aviation pioneers
Aviators from Ohio
People from Quincy, Florida
People from Newark, Ohio
Ohio State University alumni
Writers from Ohio
American women aviators
American people of German descent
Women aviation pioneers
21st-century American women
National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees
Women's firsts