Derry's Amelia Earhart 'goes viral' in USA

The Amelia Earhart artwork was painted on the side of the North West Regional College building during the city's maritime festival.

A mural celebrating Amelia Earhart in Londonderry is proving hugely popular with fans of the aviation pioneer in the United States.

The artwork can be seen on the side of the North West College's Foyle building 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 at 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 stateside.

Nicole McElhinney was among the 120,000 people to attend a festival in Ms Earhart's honour in her hometown of Atchison.

Earlier this month, Nicole McElhinney from Derry's Amelia Earhart Legacy Association, travelled to the city of 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.

Festival goers say the mural has gone viral in the states

"It was an amazing experience and I found so many people were coming up to me and asking me about the mural because they said it had gone viral this side of the States.

"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".

Nicole pictured with 2024 Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award winner Kamia Bradley

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.

Amelia Earhart got a great send-off from as she prepared to fly on to London after her surprise visit

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.

"That mural has gone totally viral in the United States, with everyone sharing it on Instagram and on Facebook," she said.

Artist Jeks needed a cherry picker while he worked on the Derry mural

"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."

Another Earhart mural was unveiled in the city in 2022

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 in 1932.