"JOHNNIES "EXPLOIT NOT FOOLHARDY

NZ Truth, Issue 1278, 29 May 1930, Page 6

"JOHNNIES "EXPLOIT NOT FOOLHARDY

POMMENTING editorially on Miss Amy Johnson's flight to Australia, the "Daily Express" over a week ago declared that the foolhardiness of her flight would only be forgotten if it proved a brilliant success, and similar opinions have been expressed by other newspapers, and other armchair critics. To every stay-at-home writer any pioneer venture is foolhardy, and had the present-day illustrated daily press been flourishing when Columbus set out m quest of America or when Noah pushed off into the flood waters with his miscellaneous cargo, both ventures would have been branded as foolhardy. ifead ih ,the latter instance it would not have mattered whether the newspaper presses were being slowly swallowed by the rising waters ; the same view would still have been expressed. But Miss Johnson's flight, does not belong fto the category of reckless and foolhardy exploits, and to classify it as such is to show a lack of appreciation of the remarkable progress made of recent years by aviation. '

Modest "Johnnie," as the testimony of her instructor shows, is a horn airwoman, a genius m this particular sphere. She is, moreover, not merely a pilot of exceptional skill and ability, but also an aircraftswoman of merit, and the first woman aviator to obtain a ground engineer's certificate m Great Britain. Thus she was particularly well-equipped to. undertake a difficult and hazardous flight of this description; and although her attempt on Hinkler 's EnglandAustralia record was not preceded by- any elaborate planning, Miss Johnson knew well the dangers and perils of the trip. She learnt her route, and from fliers and others who knew the countries over which she had to pilot her machine, she secured all the data she required.

. Luck did not enter so greatly into her success as the man m the street imagines; it was m reality her pluck, efficiency and grim determination to win through, coupled with the comparative safety and reliability of modern aerial 'travel, that enabled her to successfully complete her trip m twenty days.

That the earlier criticisms were levelled at her simply because she was a woman undertaking a flight that had never before been attempted by a woman is obvious, and certainly the stigma of foolhardiness would have been justified had "Johnnie" been an ordinary girl instead of the superb and super-capable airwoman she unquestionably is.

So m showering 1 her with congratulations the world is not paying* tribute to her luck, is not declaring' that it was merely luck that carried her through, but is giving* just honor to a girl who is plucky and efficient, and is showing- its realisation that her success was' m reality a scientific achievement.