Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson, (1903-41). British aviator. In 1930 she became the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia, and was awarded the CBE for her achievement. She also made record flights to Tokyo in 1931 and Cape Town in 1932. Later that year she married her rival J. A. Mollison (1905-59); the two flew the Atlantic together in 1933, crashing on landing at Bridgeport, Connecticut, after a non-stop flight. The couple were divorced in 1938. In 1939 Amy Johnson became a ferry pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary; in 1941 her plane disappeared over the Thames estuary and she was presumed dead.