Amy Johnson |
Amy Johnson
was a pioneering English Aviator (or Aviatrix).
She was originally introduced to flying as a hobby and gained her Pilots
licence in 1929. Amy Johnson was also
the first British woman to hold a Ground Engineers licence.
In 1930 she became the first woman
to fly solo from England to Australia.
The aircraft she used, a Gypsy Moth named ‘Jason’, can still be seen on
display in the Science Museum in London.
She was also awarded a CBE in recognition of her achievements.
Amy Johnson and her co-pilot, Jack
Humphreys, became the first people to fly from London to Moscow in one day in
July 1931. The flight had taken them
about 21 hours. From Moscow they
continued across Siberia into Tokyo, setting a record time for flying from
Britain to Japan.
In 1932 she married Jim Mollison,
who was to become her new co-pilot. That
same year she also set the record for solo flight from London to Cape
Town. Johnson and Mollison were both injured
in 1933 when they crashed down in Conneticut, USA, after running out of fuel
flying from South Wales to the United States.
The couple took part in the
MacRobertson Air Race from Britain to Australia in 1934. After setting a record time from Britain to
India, they were unfortunately forced to retire in Allahabad due to engine
trouble. Johnson’s last record breaking
flight was from Britain to South Africa in 1936. She overturned a glider in 1938 but was not
seriously hurt. It was however, the end of
her marriage and she was divorced from Jim Mollison that same year.
During the Second World War, the Air
Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was set up to transport Royal Air Force (RAF)
aircraft around the country. Amy Johnson
joined the ATA in 1940 and rose to the rank of First Officer. It was on 5th January 1941, whilst
making a routine flight for the AXA, that Johnson went off course in bad
weather and had to bail out of her aircraft.
Her plane crashed down in the Thames Estuary and so did Amy Johnson. Despite the valiant efforts of one man, who
tragically lost his own life trying to save her, Amy Johnson was drowned and
her body never recovered. She became the
first member of the ATA to die in service.
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