Spirit of Columbus

The Spirit of Columbus was the first plane piloted by a woman to fly around the world. Ohioan Geraldine Fredritz Mock, better known as "Jerrie," was the first woman to fly around the world. On March 9, 1964, Mock took off from Columbus, Ohio, in her plane, the Spirit of Columbus. The Spirit of Columbus was a Cessna 180. Mock's trip around the world took twenty-nine days, eleven hours, and fifty-nine minutes, with the pilot returning to Columbus on April 17, 1964. She had flown 23,103 miles. On this flight, Mock had set the round-the-world speed record for planes smaller than 3,858 pounds. As a result of her flight, President Lyndon Baines Johnson awarded Mock the Federal Aviation Administration's Exceptional Service Decoration. In 1975, Mock's Cessna was donated to the National Air and Space Museum.