Amelia Earhart's Derry landing celebrated in art
A mural celebrating Londonderry’s place in aviation history has been unveiled during a four-day
street art festival in the city.
The Amelia Earhart artwork – thought to be Northern Ireland’s tallest mural - can be seen
on the side of the North West Regional College’s Foyle building.
It’s the work of North Carolina street artist Jeks, one of a number of artists in Derry for the
Get Up Street Art Festival, which is featuring as part of the Foyle Maritime Festival programme.
Festival-goers have been watching the piece as it has been created over the weekend.
Almost a century ago Ms Earhart touched down in the city, becoming the first woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic.
Nicole McElhinney of the Amelia Earhart Legacy Association said the organisation is “absolutely delighted” with the mural.
“It’s something we have always wanted to see, we have been very excited watching
it coming together,” she told BBC News NI.
Ms Earhart, she said, is more than befitting of the artistic honour, adding that
the pioneering pilot had truly “broken the glass ceiling”.
She was flying planes at a time “when so very few women even drove a car,”
Ms McElhinney said.
In May 1932, Amelia Earhart had taken off from Newfoundland in Canada, attempting to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Hoping to land in Paris, bad weather and technical problems altered her course.
Her 14-hour journey ended abruptly when she was forced to bring her
Lockheed Vega 5B plane down in the Gallagher family's field on the outskirts of Derry.
There she stayed the night, later writing that having landed without any money,
Mr Gallagher, "owner of the field in which I landed, assured me, however, that I had no occasion to worry about money 'as we will see you through'".
'An iconic female pioneer'
Artist Jeks started work on the mural – which the local council claim is the tallest
in Northern Ireland - on Thursday, using a cherry picker to get to its near rooftop location.
Derry City and Strabane District Council's head of culture Aeidin McCarter said it was
one of a number of "striking pieces" created during the festival.
She added: “It’s only fitting that we celebrate this iconic female pioneer who has such
strong associations with the city, and what a wonderful way to do it”.
Five years after her landing in Gallagher’s field, Ms Earhart vanished during her
attempt to fly around the globe, leaving no trace.
The new mural is now among a number of homages to the aviator in Derry.
She is remembered by the street names Earhart Park and Amelia Court, while in 2019 the
Amelia Earhart Legacy Association unveiled a plaque outside the former Northern Counties
Hotel, where a post landing press conference was held back in 1932.
Ms Earhart's links to Derry have been remembered before in an artistic sense in the city.
A mural by artist Joe Campbell was unveiled close to her landing site during a series of events
