JERRIE MOCK’S APPLICATION FOR LANDING RIGHTS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES DURING HER SOLO TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
Susan Reid collection
. . .
SINGLE-ENGINE VERSUS TWIN-ENGINE PLANES
JERRIE MOCK was asked over and over again about her choice to fly around the world in a single-engine airplane. After all, she would be traveling great distances over deserts and oceans. Jerrie explained that a single-engine plane uses less gas and can fly for a longer distance before needing to refuel. With better fuel mileage she would need to carry less fuel and her plane would be lighter. Charles Lindbergh also believed a small single-engine plane was the best choice when he flew across the Atlantic Ocean. He figured that with two engines there was twice the chance of one failing. With a twin-engine plane both engines must be maintained and monitored.
Jerrie Mock explained to a Columbus Dispatch reporter:
From the point of safety it must be understood that the typical light twin is not a single-engine with a spare engine . . . it is a two-engine airplane. True, a light twin-engine airplane will maintain altitude . . . even climb modestly on one engine. But only if not heavily loaded. During much of my hops I would be in a little better shape, if any, if I were in a light twin in an engine-out condition than if I lose an engine on my 180, I’d go down.10
But to make a trip around the world, an airplane would need to be loaded with supplies and emergency equipment. At times, the plane would need to haul a full load of fuel. The average light twin-engine plane isn’t good at maintaining altitude when it’s loaded down. So, during times of engine failure Jerrie would be better off in a twin-engine plane, but at all other times the single-engine plane was the best pick.
. . .
Without an official permit, Joan Merriam Smith still wanted to be the first to complete that flight. Joan left from California on March 17 to follow Amelia Earhart’s route. That same day, Jerrie rushed to Kansas to get Charlie out of the factory to be ready for her new departure date of Thursday, March 19. What began as a leisurely trip to circle the globe suddenly became a race around the world!
DID YOU KNOW?
Orville and Wilbur Wright were credited with inventing the first airplane. On December 17, 1903, the two brothers piloted the first powered and controlled airplane flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville flew 120 feet in twelve seconds, while Wilbur soared 852 feet in fifty-nine seconds.
During their four years of effort, the brothers took five roundtrip train rides from Dayton, Ohio, to Kitty Hawk. They endured horrific storms, ridicule, and disappointment after disappointment. That December, Orville and Wilbur finally succeeded in making the first engine-powered flight.
FLIGHT THREE
BERMUDA BOUND
FLYING AT an altitude of 7,500 feet, Jerrie finally felt at peace, alone in her plane. She flew over mountains and marveled at the patchwork of land below her. As she flew past Richmond, Virginia, she tingled with excitement at the thought of finally living her dream of flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Jerrie reached down and released the long-distance radio antenna wire. The wire, one hundred feet long, unraveled and hung below the plane, but the radio stayed silent. Jerrie looked down at the needle on the meter. It should have been moving, searching for a signal, but it remained motionless. She leaned in closer to the meter, but all was silent. She heard nothing, not a peep.
Jerrie wondered if she needed a long-distance radio to make a safe crossing over the ocean. She had never discussed the possibility of a radio failure with Lassiter or Weiner, so she had no idea what to do. Should she land in Richmond? Should she turn back and go home? After all the planning and all the excitement, how could she possibly let so many people down? Jerrie looked down at the triangles that marked the course on the charts of her flight plan. She was told to report at each triangle. Now what would she do? So many people were counting on her. She just couldn’t turn back before she even left the country. She felt that she would rather face her first flight over the ocean without communication than to turn back and go home a failure.
JERRIE MOCK IS SHOWN THE NEWLY INSTALLED LONG-DISTANCE RADIO ANTENNA
Susan Reid collection
Jerrie got on her short-range radio. She informed the air traffic controller that she was on the proper channel, but had no contact with New York Oceanic, one of the four major international airspaces of the United States. The controller in the tower gave her another frequency to try. Jerrie tried it, knowing all the while that it wouldn’t work. Her long-range radio was dead. But communicating with the controller gave her time—time to make a decision. Would the Air Force be angry if she tried to fly over the ocean without a radio? If she told someone what was happening, would they tell her to turn back? As she considered all the pros and cons of flying without a long-range radio, the transmission to the tower nearly faded away. Jerrie’s hands shook as she picked up the microphone and called the controller one last time. She told him she would call again when she was close to Bermuda. With the decision made, she took a deep breath and pointed Charlie over the vast blue ocean before them.
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