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British aviation legend’s portrait to appear on fin tail of Norwegian aircraft

A portrait of the first woman to fly solo form Britain to Australia will be the latest person to feature on the tail fin of a Norwegian aircraft.

Amy Johnson becomes the airline’s second British tail fin hero, after author Roald Dahl earlier this year.

The airline, which has 4.5 million UK passengers, has featured more than 80 heroes on its tail fins who are said to symbolise Norwegian’s spirit of ‘innovation, challenging the norm and inspiring others’.

Her image will feature on both a Boeing 737 and Boeing Dreamliner aircraft.

Born in Hull in 1903, Amy Johnson CBE was the first female to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930, one year after being awarded her pilot’s licence.

She flew an open cockpit single engine Gypsy Moth which she named Jason and left Croydon Airport on May 5 1930 and arrived in Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territories, after 19 days and 11,000 miles.

Johnson was awarded a CBE in recognition of her achievement, which inspired the contemporary popular song “Amy Wonderful Amy”.

Amy went on to set many long distance flying records, including the Britain to South Africa record and becoming one of the first two co-pilots to fly from London to Moscow in one day.

Norwegian’s Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Ramdahl said: “Amy Johnson is a giant in the history of aviation and a truly inspirational British figure so it is a huge honour to have her adorn our aircraft and help her take to the skies once more.”

Amy Johnson’s nieces Susan Crook and Judy Chilvers issued a statement which said: “We are happy to see her back in the air where she was always at her happiest.”

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