Amy Johnson’s DH.60G Gipsy Moth
Amy Johnson (1903-1941) was a record-setting English pilot who was very active during the thirties. In
1930, the 26 year old Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from Great Britain to Australia,
flying from Croydon to Darwin, a flight which took 19 days and 11,000-miles (17,700 kilometers).
Her flight was made in 18 legs. From London, she flew to Austria, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Persia, India, Burma, Siam, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, Dutch Timor, and across the Timor Sea to Darwin, arriving on 24 May 1930. For her accomplishment, Miss Johnson was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.), awarded the Harmon Trophy, and a £10,000 prize from the Daily Mail newspaper.
During the war, Amy flew for the Royal Air Force as a First Officer of the Air Transport Auxiliary, and was killed in January 1941 while flying an Airspeed Oxford. It was bad weather but there is evidence that suggests she may have been downed by friendly AA due to an identification incident.
Amy Johnson flew her personal de Havilland DH.60G. This is the Amodel 1/48th scale kit. It's not a bad kit, just rough around the edges and needs some tender love and care. Improvements include hollowed out exhausts, steel wire rigging, spares box seatbelts, scratched instrument panel, wire engine and upper tank plumbing, wire wing pins, spares box under-wing actuators, and scratch built spare prop. This is the only Amodel quarter scale kit I know of, but it was good enough that I wish they made more. They have a 1/72 Beriev KOR-1 and I'd buy one if it was upscaled.
Thanks for looking.
“It’s not a bad kit...” well, if not for your words the photos tell otherwise, such is the quality of your work in that kit, simply beautiful. And this is a kit I was not aware of.
Thank you. It's worth a try if you like '30s civil air.
Looks great! Love the story behind it also. Great post and model.
Thank you, sir.
This is a masterpiece out of difficult kit, Kyle. Excellent model in every aspect.
Great story too, of this amazing lady.
Welcome aboard, and please bring on more!
Thank you, I look forward to sharing more. It is indeed an inspiring story.
I love this! Particularly the "spare" prop. Just superb all the way around.
Proof growing up the son of a good modeler will lead to another. 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration to pull that kit out of my stash.
Amy Johnson was also married for a time to James Mollison. They made it as far as Jalalabad in the Comet "Black Magic" during the 1934 MacRobertson.
Thank you. One of the most fun bits about modeling is adding small touch like a spare prop. Dear old Dad is the best sort of inspiration one can get.
I do recall their marriage being really sudden, like in a matter of days. I had gave a thought or two to purchasing Mikro-Mir's kit of the Comet. Looks nice.
Great story supporting this great build.
The spare propellor attached to the fuselage is beautiful.
Thank you. It was carved from some spare balsa I believe.
What they said, a beautiful build! Nice bit of history.
Thanks. I like to add a little bit of background with my presentations.
Beautiful.
Amy was my paternal Grandmother's cousin, and even distantly related we are so proud of her and Jim's achievements all those years ago.
This work does "Jason" full justice -- many congratulations on a job well done. Lovely seeing these photos of her again as well.
It really is a small world, eh? Thank you for the kind words, it's my pleasure to help keep the memory alive.