In May 1930, a young English woman from Yorkshire arrived in Sydney, Australia.

She received a welcome fit for a Queen.

On behalf of the government and the people of New South Wales. I bid the warmest of

welcome to the little woman of whom the Empire is proud today.

Amy Johnson had become the first female pilot to fly from the United Kingdom to Australia.

It was a remarkable feat for the 26 year old who was born the same year the Wright brothers launched the first flight.

It was also a notable achievement for a British woman, considering that just two years earlier most women Johnson included weren't even allowed to vote.

In this episode I explore the life of the extraordinary aviator from her childhood through her greatest triumphs up until her tragic

and still controversial death.

Amy Johnson was born on the 1st of July, 1903 in Kingston upon Hull to John Johnson, a fish merchant and his wife Amy Nee Hodge.

She had a somewhat privileged upbringing.

Her grandfather, William Hodge, had served as the mayor of Hart.

The oldest of three girls, she was able to enroll at the University of Sheffield where she studied economics.

Upon graduating she moved to London and began work as a secretary.

It was here in her early 20s that she developed an interest in flying by a complete accident.

Having disembarked from a bus on Stack Lane, her curiosity was aroused by the staggling aerodrome.

She wandered in and discovered that for a week's wages she could learn to fly.

She soon befriended Fritz Slingsby, a man 10 years her senior.

He was a veteran of World War I, a conflict that was a boon for the fledgling aviation industry,

as the military had quickly realized the value of

aircrafts over the field of battle.

Age just 20. Slingsby had been a gunner on an aircraft which the pilot was shot and killed.

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