mark_pilkingtonI have always expected that the most likely scenario was ditched and sunk in the general radius around Howland – most likely to the north under what was at the time low cloud cover.
I have never found any of Gillespies claims credible, but am not surprised to see him getting himself into the article.
I note Ballard sonar scanned the entire reef area off Niku and found “zip/nothing”.
None of Gillespies “evidence” proves that the Electra, Noonan or Earheart were “ever” near Niku let alone on it.
However I suspect if this does resolve the mystery and it is Earhearts Electra, Gillespie will be claiming that strong ocean currents washed it off the reef at Niku and deposited back up towards Howland.
I do hope the Electra is found in Gillespie’s lifetime, and in the vicinity of Howland Island where it was last reported to be heading, and approaching, and to be near out of fuel.
mark_pilkington@powerandpassion
That might be a good option, the blade profile is the key to making one, as you would know
mark_pilkingtonThanks @Terry Parker
I had previously described the static display engine as:
– c/n 892 – missing name plate (fitted with ADC Cirrus III Heads is this a Cirrus II “mod 3?”- or is it a Cirrus III?) – The Aeroplane Collection – Hooton Park
(It is recorded apparently as a Cirrus 2, C/N 892, donated via the Shuttleworth Collection in April 1965)
Based in the 3158 stamped on the engine mount moulding on the crankcase, I think its clearly not c/n “892”.
I can still not resolve if its a Cirrus II with Cirrus III Heads, or simply a Cirrus III?, but if its serial is 3158 (rather than 315 with a spurrolous 8 near by), then I think it would need to be a Cirrus III for the c/n number to be up at that quantity?
I therefore propose to revise my record as:
“Previously recorded as Cirrus mk II c/n 892 but missing its name plate, it is fitted with ADC Cirrus III Heads (Is this a Cirrus II “mod 3?”- or is it a Cirrus III?) and has the number 3158 stamped on the front port engine mount moulding of the crankcase. As that is the typical location of the engine construction number on other examples, then at this stage it would seem this is c/n 3158 not c/n 892.
(The high c/n number may support the proposition that it is a Cirrus III not a Cirrus II?)”
Regards
Mark Pilkington
mark_pilkingtonThey are both currently at Luskintyre Aircraft Restorations with G-ABWH fitted with the Gipsy, restored and undertaking engine runs before Christmas.
mark_pilkingtonGeoff also compiled the World Wide Warbird Directory
mark_pilkingtonMothminor, 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?
mark_pilkingtonA section of GR31 centre fuselage survived in the Syd Beck collection but was sold off to someone in the UK in recent years and I am not sure where it has ended up or what its purpose for acquisition was?
mark_pilkingtonThanks 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
mark_pilkingtonSo 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.
mark_pilkingtonNo – 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.
mark_pilkingtonHere 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.
mark_pilkingtonJDK – 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.
mark_pilkingtonA73-27, a GAF Lincoln Mk 30 is in the Camden Aviation Museum in Australia, and we brought the cockpit of KB994 down under too as part of the acquisition of Avro Lincoln RF342 from the UK.
mark_pilkingtonHello Texantpmcat2
I think this might be the one you saw?
Blackburn Cirrus Major – Midland Air Museum – a photo on Flickriver
If so its a later “inverted” Blackburn Cirrus Major that has been “inverted – upright” ie upside down
mark_pilkingtonI don’t know if MoTaT offer scanning or copying services?
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