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Mrs J.A, Mollison CBE, 1934. Courtesy IET
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The final post by Trish Allen on Amy
Johnson and this time is is on her passion for engineering. We owe a
tremendous debt to the Women's Engineering Society and Institute of
Engineering and Technology (IET) and great thanks to Jon Cable, assistant
archivist there for all images in this blog:
As stated earlier, Amy was the first
woman to receive a Ground Engineers Licence from the Air Ministry.
If we reflect on the national shortage of female engineers in 2015,
i.e. only 7% of the engineering workforce is female, that was a major
achievement in December 1929.
In 1930, she subsequently became a
member of the Women’s Engineering Society and in 1931 she was
invited to address the society on how she had maintained the engine
and the airframe during her flight to Australia. She had to pump
petrol, clean and change plugs, drain the oil, examine the plunger
and spring, tighten electrodes, help to repair a wing fit on the
spare propeller, examine and filter oil and petrol and constantly
check for leakages. This work often took place in the dark with the
aid of a small torch and insects and sand flying in her face or
petrol squirting in her eyes plus coupled with intense heat.
She added:
We women are just on the
threshold of another career which has so far been regarded as the
strict province of man-that of aeronautical engineering [. . .] The
only argument that men can bring forward against woman’s intrusion
is that of physical strength, but this seems to me very poor grounds
for establishing and retaining a monopoly. In engineering there are
many job’s beyond a man’s strength. What does he do? He fetches
an instrument.
In 1932 Amy Johnson accepted the Vice
Presidency and in 1934 she was elected President and this lasted for
three years. The Women’s Engineering Society or W.E.S. as it is
called was initially a small but extremely innovatory society. It
was founded in 1919, after WW1, to address the
problems faced by women who had contributed to the war effort by
working in engineering and allied fields, but who now faced
opposition from the establishment. It started publishing a quarterly
journal, The Woman Engineer, to help support women engineers to push
for a change. The first issue was in 1919, price 3d. The Institute
of Engineering and Technology archives hold a complete set of issues
which make fascinating reading. Significantly the aeronautical
section of WES led, in 1957, to the British Women Pilots
Association.
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Amy Johnson, Caroline Haslett and Jim Mollison
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At the time of the conference at which
she became President, Amy was doing a daily trip to Paris for the
purpose of exploring commercial radio possibilities. She also worked
on ideas for high altitude and long distance flying. As commented, it was strange and significant that in England there were no women engine
drivers or ships captains but an airways pilot was a woman! The
conference was also informed that Amy had spent time in the U.S.A. studying the methods of manufacture and design in the chief air
planes looking in particular at propeller design and American
welding. She was anxious for more women to study aircraft design and
aeroplane instruments. This was in 1934!
During her Presidency in 1935, a debate
took place between Amy and her then husband Jim Mollison focusing on
the value of record breaking flights with Amy maintaining they no
longer served a useful purpose. She felt that whilst they are “good
news” there was an urgent need for improved ground facilities
emphasising:
a) rapid transport from the centre of
the city to the airport
b) complete wireless equipment, with
some sort of beam, on all transport machines
c) night flying equipment
d) better equipped aerodromes with
emergency landing provision
e) multi engine machines with a crew
WHAT VISION!
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WES Annual Conference 1935 , Mrs Mollison
speaking
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Amy was a magnificent role model to
encourage girls to become engineers but how many people even know
about her engineering skills and vast knowledge? Currently there is
still a myth that engineering involves dirt and spanners! Even if
girls study for the right subjects e.g. maths and physics, they so
often opt for other careers such as banking! Clearly there needs to
be more education such as teachers advising on the breadth of
engineering, the scope, the importance plus companies linking in with
schools.
In May 1940, Amy joined the women’s
section of the Air Transport Auxiliary. In Amy’s time, the ATA flew
transports, trainers and other non-combat aircraft from the
manufacturer’s airfields to the RAF bases. Flying unarmed aircraft
without radios, was a highly dangerous task. On 5th January 1941, Amy
disappeared on a flight from Blackpool to Oxfordshire somewhere in
the Thames estuary. Only her luggage was ever found.
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| Tribute issue of The Woman Engineer |
I will conclude with sections of
tribute speeches reproduced from The Woman Engineer:
Amy demonstrated for all time that
women can plan daring feats, can pay close attention to detail, can
superintend and carry out a prescribed programme, can overcome
obstacles as they are encountered, can learn from misfortune, can
face disappointment without loss of courage.
All the world knows of the Amy Johnson
who flew solo to Australia ten years ago, but it is perhaps those who
know her more closely who were able to appreciate her gifts and
abilities, the generosity of her mind, her modesty over real
achievement, her unquenchable spirit which, with her keen wit and
boundless humour, must have carried her through times of tension as
well as of horrific experience. Whatever Amy did she did it with zest
and relish.
Caroline Haslett (Secretary of the WES), The Times, January
14th 1941
Trish Allen
