James Allan Mollison

Mollison in the 1930s

James Allan "Jim" Mollison (born April 19, 1905 in Glasgow ; † October 30, 1959 ) was a Scottish aviation pioneer.

The early years

Mollison was fascinated by aviation from an early age. He began pilot training with the British Air Force (RAF), where he was later the youngest officer at the age of 18. After completing his training, he was transferred to the Pakistani region of Waziristan .

Career

At the age of 22, Mollison became the youngest flight instructor at the time at the Central Flying School of the RAF. Soon after, however, he switched to the RAF reserve and devoted himself to civil aviation. From 1928 to 1929 he worked as a flight instructor at the South Australian Aero Club in Adelaide , then as a pilot for the Australian airlines Eyre Peninsular Airways and Australian National Airways (ANA) .

Mollison was considered an excellent pilot and playboy. With regard to his flying skills, he wanted to make a name for himself - like many other pilots at the time - by setting records in the field of flying. In July / August 1931, he set a new record with a flight from Great Britain to Australia in eight days and 19 hours, and in March 1932 his record flight from Great Britain to South Africa took place in four days and 17 hours.

During one of his flights for the Australian National Airways , Mollison met the famous aviation pioneer Amy Johnson and made her a marriage proposal within eight hours of their first meeting, which Johnson accepted; the wedding took place in July 1932. In the press and in public, the Mollison couple received the nickname The Flying Sweethearts . Immediately after the marriage, Amy Mollison took off on a flight from Great Britain to South Africa to break her husband's record for this route.

Mollison also continued his record attempts, and so on August 18, 1932 he was the first pilot to cross the Atlantic in an east-west direction in a solo flight; he took off for this flight in Portmarnock , Dublin , Ireland and landed in New Brunswick , Canada . In February 1933, Mollison became the first solo pilot to fly from Great Britain to Brazil in a record time of three days and thirteen hours with a stopover in Africa . Then the Mollison couple planned a joint record flight around the earth, which they began on July 22, 1933 with the start in Wales. However, her plane crashed before landing in Connecticut , USA . Both were injured and the damaged plane was destroyed by souvenir hunters.

In October 1934, Mollison took a De Havilland Comet DH.88 Black Magic at MacRobertson Air Race in part. They led the race from the start and were still in the lead in Baghdad , but had to retire in Allahabad after they got lost and were also forced to refuel with unsuitable fuel, which destroyed the engines.

Due to the rivalry between the married couple in aviation on the one hand, and Jim Mollison's constant binge drinking on the other, the marriage was divorced in 1938, and Amy then took her maiden name again.

The second World War

Both Mollison and his ex-wife flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II . Amy Johnson was killed during a transfer flight in 1941. It is said of Jim Mollison that he was shot at by fighters of the German Air Force together with his co-pilot Diana Barnato Walker and twelve passengers. After the damaged Avro Anson landed , Mollison's only concern was how to get a cup of tea.

Despite Mollison's known drinking problems, there are no known incidents of drunkenness during the multiple flights for Ferry Command and Air Transport Auxiliary .

post war period

After the war, Mollison settled in London and ran an inn there. He married Maria Clasina E. Kamphuis on September 26, 1949. Because of his persistent alcohol problems, his pilot's license was revoked in 1953 by the Civil Aviation Authority Medical Board . The couple separated, but Maria bought him the Carisbrooke Hotel in Surbiton, a facility for teetotalers. Mollison died on October 30, 1959.

Trivia

The 1942 film "They Flew Alone" (US title: "Wings and the Woman") tells the story of Amy Johnson and also covers the time of her marriage to Mollison.

Various roads in the United Kingdom have been named after Mollison.