Mollison Rise
In honour of : Jim Mollison
Full Real Name : Captain James Alan Mollison, MBE
Born in Glasgow, Scotland on 19th April 1905
Died in London on 30th October 1959
Mollison was the youngest officer in the RAF at the age of 18 when he successfully obtained his Royal Air Force (RAF) Short Service Commission and only 4 years later he became the youngest flying instructor at the Central Flying School.
He transferred to the RAF Reserve not long afterwards and in 1928 he became an instructor with the South Australian Aero Club in Adelaide, Australia.
In July/August of 1931 Mollison flew from Australia to England setting a record time of 8 days and 19 hours and then in the following March he set another record of 4 days and 17 hours to fly from England to South Africa.
Whilst flying for Australian National Airways he met Amy Johnson and only eight hours after initially meeting her he proposed, whilst still in the air and they quickly became known as The Flying Sweethearts.
They married in July and then Amy flew off to break her new husband's England/South Africa record.
Mollison's record breaking attempts continued and on 18th August he became the first pilot to fly solo from East to West across the Atlantic from Portmarnock, Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick, Canada.
His next solo crossing, in a record breaking time of 3 days and 13 hours, was from England to Brazil in February 1933.
On 22nd July that year both he and his wife Amy took off on a record breaking non-stop flight from Pendine Sands in Wales to New York although they crashed in Bridgeport having run out of fuel. They were both injured in the crash and their airplane was taken apart by souvenir hunters.
In October 1934 they took part in the MacRobertson Air Race in a de Havilland DH.88 Comet Black Magic. Unfortunately they were forced to retire at Baghdad having damaged their engines using non-aviation fuel.
Being rivals for setting aviation records the marriage soon became strained. Not helped by Mollison's occasional heavy drinking and in 1938 they were divorced.
Jim went on to serve in the Air Transport Auxiliary in WWII for which he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Apparently after one incident in which the Anson he was co-piloting was shot at by Luftwaffe fights his only concern was "how to get a cup of tea!".
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Mollison
http://www.airportofcroydon.com/Jim%20Mollison.html
http://www.egginton.org.uk/Black_Magic.jpg
http://www.derbyaeroclub.com
Mollison was the youngest officer in the RAF at the age of 18 when he successfully obtained his Royal Air Force (RAF) Short Service Commission and only 4 years later he became the youngest flying instructor at the Central Flying School.
He transferred to the RAF Reserve not long afterwards and in 1928 he became an instructor with the South Australian Aero Club in Adelaide, Australia.
In July/August of 1931 Mollison flew from Australia to England setting a record time of 8 days and 19 hours and then in the following March he set another record of 4 days and 17 hours to fly from England to South Africa.
Whilst flying for Australian National Airways he met Amy Johnson and only eight hours after initially meeting her he proposed, whilst still in the air and they quickly became known as The Flying Sweethearts.
They married in July and then Amy flew off to break her new husband's England/South Africa record.
Mollison's record breaking attempts continued and on 18th August he became the first pilot to fly solo from East to West across the Atlantic from Portmarnock, Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick, Canada.
His next solo crossing, in a record breaking time of 3 days and 13 hours, was from England to Brazil in February 1933.
On 22nd July that year both he and his wife Amy took off on a record breaking non-stop flight from Pendine Sands in Wales to New York although they crashed in Bridgeport having run out of fuel. They were both injured in the crash and their airplane was taken apart by souvenir hunters.
In October 1934 they took part in the MacRobertson Air Race in a de Havilland DH.88 Comet Black Magic. Unfortunately they were forced to retire at Baghdad having damaged their engines using non-aviation fuel.
Being rivals for setting aviation records the marriage soon became strained. Not helped by Mollison's occasional heavy drinking and in 1938 they were divorced.
Jim went on to serve in the Air Transport Auxiliary in WWII for which he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Apparently after one incident in which the Anson he was co-piloting was shot at by Luftwaffe fights his only concern was "how to get a cup of tea!".
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Mollison
http://www.airportofcroydon.com/Jim%20Mollison.html
http://www.egginton.org.uk/Black_Magic.jpg
http://www.derbyaeroclub.com
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