Amy Johnson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Amy Johnson c. 1930 | |
| Born | 1 July 1903 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Disappeared | 5 January 1941 (aged 37) Thames Estuary, near Herne Bay, Kent, England |
| Status | Believed to have died in an aviation accident |
| Education | Boulevard Municipal Secondary School |
| Alma mater | University of Sheffield |
| Occupations | |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Segrave Trophy (1932) |
Amy Johnson CBE (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records during the 1930s. In 1933, Katharine Hepburn's character in the film Christopher Strong was inspired by Johnson. She flew in the Second World War as a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Her aircraft crashed into the Thames estuary; she died after bailing out. Because her body was never recovered, the precise cause of her death—drowning, hypothermia or being pulled into moving propellers—is unknown, and has been a subject of discussion since the possibility of friendly fire was raised in 1999 (see below).