Joan Merriam Smith (Aug 3,1936–Feb 17,1965) was an American aviator famous for her 1964 solo flight around the world that began and ended in Oakland, California, as she set out to follow the same route as the 1937 flight plan of Amelia Earhart. Joan was the first person in history to fly solo around the world at the equator, the first person to complete the longest single solo flight around the world, the first woman to fly a twin-engine aircraft around the world, the first woman to fly the Pacific Ocean from west to east in a twin-engine plane, the first woman to receive an airline transport rating at the age of 23, and the youngest woman to complete a solo flight around the world. Joan had attempted to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by herself, but another woman, Jerrie Mock, set off during the same week and would complete the task earlier.
Born |
3 August 1936
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Died |
17 February 1965 (aged 28)
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Zodiac | Leo |
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