Amy Johnson (1903-1941)
Amy Johnson, the renowned aviator, was born in Hull in 1903, the daughter of a fish merchant. She studied economics at Sheffield University. Having joined the London Aeroplane Club, she gained her certificate as a ground engineer and and pilot in 1929.
In 1930 she was the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia., for which she won a prize of £10,000 from the Daily Mail. In 1931 she flew to Japan via Moscow and back. In 1933 she made a record solo flight to Cape Town and back.
In 1932 she married the Scottish aviator James Mollison. With him, she crossed the Atlantic with him in 39 hours in a de Haviland biplane in 1933 and flew to India in 22 hours in 1934.
In World War II she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary as a pilot. She was lost after baling out over the Thames estuary in 1941, the first member of the Air Transport Auxiliary to die in service.
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