Photo Montage of Amy Johnson from the Royal Air Force Museum
Amy Johnson (July 1, 1903- January 5, 1941), British Aviatrix earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sheffield University. Her father encouraged her love of flying by providing funds for her purchase of a used de Havilland Gipsy Moth (an early production bi-wing craft).
Among her worldwide achievements include the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. On May 5, 1930, she left Croyden ((south of London) and 19 days later, she landed in Darwin, Australia on May 24; her total flight was 11,000 miles. Then in 1931, with co-pilot Jack Humphreys, the duo became the first aviators to fly from Britain to Moscow in one day, achieving the 1760 mile flight in about 21 hours. They continued to fly east over Siberia and landed in Tokyo.
In 1933, she and husband Scottish pilot Jim Mollison flew from Pendine Sands, South Wales to the United States. Though their plane crash landed in Bridgeport, Connecticut (lack of fuel), the pair recovered and were feted by a ticker tape parade down Wall Street.
She drowned in the Thames Estuary (where the River Thames joins the North Sea in Essex and Kent) after bailing out of an Airspeed AS.10 Oxford (twin-engine WW II training plane) during inclement weather.
Louis Bleriot, French Aviator, Inventor and Engineer
Six years after the Wright Brothers made their December 17, 1903 historic flight at Kitty Hawk (the first of which covered 120 feet in 12 seconds), Louis Bleriot (July 1, 1872- August 2, 1936) etched his name in history by successfully crossing the English channel in his own uniquely designed monoplane, the Bleriot XI. Powered by a 25 Horsepower, 3-cylinder radial engine, with a two-bladed fixed pitch wooden propeller, Bleriot's plane had about the same power as a "lower end large outboard motor" commonly used to power present day motorboats.
On July 25, 1909, he took off at 4:30 AM just after dawn from Les Barraques near the seaside town of Calais with the French government following his course across the English Channel with a destroyer moored below in the harbor. He later reported to the Washington Post that on takeoff he barely cleared telegraph wires at the end of the runway--this was running the engine at its maximum of 1200 revolutions per minute. He flew at an average speed of 40 miles per hour at at altitude of about 250 feet.
Very soon Bleriot encountered rough weather that completely obscured his visibility as he soon outpaced the destroyer. He reported that "[f]or more than 10 minutes I was alone, isolated, lost in the midst of the immense sea, and I did not see anything on the horizon or a single ship."
He landed in turbulent weather with the engine in danger of stalling and a strong cross wind blowing him off course. As he reduced his airspeed for landing, the strong gusts of wind nearly caused his plane to crash. Luckily, he landed safely with damage only to his landing gear and propeller. The rest of the plane survived along with the pilot . The 22 statute mile flight took 37 minutes and as a result, Bleriot became world famous.
From 1909 until 1914, Bleriot produced more than 800 aircraft. He then founded a company that went on to produce fighter planes used in World War I. He opened up 2 flying schools before the war in England. Named for his achievements, the "Louis Bleriot Medal" was established by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in 1936 and can be given up to 3 times a year to record setters in speed, altitude and distance performance in light aircraft.
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