| Evelyn Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 4, 1909 Corbin, Kentucky, United States |
| Occupation | former Pilot |
Evelyn Bryan Johnson (born November 4, 1909), nicknamed “Mama Bird”, was born in Corbin, Kentucky, United States. She is the female pilot with the most number of flying hours in the world. She is a Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol and a founding member of the Morristown, TN Civil Air Patrol squadron.
Johnson, who learned to fly in 1944, logged 57,635.4 flying hours, and is the oldest flight instructor in the world. She has trained more pilots, given more FAA exams than any other pilot. She is named in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the most flying hours of any woman and the most of any living person.[1] Johnson is an inductee of the Women in Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame, the Tennessee and Kentucky aviation halls of fame and others. She was awarded a bronze Carnegie Medal for rescuing a helicopter pilot after he crashed.
She became manager of the Moore-Murrell Airport in Morristown, Tennessee, in 1953.[2] Although she stopped flying at the age of 96, as of 2010, at age 101, she continued to serve as airport manager.[1]
On July 21, 2007, Johnson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio,[3] alongside astronaut Sally Ride and adventurer Steve Fossett, among others. The induction was her sixth such honor.
A car crash on September 10, 2006, forced doctors to amputate her leg.
Johnson's scrapbooks, memorabilia, and other papers from the period 1930 to 2002 are housed in the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University.[2]