On the evening of 4 January 1941, Amy Johnson CBE visited her sister Mollie who lived on Newton Drive in Blackpool. For more on her previous visits to her sister, click HERE. On the following day, while flying an Airspeed Oxford for the ATA from Prestwick via RAF Squires Gate (now Blackpool Airport) to RAF Kidlington near Oxford, it is suggested that Amy Johnson ran out of fuel in adverse weather conditions.
Less than five hours after Johnson’s departure from Blackpool, a convoy of wartime vessels in the Thames Estuary spotted a parachute coming down and saw a person alive in the water calling for help. Witnesses described the voice as female. Conditions were poor and the tide strong; snow was falling and it was intensely cold. Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher, the Captain of HMS Haslemere, navigated his ship to attempt a rescue. The woman called out, claiming she was Amy Johnson and that the water was bitterly cold. She asked if they could get her out as soon as possible. The crew threw ropes out to her but she couldn’t get hold of them, and they were lost under the ship. Someone dashed up to the bridge and reversed the ship’s engines, thinking it would help. Sadly, it is believed that this is what caused Amy Johnson to be drawn towards the propellor.
A number of witnesses believed there was a second body in the water. Fletcher dived in and swam out in an attempt to make a rescue. When the lifeboat reached him he was unconscious and as a result of the intense cold, he died of hypothermia in hospital days later. Amy Johnson’s body was never recovered. Her watertight flying bag, log book and cheque book were recovered near the crash site sometime later.
This is the Airspeed AS-10 Oxford II, the same model that Johnson flew on 5 January 1941. Photo © Alan Brown
In 1999, it was reported that Johnson’s death may have been caused by friendly fire. Tom Mitchell, from Crowborough, Sussex, claimed to have shot Johnson’s aircraft down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight. Mitchell explained how the aircraft was sighted and contacted by radio. A request was made for the signal. She gave the wrong one twice. “Sixteen rounds of shells were fired and the plane dived into the Thames Estuary. We all thought it was an enemy plane until the next day when we read the papers and discovered it was Amy. The officers told us never to tell anyone what happened.”
Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal in May 1941. In 1999, it was reported that Johnson’s death may have been caused by friendly fire. Tom Mitchell, from Crowborough, Sussex, claimed to have shot Johnson’s aircraft down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight. Mitchell explained how the aircraft was sighted and contacted by radio. A request was made for the signal. She gave the wrong one twice. “Sixteen rounds of shells were fired and the plane dived into the Thames Estuary. We all thought it was an enemy plane until the next day when we read the papers and discovered it was Amy. The officers told us never to tell anyone what happened.”
In 2016, Alec Gill, a historian, claimed that the son of a ship’s crew member stated that Johnson had died because she was sucked into the blades of the ship’s propellers. The crewman did not observe this to occur, but believes it is true. As a member of the ATA with no known grave and her body never recovered, Johnson is commemorated, under the name of Amy V. Johnson, by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.
A team of volunteer devoted enthusiasts, supported purely by private donations, is restoring an Airspeed AS-10 Oxford II at Hangar 42 at Blackpool Airport in honour of the great aviatrix, Amy Johnson CBE.
Amy Johnson and Jim Mollison were married on 29 July 1932. Image in Public Domain
Amy Johnson and Jim Mollison met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt after their transatlantic flight in July 1933. They were entertained to lunch by the President following their flight. Amy Johnson and Jim Mollison were also given a ticker-tape parade in New York, one of only 17 such parades in the US during the decade. L-R: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Scottish pilot Jim Mollison, his wife, pilot Amy Johnson, President Franklin. Photo: © Alamy / CSU Archives / Everett Collection
© Alamy
