Journey home from East Kent

After breakfast in a souless chain we say farewell to the beach.  Some youngesters are paddling, look carefully!  Envy! 

We stop and have a walk by the sea at Herne Bay.  This Victorian resort is verging on genteel.  The pier has been truncated.  Look closey and you can see it's surviving end on the horizon.  Like many Victorian piers it was beset with problems, closed in the mid nineteenth century and then collapsed. 

In 1837, Mrs Ann Thwaytes, a wealthy lady from London, donated around £4,000 to build a 75 feet clock tower on the town's seafront.  It is believed to be the first freestanding purpose built clock tower in the world. 

Amy Johnson, (1903 – 1941) was the first female pilot to fly alone from Britain to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband she set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s. She flew in the Second World War as part of the Air Transport Auxillary.   On 5 January 1941, while flying an Airspeed Oxford for the ATA from Prestwick to RAF Kidlimgton near Oxford, Amy went off course in adverse weather conditions. Reportedly out of fuel, she bailed out as her aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary near Herne Bay.

The crew of HMS Haslemere spotted Amy's parachute coming down and saw her alive in the water, calling for help. Conditions were poor; there was a heavy sea and a strong tide, snow was falling and it was intensely cold.  Lt Cdr Walter Fletcher, the commander of Haslemere, dived into the water in an attempt to rescue her.  However, he failed in the attempt and died in hospital days later. The current pushed Johnson closer to the ship. A sudden swell sent Haslemere lurching foward; the crew was unable to pull it back in time and the ship's stern crashed down on Amy who was sucked into the blades of the propeller. Her body was never recovered.

A memorial service was held  in the church of St Martin in the Fields on 14 January 1941. Walter Fletcher was posthumously awarded the Albert Medsl in May 1941.itThere is still some mystery about the accident, as the reason for the flight is still a government secret and there is some evidence that besides Amy and Fletcher, a third person (possibly someone she was supposed to ferry somewhere) was also seen in the water and also died. Who the third party was is still unknown.

It has been more recently hinted her death was due to friendly fire.  In 1999 it was reported that Tom Mitchell claimed to have shot the heroine down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight. He said: "The reason Amy was shot down was because she gave the wrong colour of the day [a signal to identify aircraft known by all British forces] over radio." Mr. Mitchell explained how the aircraft was sighted and contacted by radio. A request was made for the signal. She gave the wrong one twice. "Sixteen rounds of shells were fired and the plane dived into the Thames Estuary. We all thought it was an enemy plane until the next day when we read the papers and discovered it was Amy. The officers told us never to tell anyone what happened."

Now it is time for the long drive home.  We are looking forward to being reunited with our bunny but have really enjoyed pur time in the South Eastern corner of our country.