Here is the citation from the HCAP site. Importantly it describes Ewald as the co-pilot and states it was not a solo flight. That of course is the point we have all been making for many months.
Between October last year and January this year, Tracey Curtis-Taylor led an aviation expedition from the UK to Australia, retracing the route flown by Amy Johnson as tribute to her, and evoking the pioneering spirit of that era, but with a very different purpose or objective for the whole undertaking. Unlike Amy Johnson’s flight this was not a solo flight and it was sponsored by Artemis and Boeing as part of a promotional endeavour to encourage females into aviation. Tracey's team consisting her co-pilot and engineer, Ewald Gritsch, flying with her in the Stearman biplane, and film-crew in a Cessna Caravan chase-plane throughout the expedition, together with back-up and logistics support team, were all there with one specific principal aim in mind: to promote aviation to many thousands of youngsters, especially women, across the globe for whom flying is a distant, even unknown or seemingly unachievable activity. The entire expedition was filmed for a documentary and will show, better than can be described by any citation, how this outreach to youngsters in the Middle East and Asia in particular was achieved.
This was a singularly spectacular and successful advertisement for women in aviation, worldwide. Whether young women witnessed the flights directly, or indirectly by following social media or press campaigns, many will have been inspired by this ‘bird in a biplane’. In many of the countries en route and where Tracey and her team stopped-over, refuelled or put-on demonstration flights, a woman driving a car is almost unheard of, let alone flying a plane. Consider the impact that seeing a woman in the cockpit had on many of those young, impressionable women.
The Master’s award recognises Tracey Curtis-Taylor’s work in raising awareness of science and technology in general, and aviation in particular, amongst young women across the world. In recognition of her role as leader of this aviation expedition, and all it achieved, Tracey Curtis-Taylor is awarded the Master's Medal for 2016.