Amy Johnson was the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. Flying in the same period as aviation pioneers such as Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman. Amy Johnson pushed the boundaries of flight throughout the 1930s.
Amy Johnson was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1903 and was one of the most influential women of her era. An aviation pioneer, throughout the 1930s Johnson became globally celebrated for setting numerous international records for long distance flying.
The eldest of four sisters, Johnson gained an economics degree before moving to London to work as a secretary.
In July 1929, Johnson would gain her pilot’s licence just days after after her 27th birthday and in the same year she became the first British woman to obtain a ground engineer's "C" licence. Less than a year later, Johnson gained international fame, when in May 1930, she flew a Gipsy Moth plane 11,000 miles to become the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia.
The crossing made headlines across the globe and Johnson became an instant global celebrity. In a statement to the press, Johnson had admitted to carrying a shealth knife during the flight in case she had crashed in the sea and needed to protect herself from sharks. The solo flight had meant that Johnson landed for fuel and repairs in places such as Vienna, Constantinople, Calcutta, Bagdad, Bangkok, Singapore, and on her arrival in Australia she was hailed as a hero in the national press. Later that year Johnson was awarded a CBE by George V for the flight.
