7th May 2021 11:49 am 7th May 2021 11:49 am
One of the most inspirational women of the 20
th century, aviator Amy Johnson was the first female pilot to fly solo from the UK to Australia, as well as the first to gain a ground engineer’s ‘C’ licence. Her mysterious disappearance ensures she will never be forgotten. Written by Nick Smith
Birthplace of air traffic control and of the ‘mayday’ signal, Croydon Airport – Britain’s only international aerodrome of the interwar years – was the point of departure for what was to become one of the most famous flights of the 20
th century.
British pioneer aviator Amy Johnson (1903-1941) was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Image: Alamy Stock Photo
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Charles “Chuck” Yeager, who has died aged 97, epitomised the movie test pilot of the 1940s and 1950s. A fighter pilot hero of the second world war and later Korea, he was dashing, loyal and supremely skilled. In a life that was pure Hollywood, he named his various fighter aircraft “Glamorous Glenn” after his then fiancee, later wife, Glennis Dickhouse. Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, before his retirement in the 1970s. United States Air Force
Parts of his life were featured in the Oscar-winning movie The Right Stuff, in which he even took a cameo role, playing a bar drunk in the famous Happy Bottom Riding Club – a ranch hotel run by another famous pilot, Florence “Pancho” Barnes. He was – along with his friend Bob Hoover – one of the last of that generation of larger-than-life test pilots, usually former fighter pilots, who traded on their bravery and skill, rather than perhaps their scientific knowledge and teamwork.