05/01/2022
After her mysterious death, on this day (5th January) in 1941, "War Illustrated" paid tribute to the wonderful Amy Johnson...
"Amy Johnson's Tragic End."
" British aviation has lost one of it's most daring exponents by the tragic death on January 5th of Miss Amy Johnson. She had recently been working as a ferry pilot for the Air Transport Auxiliary, and on that day left the airfield at 10.45am, in unfavourable weather, on a flight that would normally have taken an hour. That was the last that was seen of Miss Johnson's aeroplane until 3.30pm when it came down over theThames Estuary. It is thought that she lost her course owing to the bad weather conditions, and after flying round for several hours crashed owing to lack of petrol. It was stated at the airfield that the machine carried enough for a flight of 4 3/4 hours, the exact time that elapsed between the take-off and the crash. The crew of the naval trawler "Haslemere" saw the figure of the pilot baling out, and her commander, Lt.-Commander W.E. Fletcher, dived into the ice-cold water in a heroic attempt at rescue. He reached her, but was unable to support her, and was himself so overcome with exhaustion and extreme exposure that he died on arrival at hospital.
After leaving Sheffield University with a degree in Economics, Amy Johnson learned to fly outside the hours during which she worked in an office. She was the first woman to hold an Air Ministry license as a ground engineer. In 1930 she prevailed upon Lord Wakefield to finance a solo flight to Australia, and, although she had at that time no experience of navigation in unfamiliar areas, she landed at Port Darwin 19 days after leaving England, having created what was then a world record by reaching Karachi in six days. For this great flight she received the C.B.E. In 1931 she flew to Japan and back, setting up records on both flights, and in 1932 made record flights to and from Capetown."
Rest in Peace, wonderful Amy. Thank you for your service.....
From "Our Searchlight on the War," "The War Illustrated," January 24th 1941.
Kenley Common
