Rare pictures of the high-flying life of Hull’s Amy Johnson

She was not only a pioneer aviator but also one of the most inspirational women of her time, and fully 90 years after she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, Amy Johnson’s name has lost none of its allure.
8th November 1932:  British aviation pioneer Amy Johnson (1903 - 1941) at Stag Lane aerodrome before leaving for Capetown in an attempt to break her husband's 17 hour record for the journey.  (Photo by Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)8th November 1932:  British aviation pioneer Amy Johnson (1903 - 1941) at Stag Lane aerodrome before leaving for Capetown in an attempt to break her husband's 17 hour record for the journey.  (Photo by Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
8th November 1932: British aviation pioneer Amy Johnson (1903 - 1941) at Stag Lane aerodrome before leaving for Capetown in an attempt to break her husband's 17 hour record for the journey. (Photo by Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

As a series of podcasts marks the anniversary of her epic, 19-day adventure, these pictures from the archive recall the rollercoaster life of the fish merchant’s daughter from Hull who for a few years was literally on top of the world.

She had become seduced by the sight of powered aircraft taking to the skies after catching a bus to Stag Lane Aerodrome in London – a city to which she had fled after a failed love affair in Yorkshire.

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With only 75 hours of reported flying experience but bolstered, as one headline put it, by a “cupboard full of frocks”, she caught the attention of a world that was as smitten as she was by the winged wonders of the age.

circa 1933:  British aviator Amy Johnson, climbing into her bi-plane.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)circa 1933:  British aviator Amy Johnson, climbing into her bi-plane.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
circa 1933: British aviator Amy Johnson, climbing into her bi-plane. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

It was, said Dave Windass, writer of the podcasts for the Amy Johnson Arts Trust website, a story of “Hollywood proportions”.

Despite mechanical problems and bad weather, she arrived at Darwin only four days short of a world record, and on her return to Britain was awarded the CBE by George V and £10,000 from a newspaper.

Two years later, a tickertape parade in New York was laid on for her and her new husband, Jim Mollison, after a perilous, two-handed Atlantic crossing.

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But it was to be a career cut short by tragedy. Amy died in 1941 when her plane crashed into the Thames estuary off Herne Bay – an incident that has remained mired in mystery and not a little controversy. Some say her aircraft was mistaken for a German bomber and shot down by anti-aircraft guns; others believe she was on a secret Government mission. Her body was never recovered.

15th June 1936:  English aviator Amy Johnson arrives at Croydon, after setting a new record for a solo flight from Cape Town to London.  (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)15th June 1936:  English aviator Amy Johnson arrives at Croydon, after setting a new record for a solo flight from Cape Town to London.  (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
15th June 1936: English aviator Amy Johnson arrives at Croydon, after setting a new record for a solo flight from Cape Town to London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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3rd January 1931:  British aviator, Amy Johnson, on her arrival at Tempelhof airport, Berlin, on the first leg of her solo flight to China via Siberia.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)3rd January 1931:  British aviator, Amy Johnson, on her arrival at Tempelhof airport, Berlin, on the first leg of her solo flight to China via Siberia.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
3rd January 1931: British aviator, Amy Johnson, on her arrival at Tempelhof airport, Berlin, on the first leg of her solo flight to China via Siberia. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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