Amy Johnson play 'grounded' at Sheppey Little Theatre but talk goes ahead
- Feb 27
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 28
A play about aviation pioneer Amy Johnson, who disappeared after crashing her plane into the Thames Estuary 85 years ago, has been grounded.
Last Flight Out, written and performed by Jenny Lockyer, was due to land at the Sheppey Little Theatre in Meyrick Road, Sheerness, on Saturday, March 7.
But none of the £10 tickets were sold.
A disappointed theatre spokeswoman admitted last night: “The play is cancelled. We sold no tickets. Jenny said she didn't want to come all the way from Wales.”
However, a talk about the daredevil ‘queen of the skies’ delivered by Jane Delamaine, the founder and director of the Amy Johnson Project, is still clear for take-off the night before on Friday, March 6. Tickets are £5 on the door.
The illustrated Life and Death of Amy Johnson presentation will focus on Amy’s incredible life and tragic death, using Amy’s own words where possible to tell her epic story.
Jane, a mother-of-three who now goes wreck-hunting, said: “I have dedicated the past 13 years to bringing Amy’s story back to life for a whole new generation, so her memory doesn’t slip out of history.”
The tribute is predicted to evoke laughter, tears and awe for the lone-girl flyer of the 1930 who went on to marry Scottish pilot Jim Mollinson.
Amy was born in Hull in 1903, the same year as the Wright Brothers made their first flight in America. Soon after, other “magnificent men in their flying machines” were attempting to get off the ground, too.
In Britain, the race was led by the Short Brothers on the Isle of Sheppey.
Fuelled by tales of derring do, Amy, a typist, went on to became only the second woman in the world to qualify as an aircraft ground engineer.
And then, in 1930 aged 26 and with just with 99 hours in her logbook, she took off from Croydon to become the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
It was an amazing achievement. She flew 11,000 miles, on her own, in a second-hand de Havilland Gipsy Moth bi-plane she called Jason.
It took her over shark-infested seas and through all weathers, including fog, sandstorms and monsoon rain, as she huddled in an open cockpit.
The feat turned her into an international celebrity. She told the world: “Believe nothing to be impossible.”
But on January 5, 1941, at just 37, she went missing, presumed dead, while serving her country flying an Air Transport Auxiliary aircraft during the Second World War.
Her Airspeed Oxford plane mysteriously ditched into the sea off Herne Bay, where a life-size bronze statue of her now stands on the seafront.
She had been heading to Oxford.
Amy’s body and the wreckage of her plane were never found, despite a desperate rescue attempt.
Five hours after her departure, a convoy of wartime vessels in the Thames Estuary spotted a parachute coming down and saw a person alive in the water calling for help.
Conditions were poor with a heavy sea and a strong tide. Snow was falling and it was intensely cold.
Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher, the captain of HMS Haslemere, steered his ship to the site of the crash where his crew threw ropes overboard.
Fletcher himself dived in to try to save a person wearing a flying helmet. But when a lifeboat reached him, he was unconscious. He died in hospital three days later from hypothermia. Amy’s body is believed to have disappeared beneath the ship.
Her flying bag, logbook and cheque book were recovered later near the crash site.
Two films have been made about the aviator’s life. Anna Neagle starred in They Flew Alone in 1942 and in 1984 Harriet Walter starred in The Amy Johnson Story.
· The Life and Death of Amy Johnson illustrated talk is at the Sheppey Little Theatre, Sheerness, ME12 2NX, on Friday, March 6, at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 on the door (subject to availability) or can be booked at Sheppy Glass, 24 Broadway, Sheerness, on 01795 580006.
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