- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New Ed edition (6 May 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0753817705
- ISBN-13: 978-0753817704
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 3.4 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 63,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In Amy Johnson: Queen of the Air, Midge Gillies tells Johnson's life story with a passion and zest worthy of the adventurer herself. In May 1930, the young typist from Hull took off from Croydon Airport, with a thermos flask and a packet of sandwiches, to beat the solo record for flying to Australia. Johnson went on to a celebrity life and embarked on other record-breaking flights to Tokyo and Cape Town. She went through a tumultuous marriage and, like her American counterpart Amelia Earhart, disappeared in mysterious circumstances during the Second World War.
Midge Gillies has interviewed surviving family members, and gained access to hundreds of letters, quoted here for the first time. She examines Amy's traumatic early life and recreates in detail the mystery of her last 24 hours. Complete with maps, illustrations and notes, this biography is an excellent example of thorough research of a captivating story, wedded to a straightforward and winning style. Especially enjoyable are the details that chronicle an age in which society high life demanded a certain standard of insouciant flamboyance. Gillie relates how, when Johnson flew solo from South Africa to London she made sure she included a tennis racket and evening dress, and regaled reporters with stories of how she had to powder her nose in mid-flight. Amy Johnson: Queen of the Air is a sparkling story of a swashbuckling personality in an age that valued individuality and genuine adventure. --Dwight Longenecker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
In May 1930, Amy Johnson, a typist from Hull, took off from Croydon Airport with a thermos flask and a packet of sandwiches to try to beat the world solo record to Australia. She arrived, sun-blistered and with grease on her face, after weeks of flying a second-hand, open-cockpit biplane with no radio communication and the most basic of maps. Her adventures inspired a world struggling with the devastating effects of the Depression and made her into a celebrity overnight. She married Scottish playboy Jim Mollison, and together 'The Flying Sweethearts' broke records, mixed with the Mayfair Set, Amelia Earhart and Hollywood stars. But her tempestuous marriage was soon to crumble and she resumed her love affair with speed, taking up gliding and rally driving, and finding solace with a French millionaire. Her plane disappeared over the Thames Estuary during the Second World War, sparking rumours which are still being investigated today. Her body was never found.
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First Sentence
Hull is a city out on a limb. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Hull is a city out on a limb. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a fantastic biography. They say 'never judge a book by its cover' but I have to admit to buying this book 'for my bookshelf'. However, I am so glad I opened it. I can honestly say that I was gripped from the very first page. It has everything. It takes a very un-biased look at the tragic but diva-esque life of Amy with elements of history, family life, her working life and her fight for equal rights for women. Her aquaintances with other pilots are also included. It gives the reader a broad range of emothions from pity to love to feeling she gets what she deserves sometimes. It really is one of the best books I have ever read. READ IT!!!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A secretary from Hull flying solo to Australia is bound to make a good story, but in the expert hands of Midge Gillies it makes a truly great one. These days we take international travel for granted, but this biography really brings back the wonder of aviation, and introduces us to the characters who shaped its fascinating history. Nobody could fail to be capitivated by the astonishing achievements of the redoubtable Miss Johnson. In this biography they are so recounted so well that one could be forgiven for thinking it an adventure novel. That is not to say this is not a scholarly work. The research is meticulous, bringing to light new evidence surrounding the aviatrix’s mysterious disappearance. I have not been this excited about a biography since Claire Tomalin’s award-winning “Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self”.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is hard to imagine, in our era of jumbo jets and Airbus 380s, just how thrilling air flight was before the Second World War. This very well written biography charts the life of Amy Johnson, a typist from Hull, who flew alone from Britain to Australia in May 1930. The flight made her famous, not only in Britain but throughout the English-speaking world. Yet this is only part of her story. She subsequently flew solo to and from South Africa, and then entered into a tempestuous marriage with fellow flier Jim Mollison, a period that was marked by as many failures as successes and culminating in divorce. When the Second World War broke out, Amy - a long-time advocate of women's rights - joined the Air Transport Auxiliary with another dozen women, who flew planes of all kinds from the factories to airfields. She died in January 1941 when her plane crashed in the Thames Estuary and she was drowned. To quote from the book's cover, this is a first-rate story about a remarkable woman.
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