AMY JOHNSON’S TRIUMPH

Taranaki Daily News, 8 August 1930, Page 9

AMY JOHNSON’S TRIUMPH

TUMULTUOUS RECEPTION

BRITISH YOUTH PAYS TRIBUTE

‘ANY G-TRL CAN EMULATE TT’

British- Wireless. Rugby, Aug. 6. Miss Amy Johnson was accorded a tumultuous reception when she drove in triumph through the London 'streets today to attend a luncheon given in her honour.

The police had great difficulty in keeping the way clear for her car and flowers were showered' upon her along the whole route. In the procession through the streets she was accompanied by many of her own generation, notable women who have won distinction m various directions, and by the pioneers of aviation, including Sir Arthur VV bitten Brown, who with the late. Six John Alcock flew across the Atlantic for the first timo eleven years ago. A largo floral model of the Jason, Johnnie’s Moth aeroplane, was suspended over the luncheon table at which the Hon. Esmond Harmsworth presided. Amon" those who paid eloquent tributes to Miss Johnson great achievement were Mr. J. H. Thomas, Secretary for the Dominions, Sir Setton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation and Sir Philip Sassoon, chairman of the Royal Aero Club. . . At a gathering of distinguished Bntish youth, organised by the Daily Mail, at the Savoy Hotel, Miss Johnson' was presented with the first certificate of honorary membership of the United Kingdom Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators ever given to a woman, and also the Daily Mail’s cheque for £lO,OOO and a gold cup from British youth Those present included youthful leaders of the British stage, cinema, sport, literature, science, art, polities, music, education, commerce and architecture-. Miss Johnson, replying to the laudatory speeches, said: “There was nothing exceptional in my flight except that I am a girl. There is no reason why anv girl should not emulate it. . . Miss Johnson stated she was giving £lOO to the fund for Mr. Eric Hook’s widow. “My first thought when I received the £lO,OOO cheque,” she said, “was for the wife of Mr. Hook, who set «ut on the same journey as I but whose luck was not so good.”