Russ pushed his way through the crowd, climbed up on the Cessna’s step, and gave his wife many “welcome home” kisses. Jerrie held her skirt down as she stepped from the plane. She accepted a large bouquet of flowers while struggling to put on her high heels and comb her hair. People pushed and shoved, trying to shake her hand and welcome her home. Torally exhausted, Jerrie needed to get away from the throngs of well-wishers and get some much needed rest.
Russ led her into a lounge, but some reporters and cameramen followed. When Jerrie finished posing for photos, Russ introduced her to Darlene Ceremello, a shy girl about nineteen years old. She was about to enter a convent and, as part of her vows, needed to give away everything she owned. The young girl explained that she had been praying for Mrs. Mock’s safety. She handed Jerrie her gold Saint Christopher’s medal. Jerrie happily accepted the gift. She added it to her charm bracelet and promised to wear it every day. “After flying the Pacific alone, with only God to protect me, I realize the power of His grace. I was grateful for the prayers of this girl, and of all of the other people who had prayed for my safety.”1
Jerrie made the preflight arrangements for the following day and left with Russ to get some rest at a nearby hotel. She opened the door to a room filled with flowers, telegrams, fruit baskets, and a bottle of champagne. Jerrie made a call to Newark, Ohio, to speak with her mom and dad and assure them that she was safely in the United States. Russ told her how much the boys had missed her and how excited they were that she was almost home. Valerie sent a special message, “Tell Mommy I love her lots, as much as the whole world, the ocean, and the sky.”2 Jerrie smiled at the thought of holding her little girl in her arms again.
RUSSELL GREETS JERRIE WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS AT THE OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN CALIFORNIA
Reprinted with permission from the Columbus Dispatch
After a nice dinner and a good night’s sleep, Jerrie was off to the airport for the final stage of her quest to fly around the world. She lightened her load by removing the life raft and some overseas charts and maps since she no longer needed to fly over the vast oceans. Now she would be flying over the mountains, valleys, rivers, and lakes of the United States of America. Homesick for her children, she couldn’t wait to get across the country. She ached to be with them and wished she could fly straight home, straight into their arms. But that was not an option. In order to meet the 22,858 statute miles (the distance around the world at the Tropic of Cancer) required by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale she needed to add some distance to the trip for an official circling of the earth.
After almost twenty-four hours, on the morning of April 16, she left California. She led the press to believe she was headed for Phoenix, when in reality her plan was to make a short five-and-a-half-hour flight to Tucson, Arizona. She didn’t feel comfortable with all the fanfare and wanted to be alone in her plane. She could finally relax a little because Joan Merriam Smith was still in Indonesia, with five more stops to make before completing her trip in California.
In Tucson, one reporter showed up and asked Jerrie some questions. He wrote an article saying that the record-breaking pilot seemed to be hiding from the press. After spending the night at the airport hotel, she flew 267 miles to El Paso, Texas. A large group had assembled to meet and greet her. There were lots of lady flyers, including Ruth Deerman, the president of the Ninety-Nines. An international organization of woman pilots, the Ninety-Nines was founded in 1929 with ninety-nine women pilots. Their first president was Amelia Earhart. The group had planned a party for Jerrie, but she was unable to stay. A storm was moving across the path she planned to take to reach Columbus. She needed to get back up in the air immediately, or she could be stuck for days. Jerrie felt awful to have to disappoint so many people who had worked hard in her honor, but she had no choice. She quickly waved good-bye to all her fans and fellow pilots, and flew up into the dark rainy skies.
The front was moving fast, headed for Memphis, and so was Jerrie. Bolts of lightning flashed in the darkened sky. Jerrie pushed her little plane a little faster and prayed. “And God must have heard, because miraculously, we always found a place to slide through. It was good to know I wasn’t up there alone.”3 Because of the bad weather, she was forced to fly at a lower altitude. She had hoped to make it all the way to Columbus nonstop, but the lower altitude and the faster speeds made the engine use more fuel. Jerrie looked at her gauges. She didn’t want to end her around-the-world adventure with an emergency landing in a cornfield, so she touched down in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to get a quick splash of fuel.
Back in the air, during the final hop of her around-the-world adventure, feelings of excitement were shadowed by melancholy thoughts. “I had come to think of the little Cessna as something more than an engineering design translated into nuts and bolts and airfoils. It seemed almost alive—a real friend. Charlie seemed to enjoy the oceans and deserts as much as I, except when he got sand in his carburetor. I patted the top of his tan instrument panel and thanked him for taking such good care of me. And I thanked God for flying along.”4 Jerrie made her final approach to Port Columbus, called the control tower, and awaited instructions. With a huge grin she looked down at the airport, the place where it all began, hardly believing that she had actually finished what she had started out to do twenty-nine days ago.
Jerrie’s nerves tingled. She was home! Finally home! A crowd of five thousand had assembled at Port Columbus, waiting since 6:00 p.m. The loud drone of Charlie’s engine could be heard around 9:30 p.m. The air traffic controller instructed Jerrie to make a low pass down runway nine so the NAA observer could clock her for the official record. She was so excited to be reunited with her family, she nearly forgot she was setting a world record. Right at that moment, Jerrie fully realized that she had earned her place in the record books; no one could ever take that away from her. Her emotions exploded with feelings of pride and humility, thankfulness and joy, all colliding together at once.
THOUSANDS GATHERED TO WELCOME BACK THEIR HOMETOWN HERO
Courtesy of Phoenix Graphix
Jerrie dropped Charlie down and revved the engine, letting the little plane roar as it zoomed past the crowd. Then she turned Charlie back around and made her final approach to runway thirty. Once the wheels touched the ground, the tower controller told her to come to a stop so they could push Charlie the rest of the way to the terminal. Jerrie saw the huge crowd that had gathered and she understood that they were trying to keep everyone safe.
People pushed and shouted, waving their arms and holding up signs, welcoming their hometown hero. Even her childhood girlfriends from the class of ’43 held up a “Welcome Home” sign. The door of her plane opened. Russ and their two sons, Roger and Gary, embraced her with hugs and lots of kisses. Flashbulbs popped, and questions were fired at her. The one face Jerrie wanted to see most of all was that of her little girl. Russ found Valerie and handed the terrified toddler to her mother. Realizing that Valerie was afraid of the noisy crowd, Jerrie held her tight as she stepped down from the plane.
A JUBILANT JERRIE LANDS IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, THE FIRST WOMAN TO FLY SOLO AROUND THE WORLD
Courtesy of Phoenix Graphix
Governor James A. Rhodes placed an enormous lei of orchids around her neck, and she was whisked to a special platform. Her mom and dad, her sisters, Barbara and Susan, and her grandfather, Raymond Wright, all gathered around her. Mel Tharp from the Columbus Evening Dispatch presented a golden necklace with a globe-shaped pendant. A ruby marked every place she had landed, and a diamond represented Columbus, Ohio. Mayor Sensenbrenner and other politicians welcomed her home. General Lassiter smiled at Jerrie and said, “Two years ago, when you first started talking about this, I had a lot of skepticism.”
FOUR OF JERRIE’S NEWARK HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATES GREET HER UPON HER RETURN. LEFT TO RIGHT: MRS. WILLIAM T. (MIXIE) HECKELMAN, MRS. GEORGE B. (RITA) BECKMAN, MRS. RICHARD (LOIS) DUNN, AND MRS. THOMAS (GINNY) WEISS
Reprinted with permission
from the Columbus Dispatch
She smiled up at him, and said, “I know!”5
Jerrie was overwhelmed by all the attention she received from the thousands of people in the crowd. They all wanted to shake her hand, get autographs, and take photos with her. She said, “It didn’t seem right that these people should say such wonderful things about me; I just had fun flying my airplane.”6
After a lifetime of dreams and years of preparation, Jerrie Mock had achieved her goal of flying in her plane and seeing the world. “You know,” Jerrie said, “even when I left Columbus, I think a lot of people were skeptical about what I planned—they thought maybe I would get to Bermuda, maybe get stuck some place farther on. What seemed to impress everyone most was that I did it in a single-engine plane.”7 But Jerrie had believed in her dream, and she understood that you had to have a dream to make a dream come true. And after twenty-nine days, twenty-one takeoffs and landings, and 22,860 miles, she became the first woman to fly around the world—solo!
JERRIE (CENTER) POSES AT HOME WITH (LEFT TO RIGHT) GRANDFATHER RAYMOND HARLEY WRIGHT, MOTHER BLANCHE, DAUGHTER VALERIE, AND SISTERS BARBARA AND SUSAN
Susan Reid collection
. . .
WHERE IS JOAN?
AFTER JERRIE MOCK had completed her solo trip around the world and earned her place in the history books, Joan Merriam Smith still needed to travel from Lae, Papua New Guinea, to Guam, to Wake Island, to Honolulu, and, finally, back to where her flight began, Oakland, California. Joan completed her around-the-world flight on May 12, 1964, twenty-five days after Jerrie landed in Columbus, Ohio.
. . .
DID YOU KNOW?
In 1942 World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker crashed his plane in the South Pacific while on a special assignment for Secretary of War Henry Stimson. He and his crew had floated on a raft for twenty-four days before being rescued.8 Jerrie Mock attracted the largest crowd to the Oakland International Airport since Eddie Rickenbacker did on his return to the United States.
FLIGHT TWELVE
SUPERSONIC JETS AND RECORD-BREAKING STREAKS
NEWS OF Jerrie’s accomplishment seemed to travel at the speed of light. When she landed in Columbus, Joan Merriam Smith was in Australia, about to leave for Lae, Papua New Guinea, the island Amelia Earhart took off from before her disappearance. Joan sent a telegram that said, “Sincere congratulations on your great achievement. Hoping the clear skies and tailwinds of your trip will always be with you.”1 Muriel Earhart Morrissey, the sister of Amelia Earhart, wrote, “I rejoice with you as you complete your successful flight. I am sure Amelia’s courageous spirit rode with you all the way.”2 Jerrie especially treasured the note from Amelia’s sister, since Amelia’s air travels had inspired Jerrie to see the world.
When Jerrie first returned home, she had a hard time getting back into her routine as a housewife. Her list was long: doing laundry, shopping for groceries, cleaning house, and caring for the kids. She even had plans for a trip to the beauty parlor. But neighbors popped in, hoping for autographs and photos with their hometown hero. The phone kept ringing. Townspeople planned a day full of festivities followed by a concert performed by the Newark High School band. The first time Jerrie tried to prepare dinner for her family proved overwhelming. The local newspaper reported, “She’ll be back on full-time duty in the kitchen beginning Sunday when her mother-in-law goes home to Bridgeport, Conn. It’ll probably be a long time before she can put on an apron and spend several hours in the kitchen.”3
At the end of the flight, Jerrie never flew Charlie again. The plane was retired, and the Cessna Company presented Jerrie with a brand new Cessna 206, which she named Mike. At first, Charlie went to the Javelin Aircraft Company owned by Dave Blanton. Then the record-breaking airplane went on display at the Cessna factory in Wichita, Kansas. Today, Charlie hangs at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
A few weeks after Jerrie’s historic flight, she and her family were invited to the White House. She nearly declined the invitation since May 4 was her daughter Valerie’s fourth birthday, but President Lyndon B. Johnson promised a birthday party for Valerie in the Rose Garden. President Johnson lit the candles on the chocolate-frosted birthday cake, and little Valerie blew them out. Valerie shyly thanked the president, but she turned her face away when he tried to give her a kiss.
Following the birthday celebration, the attention turned from Valerie to her mom. President Johnson placed an orange ribbon attached to a ten-karat gold medal around Jerrie Mock’s neck, and presented her with the Federal Aviation Agency’s Gold Medal of Exceptional Service. He said, “Your tremendous solo exploit in circumnavigating the globe in a light plane adds another notation to the record book of American triumphs, one already replete with the aeronautical exploits of American women. This latest feat fills every American with pride. On behalf of the nation, I extend my congratulations.”4
After her record-breaking flight, Jerrie gave many talks, accepted numerous awards, and set more records. In 1965, she rode shotgun in the pace car at the Indianapolis 500. She appeared on the hit television program, To Tell the Truth. The popular talk show, The Mike Douglas Show, invited Jerrie as a guest. She was given the keys to ten cities and was granted eighteen honorary memberships, including one to the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1979, the Licking County Hall of Fame in 1981, and the City of Columbus Hall of Fame in October 2014.
AT THE WHITE HOUSE, JERRIE ACCEPTS A MEDAL FROM PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON IN THE ROSE GARDEN ON MAY 4, 1964. SHE RECEIVED THE HIGHEST AVIATION AWARD, THE FEDERAL AVIATION AGENCY’S DECORATION FOR EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE
U.S. government photo
JERRIE WITH FAA MEDAL
U.S. government photo
After all her numerous appearances and many speeches, Jerrie Mock longed to be back in a plane, where she felt the most at home. She had earned celebrity status, but she preferred to be alone in her plane, not attending so many functions. She wondered what all the fuss was about. “Planes are made to be flown,” she had said. “I was just out having a little fun in my plane.”5
In July 1964, Jerrie was invited by the United States Air Force to fly in a F-101 Voodoo fighter jet. Sporting an orange flight suit, a helmet, and an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, she was hitched to a parachute and boarded the rear of the cockpit of a needle-nosed jet. Captain Eugene L. Weidel of the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Lockbourne Air Force Base manned the controls. The afterburners kicked in when the twin jet took off, pushing Jerrie Mock back in her seat. They traveled faster than the speed of sound, a sizzling 1,038 miles per hour, as opposed to Charlie’s cruising speed of 155 miles per hour. The trip—from Columbus, Ohio, to Toledo, on to Cleveland, then back to Columbus—took less than one hour. “Fantastic,” was how she described it to a reporter. “It was just fantastic. It was the most thrilling thing I’ve ever done.” At one point Captain Weidel had Jerrie take over the controls. “It was a wonderful flight,” she said. “I didn’t want to come down.”6
CHARLIE AT THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
U.S. government photo
Of course, she finally did have to come down, but not for long. In 1966, Jerrie set a woman’s speed record over a 312-mile closed course, flying an Aero Commander 200 at speeds of 206.7 miles per hour. In 1966, the space race had everyone’s attention. Who would get to the moon first, Russia or the United States? Jerrie Mock claims if she had been younger when she returned from her flight around the world, she would have flown to the moon.7 Although she didn’t have a rocket ship, she did have a little plane and a big heart. When she learned that three Russian women had taken the international record for straight-line distance from her hero Amelia Earhart, she set out to beat the Russians at what she did best—flying. The record set by Marina Raskova, Polina Osipenko, and Valentina Grizodubova on September 24–25, 1938, earned them Hero of the Soviet Union titles from Jo
seph Stalin. They flew their Tupolev ANT-37 long-range bomber, named Rodina, 3,672 miles in twenty-six hours and twenty-nine minutes.8
JERRIE CLIMBS ABOARD AN AIR FORCE F-101 VOODOO FIGHTER SUPERSONIC JET
U.S. government photo
Jerrie crushed the Russian record on April 9–10, 1966, flying 4,528 miles from Honolulu to Columbus, bringing the international record for straight-line distance for a woman back to the United States of America. She landed at Port Columbus after thirty-one hours in the air, nonstop. Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes was at the airport to greet her, along with a large crowd of proud Americans. On April 15, Governor Rhodes sent a congratulatory letter to Jerrie naming her “Ambassador of the Airways.” A couple of years later, on June 28–29, 1968, she shattered another world speed record for women, flying from Columbus to Puerto Rico and back in thirty-three hours without stopping. Jerrie had said, “Columbus is an air-minded city, and I really hope what I’ve accomplished will help aviation.”9
Keeping up with all the expenses to own and fly her new Cessna became difficult. There were sponsors to pay back and bills that had piled up. With a compassionate heart for the needy, Jerrie decided to donate her airplane, Mike, to a good cause. In 1969, she gave her Cessna 206 to Father Anthony Gendusa, for use on his rounds of mercy missions in Lae, Papua New Guinea. While flying to the small island off the coast of Australia, Jerrie broke nine world speed records. After she landed, Jerrie stayed for a month doing missionary work with Father Gendusa. They visited leper colonies and worked with underprivileged children.10 When she returned to the United States, the missionary group called the Flying Padres named Jerrie Mock an honorary member for her hard work and sacrifices.
The Jerrie Mock Story Page 8