Amy Johnson (1903-1941), Airwoman
Amy Johnson (later Mollison)
Sitter in 21 portraits
Aviator. Johnson was brought up in Hull and graduated from Sheffield University in 1925. She learned to fly and qualified as a ground-engineer in 1929. The following year she flew solo to Australia in nineteen days, winning a £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail. This was followed by record-breaking flights to Tokyo via Siberia in nine days in 1931 and to Cape Town in 1932. She married the American pioneer aviator Jim Mollison in 1932. Together they flew to Karachi in 1934 and to the Cape and back in 1936. As a woman, she was ineligible to fly with the RAF in World War Two and joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. She was drowned after baling out of her Airspeed Oxford over the Thames Estuary.
by Sir John Longstaff
oil on canvas, circa 1930
On display in Room 31 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 4201
published by Raphael Tuck & Sons
bromide postcard print, 1930
NPG x126240
published by Tit-Bits
bromide postcard print, 1930
NPG x126241
Amy Johnson; James Allan Mollison
by Albert Victor Swaebe
vintage press print, 1930
NPG x126267
Amy Johnson; James Allan Mollison
by Bassano
vintage print, 10 May 1932
NPG x85650
by Bassano
whole-plate glass negative, 10 May 1932
NPG x81184
by Bassano
whole-plate glass negative, 10 May 1932
NPG x81185
by Bassano
whole-plate glass negative, 10 May 1932
NPG x81183
Amy Johnson; James Allan Mollison
by Bassano
whole-plate glass negative, 10 May 1932
NPG x81182
by John Capstack
toned bromide print on tissue and card mount, circa 1933-1935
NPG x126829
Amy Johnson; James Allan Mollison
by Bassano
vintage print, May 1936
NPG x85649
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