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Diana Johnson MP in bid to keep Amy Johnson replica plane in Hull

BBC The replica planeBBC
The full-size model of Amy Johnson's Gipsy Moth will remain on show at Hull's Paragon railway station throughout 2017

An MP plans to write to the justice secretary to stop a replica of the plane Amy Johnson used in her solo flight to Australia leaving Hull.

The Gipsy Moth copy was built by Hull prison inmates and has been on display at Paragon railway station as part of 2017 City of Culture.

It is set to be moved to the Yorkshire Air Museum, in North Yorkshire.

Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Hull North, said the city's three MPs would be writing to the justice secretary.

The replica plane was built by inmates at HMP Hull

The prison service previously said "no suitable locations" for the full-scale replica could be found "due to its size".

Ms Johnson said the MPs are due to write to David Lidington, the secretary of state for justice, about discussions that have taken place over the plane's future.

"Why can't it stay there? It means something to the city, it's a symbol of something really great", she said.

PA Amy Johnson sat in cockpitPA
Amy Johnson died in 1941 after the plane she was piloting crashed
Footage shows an actress being motion captured - followed by the end result

Hull City Council said it had not been approached about alternative locations but was "supportive of this remaining in the city if a suitable place can be found".

The Street Life Museum of Transport the only "potentially suitable council facility" was not big enough to display the plane, it said.

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Amy Johnson

PA Amy Johnson by aeroplanePA
  • Amy Johnson was born in Hull in July 1903 and achieved international acclaim after her 19-day flight to Australia
  • She completed the journey from London to Darwin in 1930
  • Following her record-breaking flight, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, flying aircraft from factories to RAF airbases during World War Two
  • She died in mysterious circumstances when her plane crashed in to the Thames estuary in January 1941. Her body was never found
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