In 1930, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from the UK to Australia. Nearly 90 years later, Amanda Harrison explains why she attempted to recreate the journey. Plus, read an amazing extract from her book telling the story of the big adventure.

Amy Johnson was one of the UK’s greatest-ever aviators. Born into a humble family of fish merchants, she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in her secondhand de Havilland DH. 60 Gipsy Moth in 1930. It was just one of her many adventures, including flying from London to Moscow in a Puss Moth and setting a record time for a flight from Britain to Japan.  “Amy Johnson wasn’t titled and didn’t have money behind her,” explains Amanda Harrison, a British pilot who fell in love with the story. “She had to work for a living yet became the first female aeronautical engineer in the UK and then had this mad idea of buying an aeroplane and flying down to Australia.” Harrison was so inspired that, in 2019, she made the frankly preposterous decision to recreate Johnson’s most famous flight in her own vintage de Havilland DH82a Tiger Moth. “Her saying was, ‘If I can, you can’ and I very kindly borrowed that from her.”

In many ways, the second attempt was an even more complex undertaking than the original. While Harrison may have had the advantage of modern GPS and ATC to guide her, her Moth was fitted with a smaller fuel tank, meaning she needed to stop more frequently to make Darwin in 32 days. She also had to grapple with modern-day aviation’s obsession with regulations, paperwork and permissions. Eventually, the forces thwarted her attempt, as tensions between Pakistan and India led to an airspace closure that made continuing impossible. In her excellent book recounting the adventure, Solo2Darwin, she admits the news reduced her to tears.

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• Source: https://australianaviation.com.au/2024/06/recreating-amy-johnsons-moth-flight-from-the-uk-to-australia/