Late Great Engineers: Amy Johnson - pioneering pilot

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.

On 5^th May 1930, 26-year-old Amy Johnson embarked on her record-breaking solo flight to Australia. Her plane was a second-hand Gypsy Moth called Jason that she’d bought for £600 (or around £40k in today’s money.) With a top speed of 105 mph (approx 170kph), a 100 horse-power engine and a foldaway wing construction, Jason was hardly cutting-edge technology. But, said Johnson, “the engine was wonderful,” a phrase that was to pass into the English language to describe anything that had hidden qualities, and still (in paraphrased form) much beloved of used-car salesmen. Had she been a man, she claimed, she would have explored the polar icecaps or climbed Mount Everest: “but as it was, my spirit found outlet in the air.”