ough the cracks of the history books, and the story of her flight has remained hidden Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandfor 41 years. Like most pilots, Mock’s passion for aviation was ignited at a very young age, when her father, Tim Fredritz, arranged a ride in a Ford Tri-motor in 1931. Once the Tri-motor’s wheels left the sod Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandrunway, this young aviatrix was hooked for life. Jerrie grew up and married Russ Mock, also a pilot, and despite the responsibilities of a growing family, earned her private pilot certificate in 1958. She soon opened a flight school and aircraft rental business and continued spreading her wings as a pilot Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandwith longer and longer cross-country flights to destinations such as the Caribbean and New Brunswick. During this time, an event took place on the small French Canadian island of St. Pierre that may have foreshadowed Mock’s future. “Russ and I were eating in the dining room of the hotel, and I noticed there was a wireless room next door,” Mock said. “I could hear pilots Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandreporting their positions over the North Atlantic, and I was fascinated. It was all very exciting to me.” Since childhood, Mock had dreamed of visiting faraway destinations, just like a woman she had admired, Amelia Earhart. Those early around-the-world dreams began to come together for Serviced Apartments Hong Kong IslandMock around 1960 when a neighbor who was also an Air Force pilot gave her an outdated collection of world airways charts. Soon the walls in the basement of Mock’s Bexley, Ohio, home were covered with these charts, and it was here that she planned her flight. “I really had no intentions of Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandbeing first at anything when this all began,” Mock said recently. “I just wanted to see the world. But when I found out from the National Aeronautic Association [NAA] that a woman had never soloed around the world, it sounded like a fun thing to try.” It is important to note that Mock did nearly every bit of planning for the flight herself. Russ Mock was an advertising man and helped by arranging financing from an agreement with The Columbus Dispatch newspaper and nearly 20 aviation equipment manufacturers. But it was Jerrie who planned and executed the complicated preparations for the around-the-world attempt. “There were women flying here and there back then, but they usually had a man along as copilot,” Mock explained proudly. “If they did fly solo, someone else planned everything. I had none of that! Nobody in Columbus knew a thing about flying over oceans or long-range navigation because nothing like this had been done before. I planned every mile of the flight myself, in my basement.” Mock did receive some valuable advice from a few Air Force men, in particular Col. (later Gen.) O.F. “Dick” Lassiter and Brig. Gen. R.H. “Bob” Strauss. A letter from Mock’s archives dated “17 March, 1964” shows that Strauss sent a request around the world asking others in the military to “extend any courtesies to Mrs. Mock should she land on or near your base.” Throughout both the planning phases and flight itself, Russ’ mother, Sophie, was always at the Mock home, making sure the children were cared for at all times. This grew into a hot topic of discussion for some people in 1964, as society was not yet ready to embrace a “flying housewife” taking on the world with Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandchildren still at home. Mock would make several trips to the U.S. State Department and numerous embassies in Washington, D.C., along with trips to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to install avionics, and Wichita, to install large ferry tanks in her 180, the Spirit of Columbus, nicknamed “Charlie.” When those aluminum cabin tanks were filled, the Cessna 180 would carry 178 gallons of gasoline. With a tiny corner of the cabin left open for the pilot seat, Charlie was literally a flying gas can. Everything was set for an April 1, 1964, launch when Mock received word that another woman was planning to depart March 15 on a Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandsimilar mission to be the first woman to fly around the world solo. Joan Merriam Smith would be flying a slightly longer route in a twin Piper Apache, considerably faster than Mock’s single-engine Skywagon. The news sent Mock’s planning into a tailspin. Because of a financial commitment to her many sponsors, Mock accelerated her preparations and rescheduled her launch for mid-March, losing two weeks of critical time to finish fine-tuning Charlie’s Serviced Apartments Hong Kong Islandmodifications. What had been intended to be a pleasure flight around the world and into the history books had become a race, with two determined women going head-to-head in a highly publicized but unofficial contest to be the first to circle the globe solo. Smith departed Oakland, California, on March 17, followed by Mock departing Columbus two days later. Both flew eastbound, with Mock being pushed by husband Russ to fly through unsafe weather just to stay in the race. She continued to keep an aggressive schedule, but only on her terms. “There was never any question who was PIC on this flight,” Mock said, “and I never let trying to be first around the woserstshttp://www.principlesproperty.com/service-apartment.php
