Geraldine Mock | Pilot made history, 88

Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock, 88, the Ohio homemaker who became the first female pilot to fly solo around the world, died Tuesday at her Quincy, Fla., home. She had been in failing health for months.

Ms. Mock was inspired as a child by Amelia Earhart. But while she considered Earhart her hero, she said she did not dwell on the aviation pioneer's fate as she made her own journey 27 years after Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in the South Pacific while Earhart was trying to become the first female aviator around the globe.

Ms. Mock played down her trip as a fun adventure. She flew her single-engine Cessna 180 "Spirit of Columbus" 23,000 miles in 29-plus days before landing in Ohio's capital on April 17, 1964.

"I was completely confident in my plane," she said in April.

But she faced radio and brake problems, bad weather, and landed by mistake at an Egyptian military base, causing tense moments with soldiers before officials directed her to the international airport.

Dubbed "the flying housewife" at the time, the mother of three was also an experienced pilot who studied aeronautical engineering at Ohio State University.

She later added several aviation speed records.

As she requested, her ashes will be scattered from a plane over the Gulf of Mexico. - AP