MOLLISON ~ The Flying Scotsman

Signed on the title page by the author David Luff, Nov ’93
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Card laid into book signed by

JA Mollison

Lidun Publishing. First edition first printing  1993.     399 pages and well illustrated with photos.

Fine condition hardback book in blue covers with a Fine condition unclipped dust jacket. Clean, bright and tight. The book comes with a handwritten note from the author (on ‘Mollison ~ The Flying Scotsman’ headed paper) to Lettice Curtis, to whom this book possibly belonged. The signature in pencil is on the back of a business card and is laid into the book, not attached.

This is the first complete biography of pioneer aviator Jim Mollison (1905-1959) who became a legend in his own lifetime. He was one of the most glamorous and famous men of the 1930s. History has not dealt kindly with Mollison as he has languished under the shadow of Amy Johnson’s fame and his character distorted into notoriety by the media. This exhaustive biography sets out to put the record straight.

After a short RAF career, he flew in Australia before seeking fame and fortune with his long distance solo flights during the golden age of aviation. In July-August 1931, Mollison set a record time of 8 days, 19 hours for a flight from Australia to England, and in March 1932, a record for flying from England to South Africa in 4 days, 17 hours. For sheer bravery and unrelenting determination in the air he was without peer.  Not only was he the first person to complete a successful trans-Sahara flight from the UK to the Cape alone but he also had the distinction of being the first person to solo both North and South Atlantic oceans. His marriage to the equally famous Amy Johnson and their subsequent flying partnership in the Thirties aroused the type of frenzied adulation which was normally reserved for British Royalty.

Mollison’s flying achievements were only surpassed by his not-so-private life with numerous affairs and his playboy persona and hard drinking were headline news.  His book ‘Playboy of the Air’ was an early ‘kiss and tell’ memoir which nowadays might seem fairly innocuous but at the time it was shocking and finished his marriage to Amy.

Both Amy Johnson and Mollison served in the ATA  in World War II. Johnson was killed while ferrying an aircraft in 1941. Jim Mollison was awarded an MBE for his services with the ATA but after the war succumbed to alcoholism and died in 1959.

A smart copy of an excellent biography of the intrepid aviator, enhanced by a neat Mollison signature.