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Amy Johnson Family Films
A rare insight into the public and private lives of the pioneering aviator, filmed by her father.
Overview
These precious home movie scenes reveal a more personal side of the pioneering Hull-born aviator (1903-1941). Filmed by Amy Johnson's father Will with a cine camera she bought him, they are extracts from an extensive collection of Johnson family films made between 1932 and 1947 (six years after Amy's death). The collection was donated to the BFI National Archive in the 1970s by Amy's sister Molly.
We see Amy relaxing in the garden of her parents' home in the Yorkshire seaside resort of Bridlington; posing with husband and fellow aviator Jim Mollison; and family members visiting Hedon Aerodrome outside Hull. Mollison is glimpsed greeting Amy at Croydon Airport in November 1932, on her return from a solo flight to South Africa in her De Havilland Puss Moth Desert Cloud; a press conference in a London hotel and the huge crowds outside are also captured. Later scenes from 1933 show the couple with their De Havilland Dragon Seafarer, shortly before a transatlantic record attempt which culminated in a near-fatal crash - and a ticker-tape parade through New York City. Johnson died in mysterious circumstances in 1941, while serving in the Air Transport Auxiliary.
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