Last surviving piece of Amy Johnson’s plane sold at auction

The sliver of wreckage was found by a seaman during the search for Amy Johnson in the Thames Estuary in 1941 – Hansons / SWNS

The only surviving fragment of vanished pilot Amy Johnson’s doomed plane has been sold after reappearing 83 years after her fatal crash.

Johnson became the first woman to fly from Britain to Australia in 1930, but in 1941 her feats came to an end when she disappeared in a crash over the Thames Estuary that may have been caused by friendly fire.

A seaman attempting to rescue her pulled a surviving fragment of the plane from the water which he handed down through his family.

The fragment’s existence only emerged last month when the seaman’s nephew approached an auction house.

Matt Crowson, head of militaria at Hansons auction house in Derby, which sold the item, said:  “I was amazed to receive an email asking, ‘Would I be interested in a piece of Amy Johnson’s aircraft wreckage’.

“The item was inherited by our vendor from his uncle, Ronald Arthur Clark, both from Enfield, North London. Ronald said he’d scooped it out of the water and put it in his pocket during efforts to rescue Amy.

Amy Johnson set a number of world records before her untimely death in 1941 – PA

“Back in 1941 Ronald was an able seaman on HMS Berkeley, an escort vessel in the English Channel.

“It was among ships which attempted to rescue Amy after her parachute was spotted coming down.”

The Kent Battle of Britain Museum bought the fragment for £3,673.60 at auction, and curator Dave Brocklehurst said the piece will  “join the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) display at the museum”, as Johnson was a member of the organisation before her death aged 37.

Johnson flew 11,000 miles from London to Durban in 1930, the first such solo flight by a woman.  She then co-piloted a flight from London to Moscow in 1931.

She set records for flights from London to South Africa, and with her husband and copilot Jim Mollison also made the fastest flight from Britain to India in 1934.

Ronald Clark who scooped the piece of wreckage out of the Thames Estuary, aboard HMS Berkeley in 1941 – Hansons Auctioneers

The aviator became a celebrity and inspired Katharine Hepburn’s pilot character in the 1933  romantic  film Christopher Strong.

During the Second World War, Johnson signed up to the Air Transport Auxiliary, which transported Royal Air Force aircraft around the country.

It was during a flight for the Auxiliary from Prestwick to RAF Kidlington in Oxford that Johnson went off course, and she ultimately bailed out over the Thames Estuary during high seas and falling snow.  Her body was never recovered.

It was long thought that Johnson ran out of fuel after going off course in snowy conditions.  But in 1999, Tom Mitchell, an ex-serviceman with an anti-aircraft battery, claimed to have downed her plane when she failed to give the correct identification code during the flight.

Spotted alive

Johnson was spotted alive in the water and calling for help after going down but conditions were poor. There was a strong tide and snow was falling, and she was unable to reach ropes thrown for her.

Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher, the captain of HMS Haslemere led rescue efforts and dived in to attend to what was believed to be a second body in the water. Fletcher himself was dragged out of the Estuary unconscious and died in hospital days later as a result of the extreme cold.

The wreckage in close up – Hansons / SWNS

In 2016, Dr Alec Gill, a military historian, said that the son of a rescue ship’s crew member claimed that those who were there believed Johnson was never found because she was sucked into the blades of the ship’s propellers.

Mr Crowson said: “We can never be absolutely certain what happened to her that fateful day in 1941, other than it was a terrible accident.

“In 1999, it was reported her death may have been caused by friendly fire. Sussex man Tom Mitchell claimed to have shot her aircraft down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight.

“Sadly, it was also later claimed Amy had been sucked into the blades of a ship’s propellers during the rescue bid.”

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