They were planning Lae to Howland Island (4100km - think Perth to Sydney) to be less than a 24hr flight but unfortunately they didn't seem to be aware of the fact that there were actual headwinds.
I'm not so sure that it could be characterised as a "short hop".
She had already overuled Noonan (the navigator) earlier when they crossed the Atlantic and reached Africa. She took a left when she should have turned right and ended up at the wrong destination.
She was adored and idolised (and still is!) by the just about all of the American population......
I could go on but the point is (although she got across the Atlantic a couple of times) that she remained substantially unskilled and ill-equipped for transoceanic flight.
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