G-AAAH, mods

It’s definitely worth a try emailing the museum Mark. Hopefully they will agree to scan the pages.

I came across the Hull History Centre website today and they have earlier letters of Amy’s available to download. Reading her handwriting is indeed hard going at times! I noticed that she often shaped the letter n more like a u which made me wonder if “Severus”  was a misinterpretation of Stevens or something similar but that is only a wild guess!

https://www.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/research/research-guides/amy-johns…

Mothminor, yes it is a pity it hasn’t been scanned and placed online, while the hand writing might be poor, those of us familiar with aviation terms might be better able to decifer and interpret the entries.

I may write to the museum and seek a scan of the June 1930 pages?

Thanks Mark. I wasn’t aware of the online transcription of Amy’s log book. Your highlighted entry is quite intriguing. It would be nice to be able to see that as it was originally written. 

Thanks Mothminor – its an interesting element of her story to try and un-ravel, much of the details are lost in the sands of time.

Amy’s log book is available online in a transcribed form, it has an interesting entry in June after her arrival from Brisbane in the ANA Avro Ten (6/6/30) and before her departure in the DH Hawk Moth (14/6/30) to Canberra and Melbourne, but she doesn’t date the entries and is apparently known to be tardy in recording in her log book and often making entries long after the fact?

In this case I wonder if this is the flight in VH-UAJ and if it originated at RAAF Richmond and ended at Mascot at the Aero Club on the 7th?

Apparently her handwriting is very difficult to decifer and its not clear “who” Serverus is? or what is ARAF? ( is it RAAF??)

Comments by the transcriber at the museum:

“‘Amy’s log book includes lots of fascinating details, including the names of places she flew to, which aircraft she was in, flying times and various additional comments such as the weather and the names of passengers.

“It’s certainly been a challenge to transcribe, as Amy’s handwriting is quite hard to decipher at times. The document was something she had to fill in as a qualified pilot, but the way she completed it says a lot about her personality, I think. It also reveals her love of flying for its own sake – she often puts ‘joy riding’ down as the reason for a flight. At times she simply ‘forgot’ to fill in the log book for weeks at a time and then had to estimate what flying she’d done so there were no gaps. I reckon Amy was a bit bored with rules and regulations at times and found completing the record a bit of a chore!”

https://www.eastridingmuseums.co.uk/museums-online/#er-mus-logbook

Thanks for reviving this old thread Mark. It has been interesting to read and with some great old photos. Well done on identifying the Moth with the headrest!

So the picture of Frank Follett in the front cockpit of a DH60 with Amy Johnson is explained. (as is the mis-information of she flying to Melbourne with him)

Amy was flown into Sydney aboard the Avro Ten “Southern Moon” on Wednesday 4th of June, she was escorted into Sydney’s Mascot airport by 6 Australian women pilots flying DH60s. These were Meg Skilton, Bobby Terry, Evelyn Follett, M A Upford, Phyllis Arnott and F Deaton.

Captain Frank Follett was Evelyn Follett’s brother and from July 1929 to August 1930 was manager and chief instructor of the (Royal) Aero Club of New South Wales at Mascot.

Amy Left for Melbourne with Major Hereward de Havilland in his Hawk Moth on the following Thursday 12th of June.

It seems on Saturday 7th of June Amy Johnson went up for a flight in a local DH60 Moth (is she the PIC or sitting in the rear for a better view?), with Frank Follett in the passenger seat to “see Sydney from aloft” and it appears this has led to the assumption that she and he flew to Melbourne in the Moth.

It seems that the DH60 Moth with the head rest is VH-UFV, which was based with the Aero Club of NSW since 1927.

This newspaper image from Trove appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday 9th of June but seems to have been printed or published in reverse given the location of the magneto switches compared to the earlier images above.

DH60 Gipsy Moth VH-UFV sporting a head rest, and its registration outlined in white.

No – it seems she was transferred at Laverton from the Hawk Moth to a Gipsy Moth owned by Cecil McKay, but flown by Hereward de Havilland? – so we are still to place Frank Follett into the story?

from Trove 19 June 1930

Amy Johnson in. Melbourne..
MELBOURNE. June 16.
OWING to rain and fog, which
caused a change to be made in the
landing arrangements, Miss Amy John-<*>
son was nearly two and a half hours
late in arriving at the Moonee Valley
Racecourse to-day. *
It was a cold, dispiriting day, char
acteristic of June in Melbourne, but
even the weather and the disappoint
ing unavoidable delay did not lessen
the warmth of the enthusiasm of the
people. Miss Johnson, accompanied
by an escort of 12 private and three
Air Force ‘planes, flew over the
ground in a Moth ‘plane, piloted by
Major de Havllland, and made a per
fect landing shortly before 2.30 o’clock.
Leaving Wangarratta. in a Hawk
Moth at 10 a.m., Miss Johnson landed
at Seymour, where the ‘plane in charge
of Major de. Havilland was forced
down owing to mist. Bad weather
conditions were experienced from Sey
mour to Melbourne, where rain was
falling. This was the chief cause of
the delay, and further.time was tost
by a landing at Laverton, where Miss
Johnson was transferred from Major
de Havilland’s Hawk Moth, which was
not suitable, for landing on the
Moonee Valley course, to a Gipsy Moth,
owned by Mr. Cecil M’Kay (president
* of the Victorian section of the Aero
Club). Mort than 15,000 persons had
gathered at the racecourse. Among
those who waited for Miss Johnson’s
arrival were the Premier (Mr. Hogan),
the Minister for Education (Mr. Lem
mon), the Lord Mayor (Councillor
Luxton), and the president of the
Moonee Valley Racing Club (Mr.
Allster Clark). The official reception,
on the platform in front of the grand
stand, occupied only a few minutes.
Mr. Hogan welcomed Miss Johnson,
on behalf of the citizens of Victoria,
all of whom, he said, had been thrilled
by her great achievement. Later,
Miss Johnson was driven to Menzies’
Hotel, where a special suite of rooms
had been engaged. On her arrival,
Miss Johnson was hurried away to
the Town Hall, where 200 persons,
mostly women, attended the reception
accorded her by the Lord Mayor.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23124567

Here is are two photo’s of Amy Johnson’s DH60G G-AAAH “Jason” after its ground loop due to engine failure on landing at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm on 29th May 1930, hitting the fence beyond the end of the runway and flipping over its nose and onto its back, the aircraft was extensively damaged.

While wiki quotes the following: “Six days after, she damaged her aircraft while landing downwind at Brisbane airport and flew to Sydney with Captain Frank Follett while her plane was repaired. Jason was later flown to Mascot, Sydney, by Captain Lester Brain”

It seems from the book “Amy Johnson” by Constance Babington Smith (Collins 1967) that Major de Havilland flew up from Sydney in his Hawk Moth, bringing spares to assist in the repair of “Jason” and offering to fly Amy to Sydney in his Hawk Moth, However she had already accepted an offer from Charles Ulm (with Jim Mollison as his co-pilot) to fly her in one of his ANA Avro Ten’s and she apparently flew to Sydney in that, but transferred to the Hawk Moth for the remainder of her Australian Tour, and had apparently been told by her Doctors not to fly “Jason” herself for the remainder of her Australian Tour?

“On 16 July 1930 She flew from Wangaratta to Seymour, then to Laverton to change aircraft and then escorted by civil and military aircraft she flew to Mooney Valley Race Course.” 

It would therefore seem likely that this change at Laverton was because the Hawk Moth was too large to land on the Race Course, and hence likely she moved into a DH60 Moth.

But it seems Amy wasn’t just a passenger flown around by others in local DH60’s, here is a State Library of NSW image which shows Captain Frank Follett sitting in the front seat of a DH60 and Amy sitting in the rear, and despite the caption, the head rest on this DH60 clearly rules it out from being G-AAAH “Jason”, but also seemingly rules out G-AUAJ from the NSW Divison of the Australian Aero Club too?
(So the question arises, which Australian DH60 is it?)

So its still not clear? – did Amy fly to Sydney with Captain Follet in another DH60, or only from Laverton to Mooney Ponds?

This article interviewing Follett’s sister Evelyn confirms she flew in a welcoming flight with the Avro Ten carrying Amy into Sydney.

The Sydney Morning Herald – Google News Archive Search

So the photo with Frank Follett in the front seat is most likely the flight from Laverton to Mooney Ponds in Melbourne.

JDK – sorry to comment on a zombie thread, but I do think the long range tanks were in the covered over front cockpit.

References to Amy travelling around the rest of Australia as a passenger arise from Jason/G-AAAH being damaged extensively on landing at Brisbane and hence relate to her then travelling as a passenger in other DH60’s like G-AUAJ flown by the likes of Frank Follett, from Brisbane to Sydney and other southern locations.

Jason was rebuilt in Brisbane and flown south by other pilots but I don’t believe Amy flew it, or flew in it again until its return by sea to the UK.

Getting there, having now attached lower wing, rigging and control cables and lashed on the spare prop.
Now, before I attach the upper wing, is there a pipe of some sort, from the centre tank on the upper wing, to somewhere in the front of the cowling?
I’d’ve sworn I’ve seen this in some pictures, but not others. If there was such a thing, where would it enter the cowling?

Final question…
Am I right in thinking that the windscreen is one plate in a sort of flattened half-circle shape?

Thanks in anticipation.

Regards,
Bruce

Ah, that clarifies the two-person touring. So the long range tanks would have been in the front cockpit? Thanks John.

Yes, around the C of G.

Cheers

John

Jason was damaged in Australia and repaired to a static display condition for display and so Amy went on tour in other Moths. Sometime later Jason was reconfigured to it’s two seat guise.

Ah, that clarifies the two-person touring. So the long range tanks would have been in the front cockpit? Thanks John.

Thankyou John and others.
John, by cross-axle undercarriage, do you mean that this is accurate;

http://www.cct.u-net.com/c:%5CHACHomepage/Images/G-AAAH%20newmod1.gif

Am I right in assuming that the control cables for the ailerons are inside the lower wing?

Thanks for the interest.
Given the achievement of Amy Johnson and how she was feted at the time as a regular pin-up girl of the age, it’s a shame that her aircraft isn’t better covered by the kit manufacturers. Frog did a great series of “Trailblazers”, including, for example, Alcock & Brown’s Vimy, Southern Cross, Lindberg’s Spirit of St.Louis and, of course, “Jason”.

Given the non-militaristic nature of these subjects, I would’ve thought there’d be a market now, to update the old Frogs with modern standard kits.

Regards,
Bruce

Regards,
Bruce

Yes, that is the axle I was refering too not the type common on the 60X and some 60G’s. Jason was damaged in Australia and repaired to a static condition for display and so Amy went on tour in other Moths. Sometime later Jason was reconfigured to it’s two seat guise. The aileron cables are inside the wing but there is an external pushrod leading from the bellcrank to the aileron horn as visible on James’s photo. I am actually working on a 1:48 DH60 Moth at the moment.

Cheers

John

Hi John, Bruce,

That’s an early Avro Avian

No it’s not ‘an’ early Avian, 😉 it’s Bert Hinkler’s Avro Avian G-EBOV, which another, inaccurately captioned picture of was suggested to be a DH Moth used by Amy. Nothing to do with the aircraft under discussion, except due to the error of the cataloguer at the State Library of South Australia. Should anyone care to continue this side discussion the real aircraft is now in the Queensland Museum.

On the topic aircraft, obviously on the run to Australia the cockpit on ‘Jason’ was faired over, but I wonder where the long range tanks were installed? Presumably not in the cockpit, unless they were also removed, as Amy was flown about Australia on tour by other pilots, according to the ref below.

As to the other details, I’d assume that items like cables etc. would be ‘standard DH-60’ unless stated otherwise.

These are photos as Jason was a couple of years ago. Obviously restored rather than original, but they should help. PM me if you’d like higher res originals.

Martin, don’t worry, I ‘knew’ which a/c it was really at a glance, and thinking it over, from the scheme. Hard to ‘prove’ it’s not a Moth though, as we’ve seen.

Cheers

Thankyou John and others.
John, by cross-axle undercarriage, do you mean that this is accurate;

http://www.cct.u-net.com/c:%5CHACHomepage/Images/G-AAAH%20newmod1.gif

Am I right in assuming that the control cables for the ailerons are inside the lower wing?

Thanks for the interest.
Given the achievement of Amy Johnson and how she was feted at the time as a regular pin-up girl of the age, it’s a shame that her aircraft isn’t better covered by the kit manufacturers. Frog did a great series of “Trailblazers”, including, for example, Alcock & Brown’s Vimy, Southern Cross, Lindberg’s Spirit of St.Louis and, of course, “Jason”.

Given the non-militaristic nature of these subjects, I would’ve thought there’d be a market now, to update the old Frogs with modern standard kits.

Regards,
Bruce

Regards,
Bruce

Hello…I’m the ‘mate’ Greg was referring to and thought it’d be more polite to enter discourse directly, as it were!

Thanks for the many and useful responses.

I’d been partially confused by the inaccurate artwork on the Frog kit I’m going to be playing with, which shows a long exhaust,running along the fuselage port side.
The image showing the spare prop suggests that “Jason” did not have this. The covered front cockpit was also useful to see, as it saves me having to detail the interior.:o
(I’ve ordered some DH props from Aeroclub, so I can strap a spare in place).

From your help, I’ve also deduced the arrangement for the elevator and rudder controls.

What I’m still struggling with, is the arrangement of the control cables for the ailerons. Whilst I can see the underwing arrangement, I’m yet to see the control cables above the surface of the lower wing. Did the cable run down the forward, outer strut?

On the point of rearward angled struts, leading from the cowling to the tops of the cabane struts, I’ve seen Gipsy Moths with these and without them. I’m 99% sure “Jason” had them. In pictures, they could almost be rigging cables…are they, or are they really fine struts?

Thanks again for your interest.

Regards,
Bruce

Jason, by the way when Wally Hope owned it, it was red and silver .

Jason had the front cockpit faired over, a cross axle u/c and it carried the spare prop. There is a photo on page 131 of the DH 60 Moth (S McKay).

All DH 60 Moths were fitted with the inverted Vee front cabane struts.

Cheers

John

Nope. 😉 Where’d you get that ‘W’ from? Looks like G-EBOV to me…

See: http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bert_hinkler_bio.html

Note the distinctive aft facing struts from the engine cowl to the centre section. (Took me a while to see how it isn’t a Moth – very similar as most of the Avian / Moth differentiators are obscured…)

That’s an early Avro Avian

John

Hello…I’m the ‘mate’ Greg was referring to and thought it’d be more polite to enter discourse directly, as it were!

Thanks for the many and useful responses.

I’d been partially confused by the inaccurate artwork on the Frog kit I’m going to be playing with, which shows a long exhaust,running along the fuselage port side.
The image showing the spare prop suggests that “Jason” did not have this. The covered front cockpit was also useful to see, as it saves me having to detail the interior.:o
(I’ve ordered some DH props from Aeroclub, so I can strap a spare in place).

From your help, I’ve also deduced the arrangement for the elevator and rudder controls.

What I’m still struggling with, is the arrangement of the control cables for the ailerons. Whilst I can see the underwing arrangement, I’m yet to see the control cables above the surface of the lower wing. Did the cable run down the forward, outer strut?

On the point of rearward angled struts, leading from the cowling to the tops of the cabane struts, I’ve seen Gipsy Moths with these and without them. I’m 99% sure “Jason” had them. In pictures, they could almost be rigging cables…are they, or are they really fine struts?

Thanks again for your interest.

Regards,
Bruce

Nope. 😉 Where’d you get that ‘W’ from? Looks like G-EBOV to me…

accepted 😮

Martin

IIRC Frog did a 1:72nd model of Jason, and the prop was secured to the side of the fuselage (port side I think), the decal sheet could be useful as you can blow up the sheet on a photocopier or scan it for larger markings…

Evilbay best bet – probably cost you 6-7 quid

TT