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Amy Johnson

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This article is about Amy Johnson, an English aviator. For the actress, see Amy Jo Johnson.
Amy Johnson
File:Amyj.gif
Amy Johnson c. 1930
Born(1903-07-01)1 July 1903
Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England
Died5 January 1941(1941-01-05) (aged 37)
Thames Estuary, London, England (drowning)
NationalityEnglish
EducationBachelor of Arts in Economics
Occupation(s)Aviator
First Officer ATS
SpouseJim Mollison (divorced)
Parent(s)John William Johnson and Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, July 1930.
Amy Johnson and Jason in Jhansi, India in 1930
Amy Johnson at the Kalgoorlie War Memorial, July 1930.

Amy Johnson CBE, (1 July 1903 – 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s. Johnson flew in the Second World War as a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary where she died during a ferry flight.

Early life

Johnson was born in Kingston upon Hull and was educated at Boulevard Municipal Secondary School (later Kingston High School).[1] and the University of Sheffield, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.[2] She then worked in London as secretary to the solicitor, William Charles Crocker. She was introduced to flying as a hobby, gaining a pilot's "A" Licence, No. 1979 on 6 July 1929 at the London Aeroplane Club under the tutelage of Captain Valentine Baker. In that same year, she became the first British woman to obtain a ground engineer's "C" licence.[3]

Aviation career

Her father, always one of her strongest supporters, offered to help her buy an aircraft. [4]With funds from her father and Lord Wakefield she purchased G-AAAH, a second-hand de Havilland Gipsy Moth she named "Jason", not after the voyager of Greek legend, but after her father's trade mark. [N 1]

Johnson achieved worldwide recognition when, in 1930, she became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. Flying her "Jason" Gipsy Moth, she left Croydon, south of London, on 5 May of that year and landed in Darwin, Australia on 24 May after flying 11,000 miles (18,000 km). Her aircraft for this flight can still be seen in the Science Museum in London. She received the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE in recognition of this achievement, and was also honoured with the No. 1 civil pilot's licence under Australia's 1921 Air Navigation Regulations.[5]

In July 1931, Johnson and her co-pilot Jack Humphreys, became the first pilots to fly from London to Moscow in one day, completing the 1,760 miles (2,830 km) journey in approximately 21 hours. From there, they continued across Siberia and on to Tokyo, setting a record for flying from England to Japan. The flight was completed in a de Havilland Puss Moth.

On 29 July 1932, Amy Johnson and Jim Mollison married.

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

In July 1932, Johnson set a solo record for the flight from London to Cape Town, South Africa in a Puss Moth, breaking her new husband's record. Her next flights were as a duo, flying with Mollison, she flew G-ACCV "Seafarer," a de Havilland Dragon Rapide nonstop from Pendine Sands, South Wales, to the United States in 1933. However, their aircraft ran out of fuel and crash-landed in Bridgeport, Connecticut; both were injured.[3] After recuperating, the pair were feted by New York society and received a ticker tape parade down Wall Street.

The Mollisons also flew in record time from Britain to India in 1934 in a de Havilland DH.88 Comet as part of the Britain to Australia MacRobertson Air Race. They were forced to retire from the race at Allahabad because of engine trouble.

In May 1936, Johnson made her last record-breaking flight, regaining her Britain to South Africa record in G-ADZO, a Percival Gull Six.[3]

In 1938 Johnson divorced Mollison. Soon afterwards she reverted to her maiden name.

Second World War

In 1940, during the Second World War, Johnson joined the newly formed ATA, whose job was to transport Royal Air Force aircraft around the country – and rose to First Officer. (Her ex-husband Jim Mollison also flew for the ATA throughout the war.)

Death

On 5 January 1941, while flying an Airspeed Oxford for the Air Transport Auxiliary from Blackpool to RAF Kidlington near Oxford, Johnson went off course in adverse weather conditions. Reportedly out of fuel, she drowned after bailing out into the Thames Estuary. Although she was seen alive in the water, a rescue attempt failed and her body was never recovered. The incident also led to the death of her would-be rescuer, Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher of HMS Haslemere.

A memorial service was held in the church of St. Martin's in the Fields on 14 January 1941.

Disputed circumstances

There is still some mystery about the accident, as the exact reason for the flight is still a government secret and there is some evidence that besides Johnson and Fletcher a third person (possibly someone she was supposed to ferry somewhere) was also seen in the water and also drowned. Who the third party was is still unknown. Johnson was the first member of the Air Transport Auxiliary to die in service. Her death in an Oxford aircraft was ironic, as she had been one of the original subscribers to the share offer for Airspeed.[6]

However, in 1999 it was reported that Tom Mitchell, from Crowborough, Sussex, claimed to have shot the heroine down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight. He said: "The reason Amy was shot down was because she gave the wrong colour of the day [a signal to identify aircraft known by all British forces] over radio." Mr. Mitchell explained how the aircraft was sighted and contacted by radio. A request was made for the signal. She gave the wrong one twice. "Sixteen rounds of shells were fired and the plane dived into the Thames Estuary. We all thought it was an enemy plane until the next day when we read the papers and discovered it was Amy. The officers told us never to tell anyone what happened."[7]


Honours and tributes

The KLM McDonnell Douglas MD-11 named Amy Johnson.

During her life, Johnson was recognised in many ways. In June 1930, Johnson's flight to Australia was the subject of a contemporary popular song, "Amy, Wonderful Amy", composed by Horatio Nicholls and recorded by Harry Bidgood, Jack Hylton, Arthur Lally, Arthur Rosebery and Debroy Somers. She was also the guest of honour at the opening of the first Butlins holiday camp, in Skegness in 1936. From 1935 to 1937, Johnson was the President of the Women's Engineering Society.[8]

A collection of Amy Johnson souvenirs and mementos was donated by her father to Sewerby Hall in 1958. The hall now houses a room dedicated to Amy Johnson in its museum. In 1974, Harry Ibbetson's statue of Amy Johnson was unveiled in Prospect Street, Kingston upon Hull where a girls' school was named after her (the school later closed in 2004).[9]

Public edifices to Johnson's honour includes the "Amy Johnson Building" housing the department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering at the University of Sheffield is named after her. The "Amy Johnson Primary School" situated on Mollison Drive on the Roundshaw Estate, Wallington, Surrey, is named after Johnson and built on the former runway site of Croydon Airport.[10] Street names named in her honour include

Other tributes to Johnson include a KLM McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 named in her honour and "Amy's Restaurant and Bar" at the Hilton Stansted, London named after her.

In 2011 the Royal Aeronautical Society established the annual Amy Johnson Named Lecture[11] to celebrate a century of women in flight[12] and to honour Britain's most famous woman aviator. Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of EasyJet, will deliver the Inaugural Lecture on the 6 July 2011 at the Society's headquarters in London. The Lecture will be held on or close the 6 July every year to mark the date in 1929 when Amy Johnson was awarded her pilot’s licence.

  • In 1942, a film of Johnson's life, They Flew Alone, was made by director-producer Herbert Wilcox, starring Anna Neagle as Johnson, and Robert Newton as Mollison. The movie is known in the United States as Wings and the Woman.
  • Amy Johnson inspired the song "Flying Sorcery" from Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart's album, Year of the Cat (1976).[13]
  • Amy! (1980) is the subject of and also is the title of an avant-garde documentary written and directed by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey and noted semiologist Peter Wollen.
  • Amy Johnson was the subject of a £500,000 question on the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (2000). Contestant Duncan Bickley, ironically a pilot (she flew from Sherburn Aerodrome), failed by answering that the aircraft in which she flew solo from Britain to Australia was called "Pegasus" (the correct answer is "Jason").[14]
  • Queen of the Air (2008) by Peter Aveyard is a musical tribute to Johnson.[15]

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ Her father was a partner in the Andrew Johnson Knuditzon Fish Merchants.
Citations
  1. ^ "Amy Johnson pioneering aviator." Hull Local Studies Library, Hull City Council. Retrieved: 26 October 2007.
  2. ^ Dunmore 2004, pp. 194–195.
  3. ^ a b c Aitken 1991, p. 440.
  4. ^ Dunmore 2004, p. 195.
  5. ^ "Brearley Pilot's Licences." Treasures of the Battye Library, State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved: 15 July 2007.
  6. ^ McKee 1982, pp. 139–152, 293.
  7. ^ Gray, Alison. "I think I shot down Amy Johnson." The Scotsman, 6 February 1999.
  8. ^ "Past Presidents." Women's Engineering Society. Retrieved: 21 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Amy Johnson." Hull History Centre via hullhistorycentre.org.uk. Retrieved: 14 December 2010.
  10. ^ "Amy Johnson Primary School." lgfl.net, 2010. Retrieved: 25 December 2010.
  11. ^ *Royal Aeronautical Society's Amy Johnson Named Lecture Retrieved: 9 June 2011.
  12. ^ In 1911 Hilda Hewlett became the first British woman to earn her pilot's licence.
  13. ^ Dyer, Kim. "Review of 'Flying Sorcery'." alstewart.com. Retrieved: 27 October 2010.
  14. ^ "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? – Duncan Bickley misses his £500,000 question." YouTube. Retrieved: 5 July 2010.
  15. ^ "Queen of the Air: Peter Aveyard's tribute to Amy Johnson." queenoftheair.co.uk. Retrieved: 24 September 2010.
Bibliography
  • Aitken, Kenneth. "Amy Johnson (The Speed Seekers)." Aeroplane Monthly, Vol. 19, no. 7, Issue no. 219, July 1991.
  • Moolman, Valerie. Women Aloft (The Epic of Flight). Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1981. ISBN 0-8094-3287-0.
  • McKee, Alexander Great Mysteries of Aviation. New York: Stein & Day, 1982. ISBN 0-8128-2840-2.
  • Nesbitt, Roy. "What did Happen to Amy Johnson?" Aeroplane Monthly (Part 1), Vol. 16, no. 1, January 1988, (Part 2) Vol. 16, no. 2, February 1988.
  • Turner, Mary. The Women's Century: A Celebration of Changing Roles 1900–2000. Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK: The National Archives, 2003. ISBN 1-903365-51-1.
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