Today is Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

On this day in 1941, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson disappeared when her plane crashed into the Thames estuary.

In the 80 years since, her disappearance has become one of the UK's most enduring and debated mysteries.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parcast.

Today we're covering the disappearance of Britain's most famous female pilot, Amy Johnson.

Now let's go back to Blackpool that day.

Cold to the point that the thick fog itself was freezing, difficult conditions to fly in.

Some would even say dangerous, but Britain was in the middle of a war, and 37-year-old

Amy Johnson was committed to doing her part. As a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary,

it was Amy's responsibility to fly Royal Air Force planes across the UK.

It was important, essential work that for a pilot as experienced as Amy was relatively easy,

even when the weather made taking off more treacherous.

In fact, Amy's journey from Prestwick in Scotland's southwest had been cut short the day before.

Poor conditions had forced her to land in Blackpool and spend the night.

Still, she'd crossed oceans and deserts in planes less advanced than the airspeed Oxford she was delivering.

So by mid-morning on the fifth she was itching to get

up in the air once more.

Her journey to the village of Kidlington, where the airspeed was expected, was only a 90-minute

flight from Blackpool, so despite the poor conditions, it's unlikely anyone expected

major troubles. But after Amy took off, several hours passed, and there was no sign of her

in Oxfordshire or anywhere else. Around 3.30 that afternoon, some four and a half hours after Amy took off,

crew members aboard the HMS Hazelmere spotted a plane in distress. They watched a parachute

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