Bryan and learned to fly in 1944, while he was serving in the Army Air Corps and the couple was living in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

She was named in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the most flying hours of any woman and the most of any living person.

[7] She flew into her 90s despite developing eyesight problems and only quit at 96 after a car accident on September 10, 2006, resulted in her undergoing a leg amputation.

[5] On July 21, 2007, Johnson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio,[8] alongside astronaut Sally Ride and adventurer Steve Fossett, among others.

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.