THE death has taken place of Evelyn Johnson who earned a place in the record books after recording the most flying hours of any woman. She was 102.
Ms Johnson logged almost 58,000 miles during 60 years of flying. It is estimated she flew more than 5 million miles.
She began taking flying lessons during 1944 in Tennessee and said that it was a case of “love at first flight”. By the following year she had earned her private pilots licence and was eventually to qualify as a flying instructor.
In the early 1950s Ms Johnson became manager of Morristown airport in Tennessee, where over a 50-year period she taught an estimated 5,000 people to fly and certified a further 9,000 pilots for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Over her flying career Ms. Johnson had been certified to fly seaplanes, transport planes, helicopters and multi-engine planes.
As well as being a successful flying instructor, Ms. Johnson also, at times, flew cargo flights, took part in coast-to-coast races and provided sightseeing services.
She continued giving flying lessons until the age of 96 and was still running the Morristown airport until months before her death.
Ms. Johnson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1977.
To view an interview with Evelyn Johnson, click here.
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