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Joan Merriam Smith

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Wechorba3 (talk | contribs) at 20:43, 30 March 2019 (Two photos added, one of her aircraft and one of her meeting U.S. Navy personnel in Guam, 1964.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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. Mrs. Smith 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. Already an accomplished pilot as Joan Merriam, she married Lt. Commander Marvin "Jack" Smith, Jr. in 1960.

Smith died at age 28 on February 17, 1965, when the light aircraft that she was piloting out of Long Beach Airport crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains near Big Pine, California, killing her and a magazine writer, Trixie Anne Schubert.[1] [2]

She posthumously received the Harmon Trophy for Outstanding Aviatrix of 1964.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joan_Merriam_-_Agana,_Guam_-_April_1964a.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joan_Merriam_-_Agana,_Guam_-_April_1964b.jpg

References

  1. ^ "Reading Eagle - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  2. ^ "Joan Smith, World Flyer, Killed in California Crash", Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1965, p1


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