A fabulous mural celebrating Amelia Earhart in Derry is proving hugely popular with fans of the aviation pioneer in the USA.
The artwork can be seen on the side of the North West Regional College’s Foyle building on Strand Road and is one of a number of homages to the famed aviator in the city.
In 1932 while attempting to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, she landed her Lockheed Vega 5B plane on a farmer’s field in Ballyarnett, on the outskirts of Derry.
Ms Earhart had hoped to land in Paris but bad weather and technical problems altered her course and history.
The new addition to Derry’s skyline has proven hugely popular with locals and visitors, but it is also receiving acclaim across the pond.
Earlier this month, Nicole McElhinney from Derry’s Amelia Earhart Legacy Association, travelled to Atchison in Kansas, the hometown of the pioneering aviator, for the annual Amelia Earhart Festival.
More than 120,000 people descend on the city for the annual two-day celebration, she told BBC Radio Foyle.
“It’s a huge festival that happens every year, there are so many events happening from guest speakers to awards ceremonies,” she said.
Amelia Earhart Legacy Association committee members Caroline McGowan, Elaine Duffy and Eilish Quigley, Donal O’Doherty, Peaball Collective, Catherine O’Mullan, Director of Curriculum and Academic Standards at NWRC, Conor McGurgan, Marketing and PR manager NWRC, Erin Hutcheon, Senior Marketing and PR Officer NWRC, Gillian Moss, Head of Client Services at NWRC, NWRC, and Amelia Earhart Legacy Association committee members Maureen McGhee, Nicole McElhinney, and Sinead Hawkins
“When I was attending events, people were coming up to me from all over the United States of America – from Indianapolis to Iowa – saying that they saw the mural on the TV, on the news, on social media”.
Ms McElhinney said the city of Derry is incredibly fortunate to play a part in the iconic female pioneer’s legacy.
She is very proud that there is an artistic homage to a woman “who truly broke the glass ceiling”.
Some festival goers, she added, are now planning to cross the Atlantic hoping to visit Gallagher’s field – the site of Ms Earhart’s accidental landing.
Kansas woman Karen Cray Seaberg works in the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Atchison.
She said she, and many others across the US, are in awe at the artwork.
Amelia Earhart got a great send-off from Derry as she prepared to fly on to London after her surprise visit
“People here just cannot believe what you all have done in Ireland.”
She said that where she landed is pivotal in Earhart’s story.
“To me, Derry is probably the most important Amelia city outside of Atchison.”
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