London, United Kingdom Jul 26, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - 'The definitive biography of Amy Johnson'
Publication of a newly illustrated edition of Constance Babington Smith's biography of Amy Johnson to mark the 80th anniversary of her death in 1941.
Includes a specially commissioned Foreword by modern pioneering aviator Tracey Curtis-Taylor and an Afterword on the continuing hunt to unravel the mystery of Amy Johnson's crash off Herne Bay by Jane Priston.
[London, July 2021]
Amy Johnson became a household name after her solo flight to Australia in 1930 which thrust her, ill-prepared and exhausted, into the limelight and almost constant media attention for the rest of her short life. She was to die in mysterious circumstances in 1941 crashing into the sea off Herne Bay. Lauded at the time as ‘Amy, wonderful Amy’, her achievements have captivated us ever since. Constance Babington Smith was given access to all of Amy Johnson’s private papers by the Johnson family and asked to write a posthumous account of the life of this most enigmatic heroine.
Babington Smith’s definitive biography unravels Amy Johnson’s extraordinary and unconventional life; recreating the drama and excitement of her trailblazing long-distance flights. But she also explores and lays bare the complicated and often unhappy private life that lay behind the strikingly familiar public image. The book is a compelling and often surprising portrait of Amy Johnson’s life illustrated with forty photographs that convey the many twists and turns of her fascinating life.
Constance Babington Smith was a contemporary of Amy Johnson and similarly drawn into the aviation craze of the 1930s. She initially showed her writing talent with articles published in Aeroplane magazine from 1937 to 1939. With the outbreak of war she joined the WAAF, serving with the Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) at Medmenham in Buckinghamshire. By 1943 she was leading a team of 12 analysing photographs from high-altitude Mosquitoes and Spitfire reconnaissance and was credited with the discovery of the V1 base at Peenemünde. Appointed MBE in 1945 she wrote a memoir of her wartime work, Evidence in Camera. Her biography of Amy Johnson was first published in 1967 and remains the definitive account of her life.
This Daredevil Books edition can be ordered direct at www.daredevilbooks.co.uk or online in hardback, paperback, and eBook format at Waterstones, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other international retailers.
For more information, photo files or review copies please contact Toby Hartwell on 078 1236 2238 or by email at hello@daredevilbooks.co.uk
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