Constance Babington Smith was a contemporary of Amy Johnson and similarly drawn into the aviation craze of the 1930s. One of nine children 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 Amy's life.
