Amy Johnson's 114th birthday: Five key facts about UK's pioneer female aviator

The first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, British aviator Amy Johnson is one of the inspiring female figurehead of the 20th century.

On 26 May 1930, she completed the 11,000 mile round-trip from Croydon to the northern Australian city of Darwin in 19 days.

She was the first female to make the flight and although she failed to beat a previous record of 18 days, her time from Croydon to India set up a new record in the history of aviation.

To commemorate the 114th anniversary of her birth in Kingston upon Hull in 1903, Google is celebrating her life achievements in a Doodle.

She flew from Britain to Australia just over a year after being introduced to flying

After graduating from the University of Sheffield with a degree in economics, Ms Johnson worked in London as a solicitor. There, she was introduced to flying as a hobby at the start of 1929.

She was quick to prove that women could be as competent as men in a male dominated field and about a year later, in 1930, she took off from Croydon to complete the feat of flying to Australia.

The same year, her strong determination and drive qualified her to be the first British-trained woman ground engineer — for a brief time, she was the only woman in the world to hold that job title.

Throughout the 1930s, she went on to set many other records including becoming the first pilot to fly from London to Moscow in a day, she set a record time for Britain to Japan with her co-pilot Jack Humphreys and a solo record for the flight between London and Cape Town.

She named her first plane Jason

She managed to gather the funds to buy her first aircraft thanks to the support of her father, who remained one of her strongest supporters. Her first plane was a second-hand Gipsy Moth, she named Jason after her father’s fish business trademark.

The aircraft is now on display at the Science Museum.

A pilot proposed to her in the air, eight hours after meeting her

It is reportedly during a flight together than Scottish pilot Jim Mollison proposed to her - only eight hours after meeting her.

The couple married in 1932 and went on to fly as a duo. They were both injured during a crash in Connecticut in the US. But the the romance was short-lived and six years later Ms Johnson divorced him.

She worked as a pilot during the Second World War

During the Second World War, Ms Johnson was part of the Air Transport Auxiliary. It was set-up to transport Royal Air Force aircrafts around the country.

During that time, she rose through the ranks as First Officer.

Her death remains subject of great controversy

Ms Johnson died in 1941 when her plane crashed in the Thames Estuary. She was 37-years-old.

Her body was never recovered and her death has since remained a mystery.

But Dr Alex Gill, a historian from Hull, previously claimed the pioneer aviator's death was deliberately covered up after she was killed by an unsuccessful rescue mission.

A witness on the ship that was meant to rescue her said the engines were reversed and Dr Gill has suggested Ms Johnson may have been pulled into the propellers.

The historian claims the Royal Navy may have covered up the accident because it did not want to admit to the Royal Air Force that it had killed Britain's favourite pilot while the nation was at war.

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