She was the grand daughter of Andrew Johnson who started Andrew Johnson Knudtzon cold store down Walcott Street and English Street. http://www.ajkltd.co.uk/history.asp Happy Birthday Amy
Do they still have an exhibition of her exploits at Sewerby? Used to love going up there. Liked the small zoo, being able to stroke the penguins then walking along the cliff into Brid. Happy Days Happy Birthday. It's also David Barkers birthday today.
She married some American aviator called Jim Mollinson. Her plane was called Jason. She crashed it into a ditch in India, then mended it in 3 days before taking off without knowing if it would hold up flying across the Pacific Ocean. She missed breaking her husbands record for the solo flight to Australia by the same time she spent mending her plane. She died in the war shifting fighter planes around the country for pilots to use as she wasn't allowed to be a fighter pilot. Crashed into the Thames. I've always thought that a city who suffered so much bombing would have made a bigger fuss of such a heroine as our Ames. There is an interview with her floating around the internet somewhere. She had the poshest 'Ull accent I've ever heard!
She certainly developed a horrendous accent - faux posh. At school we used to have a piece of sculpture depicting her with a "heroic" gaze. Back in 1966/67 we had a team on the old BBC radio programme "Top of the Form" and the announcer was describing the school - she said something like "on entering the school I admired Amy Johnson's magnificent bronze bust". Several of us were ejected for unseemly sniggering (it was a live broadcast AKCJ).
Stayed in the Hotel what was the airfield she took off from in Croydon to Aus land. There's loads of memorabilia in the Hotel and we got a few free pints when they knew where we was from.
I was told that she was the real female to fly Atlantic and Yanks didn't like it, so they made up story of Amelia Earhart - that is why Amelia's plane has never been found.
Likewise. I hear they knocked the old school down & built some sort of sports college in its place a few years ago ?
