Civilian Pilot. She was the first woman to fly solo around the world. She first became interested in flying when just seven years old, when she took a barnstorming ride in an old Ford Trimotor in her hometown. She attended The Ohio State University, studying aeronautical engineering, but gave that up to marry in 1945. She earned her private pilot's license ca. 1956. A few years later, due to her interest in travel, her husband jokingly suggested she fly around the world. She took the suggestion seriously and, with his help, spent a year in preparation and finding sponsors. At the same time, Joan Merriman Smith was preparing to do the same thing, though her plan was to fly around the world at the Equator. On March 19, 1964 (Smith had left two days earlier), flying her 11-year-old Cessna 180, N1538C, "The Spirit of Columbus," nicknamed "Three-Eight Charlie," from the registration number, Mock left Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio. The plane was equipped with a new engine and extra fuel tanks, to extend its range. After a trip of 29 days with 21 stops and a total mileage of almost 23,000 miles, she returned to Port Columbus on April 17th. Smith also completed her flight, but arrived home 25 days after Mock. Mock was awarded the FAA Gold Medal by President Johnson at the White House. After this flight, Cessna gave her a new and more powerful Cessna 260 to replace "Charlie," which went on display at Cessna's headquarters in Wichita, Kansas. She continued to set aviation records with this aircraft, but gave up flying after only four years, due to the high cost. Her last flight was to Lae, New Guinea, where she gave "Charlie" to a missions organization. In 1970 (2015 2nd edition, and 2019 4th printing) she wrote a book, "Three-Eight Charlie", about her around the world flight. Among the many official world records she set, six of which still stand as of August, 2014, some of the most notable are as follows: Speed around the world, Class C1-c; speed around the world, feminine; speed over a recognized course; speed over a closed course of 500 km, Class C1-b; distance in a straight line, feminine; distance in a closed course, Class C1-c; distance in a closed course, feminine. Her firsts include the following: First woman to fly solo around the world and around the world in a single engine plane; first woman to fly from the US to Africa via the North Atlantic; first woman to fly the Pacific single-engine and to fly the Pacific West to East and in both directions; first woman to fly both the Atlantic and Pacific. She was a champion of General Aviation (as not all of her records were for woman pilots) as she demonstrated what an amateur pilot could do with a regular civilian aircraft. After the FAA Gold Medal, she won many other awards, the most notable of which was the Louis Bleriot Silver Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. She was also honored by a statue in her hometown of Newark and one at Port Columbus, which was dedicated on the 50th anniversary of her flight. "Charlie" now hangs in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center. In 2015, she was inducted posthumously into the Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.