This is a very special weekend.

I have been working in partnership with Croydon Airport, Croydon Aerodrome Hotel and Trinity School (home of the Mitre Theatre) to bring this event to life.

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​WHAT IS IT?

The Flying High Weekend and Amy 95 celebrate the 95th anniversary of one of the most significant flights in aviation history; Amy Johnson's solo flight from England to Australia, which began on 5th May 1930 at Croydon Aerodrome!

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​The weekend events bring together the Flying High Tour and Historic Croydon Airport Trust with its two significant teams of historians, aviators and aviation enthusiasts, and professionals and volunteers from the world of the arts and engineering. Together we are hosting this celebratory weekend of interactive activities, talks, tours, exhibitions and performance inspired by Amy Johnson.

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The weekend will showcase the work going on countrywide to keep Amy's legacy alive and build on the ever popular Croydon Airport open days. These open days, taking place first Sunday of the month, have brought thousands of people from across the UK and further afield to the iconic Grade 2 listed Art Deco building of Croydon Airport House to discover the magic of this significant and important gem of a building.

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WHERE?

Amy 95 activities will be taking place in and around Croydon Airport House and will be working in partnership with Flying High Weekend activities in neighbouring Croydon Aerodrome Hotel. 

On the evening of 3rd May activities will extend to the Mitre Theatre in Shirley Park, Croydon, as it hosts a performance of one woman show, 

'Amy Johnson: Last Flight Out' with a post show guest panel and Q&A.

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WHY?

Inspired by the extraordinary achievements of Amy Johnson, the weekend celebrates Amy's legacy on the 95th anniversary of Amy's flight. It is part of joint endeavour to keep Amy's memory and legacy alive into the next generation.

 

A significant part of the weekend is a selection of children's activities as well as the launch of FLY Festival, a new movement supporting arts and engineering collaboration and apprenticeships through a 5 year programme of community events leading up to the centenary of Amy's Australia flight in 2030.

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it is VERY EXCITING!!

 

 

 

​BOOKING:

Amy 95 and Flying High Weekend activities are bookable separately please click each link accordingly.

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Entry is by suggested donation daytime events but booking ahead is advised.

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There is a charge for the evening performance on 3rd May.

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WEEKEND PROGRAMME

SATURDAY 3rd MAY

Croydon Airport House:

Hourly 10am-3pm Guided tours of Croydon Airport House & Control Tower

 

1-2pm and 3-4pm  Children's Flight Mapping Workshops

All day exhibition of Amy Johnson artefacts

 

Croydon Airport activities will be bookable HERE

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Croydon Aerodrome Hotel Amy Johnson Room and Hurricane Room:

Bookings open soon HERE for the following:

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Exhibition:

Invited organisations in aviation,

engineering and creative projects inspired by Amy

 

11am : Launch of FLY Festival

If we launch it, it's real! Explaining the project and its aims for the next five years

 

11.30am, 2.15pm, 4.15pm: Creative Consultation Workshops

Visitors are invited to be part if this initial phase of FLY Festival, informing us on your thoughts about Aspiration, where connections can be made, ideas that can be explored.

Sessions are approximately 45mins long

 

1pm 'The Life and Death of Amy Johnson' :

Talk from Jane Delamaine: Amy Johnson expert and historian 1hr approx

 

3.15pm Solo2Darwin:

Talk from Amanda Harrison, adventure pilot who flew her own solo flight in a vibtage Tiger Moth in homage to Amy and to bring her own dreams to life! 45mins approx

 

Evening Saturday 3rd May: Mitre Theatre, Trinity School, Shirley Park

'Amy Johnson: Last Flight Out'

A one woman show written and performed by Jenny Lockyer. Inspired by Amy Johnson's solo flight from England to Australia, in this show, we meet Amy in a world of memories, desires, wishes and ambitions and as we find out about her life, we start to see how the pieces fit and the tools Amy used to engineer her dreams to reality....

Followed by Q&A with Jenny Lockyer, Jane Delamaine and Amanda Harrison.

BOOKING OPEN NOW HERE

 

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SUNDAY 4th MAY

Croydon Airport House

Hourly 10am-3pm Guided tours

All day exhibition of Amy Johnson artefacts

All day 'Amy Johnson' meet and greet

1pm Fly- Past

Booking HERE

 

Croydon Aerodrome Hotel, Hurricane Room

Children's plane making workshops, 'Make Your Own Jason the Gipsy Moth'

for children aged 5yrs and up:

10.30am -11.30am

11.45am -12.45pm

1.45pm - 2.45pm

3pm- 4pm

BOOKING OPEN NOW HERE

 

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CROYDON AIRPORT HOUSE​

Heralded as the birth place of modern aviation, Croydon Airport boasts a number of aviation firsts, including being the first airport to implement Air Traffic Control and as the starting point for many record flying attempts. From Australia's Bert Hinkler to Scotland’s Jim Mollison, New Zealand's Jean Batten and Yorkshire's Amy Johnson and more, this iconic Grade 2 listed Art Deco building has seen them all. 

For more information please click HERE to visit the wonderful website of Historic Croydon Airport.

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95 YEARS AGO....

It was on 5th May 1930 that a small green de Havilland Gipsy Moth

bi-plane took off from Croydon Aerodrome, then Britain's only international airport, on what was to be a thrilling solo flight to Australia. As an unknown pilot, with only a few months flying experience, 26 year old Amy Johnson had said she wanted to make a name for herself in aviation and have adventures. With this flight she was to do just that.

In preparation for her flight and with the determination to be able to look after her own aircraft, Amy had gained a ground engineers licence, which for a woman was very unusual at that time. She was only the second woman in the world to do so. Then, over 19 and a half days Amy flew Jason, an open cockpit bi-plane, 11,000 miles across some of the most inhospitable terrain and oceans of the world. Although not breaking Bert Hinkler's record time to Australia due to the monsoons, Amy's flight saw her break his record to India, and by continuing to solo navigate her way to Darwin, she became the first woman in the world to fly solo from England to Australia. It was nothing short of incredible and it would give her global recognition as well as the CBE.

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Images below of Amy at Croydon just before she took off... first stop Vienna!

For a comprehensive and incredible record of Amy's flight to Australia visit our friends The Amy Johnson Arts Trust. Set up in 2016,  Rick Welton and his team have been working in Amy's home town of Hull to keep Amy's legacy alive and share her story with new audiences.

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