42 Facts About Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson flew in the Second World War as a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary.

Amy Johnson's aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary: she died after bailing out.

Amy Johnson was the eldest of three sisters, the next in age being Irene who was a year younger.

Amy Johnson was educated at Boulevard Municipal Secondary School, later Kingston High School, and the University of Sheffield, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

Amy Johnson then worked in London as secretary to a solicitor, William Charles Crocker.

Amy Johnson was introduced to flying as a hobby, gaining an aviator's certificate, No 8662, on 28 January 1929, and a pilot's "A" licence, No 1979, on 6 July 1929, both at the London Aeroplane Club under the tutelage of Captain Valentine Baker.

Amy Johnson was a friend and collaborator of Fred Slingsby whose Yorkshire based company, Slingsby Aviation of Kirbymoorside, North Yorkshire, became the UK's most famous glider manufacturer.

Amy Johnson got the money to buy her first aircraft from her father, who was always one of her strongest supporters, and Lord Wakefield.

In 1930, Amy Johnson achieved worldwide recognition when she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.

Amy Johnson was awarded the Harmon Trophy and the CBE in George V's 1930 Birthday Honours in recognition of this achievement, and was honoured with the No 1 civil pilot's licence under Australia's 1921 Air Navigation Regulations.

In 1932, Amy Johnson married Scottish pilot Jim Mollison, who had proposed to her during a flight together eight hours after they had first met.

In July 1932, Amy Johnson set a solo record for a flight from London to Cape Town, South Africa in the Puss Moth G-ACAB Desert Cloud, breaking her new husband's record.

Amy Johnson was active in the society until her death.

On 4 May 1936, Amy Johnson made her last record-breaking flight, starting from Gravesend Airport and regaining her Britain to South Africa record in G-ADZO, a Percival Gull Six.

Amy Johnson further honed her gliding skills with the Midland Gliding Club, based in Shropshire, which she joined in October 1937, and remained an active flying member until gliding was suspended following the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1938, Amy Johnson overturned her glider, when landing after a display at Walsall Aerodrome in England, but was not seriously hurt.

Amy Johnson divorced Mollison in 1937 and reverted to her maiden name.

Amy Johnson began to explore other ways to make a living through business ventures, journalism and fashion.

Amy Johnson modelled clothes for the designer Elsa Schiaparelli and created her a travelling bag sold under her own name.

In 1939, Amy Johnson found work flying with the Portsmouth, Southsea and Isle of Wight Aviation Company, piloting short flights across the Solent and flying as a target for searchlight batteries and anti-aircraft gunners to practise on.

Amy Johnson was served a notice of redundancy alongside all other pilots in the company, as all the aircraft were requisitioned for the war effort.

Two months later, Amy Johnson joined the newly formed Air Transport Auxiliary, which transported Royal Air Force aircraft around the country.

Amy Johnson rose to first officer under the command of her friend and fellow pilot Pauline Gower.

Amy Johnson described a typical day in her life in the ATA in a humorous article, published posthumously in 1941, for The Woman Engineer journal.

On 5 January 1941, while flying an Airspeed Oxford for the ATA from Prestwick via RAF Squires Gate to RAF Kidlington near Oxford, it is suggested that Amy Johnson ran out of fuel in adverse weather conditions.

Amy Johnson's watertight flying bag, her log book and cheque book later washed up, and were recovered near the crash site.

In 2016, Alec Gill, a historian, claimed that the son of a ship's crew member stated that Amy Johnson had died because she was sucked into the blades of the ship's propellers.

Amy Johnson was the guest of honour at the opening of the first Butlins holiday camp, in Skegness in 1936.

From 1935 to 1937, Amy Johnson was President of the Women's Engineering Society.

In 1974, Harry Ibbetson's statue of Amy Johnson was unveiled in Prospect Street, Hull where a girls' school was named after her.

In 2016, new statues of Amy Johnson were unveiled to commemorate the 75th anniversary of her death.

Amy Johnson is commemorated with a green plaque on The Avenues, Kingston upon Hull.

Amy Johnson is commemorated with another blue plaque in Princes Risborough where she lived for a year.

In 2011 the Royal Aeronautical Society established the annual Amy Johnson Named Lecture to celebrate a century of women in flight and to honour Britain's most famous female aviator.

The Lecture is held on or close to 6 July every year to mark the date in 1929 when Amy Johnson was awarded her pilot's licence.

Over a six-month period, inmates of Hull Prison built a full-size model of the Gipsy Moth aircraft used by Amy Johnson to fly solo from Britain to Australia.

Amy Johnson is one of the company's "British tail fin heroes", joining Queen singer Freddie Mercury, children's author Roald Dahl, England's World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore and aviation entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker.

Amy Johnson's life has been the subject of a number of treatments in film and television, some more accurately biographical than others.

Amy Johnson earned a passing mention in other works such as the 2007 British film adaption of Noel Streatfeild's 1936 novel Ballet Shoes, in which the character Petrova is inspired by Amy Johnson in her dreams of becoming an aviator.

In music, Amy Johnson inspired a number of works, including the song "Flying Sorcery" from Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart's album, Year of the Cat.

Amy Johnson tells Clara Oswald her death is a fixed point in time.

In 2023, screenwriter Sally Wainwright, best known for Happy Valley, revealed that she was interested in writing a drama about Amy Johnson but "failed to convince" TV channels.