BLACKPOOL historian Robert McDougall is celebrating after discovering a photo album crammed full of information about flying legend Amy Johnson.

Amy,who established several long distance solo flying records in the 1930s, had given the album to her sister Molly who lived on Newton Drive, Blackpool.

Robert discovered the snapshots of her, her plane and views of the area she flew over, after speaking to a dealer in Blackpool.

He has since passed some of the photos on to the Citizen.

He said: "I think they became available after Molly left the town following her husband's suicide."

Amy's final flight started at Blackpool Airport but ended in tragedy when her RAF Transport Aircraft disappeared en-route to Oxford. It was later found in the River Thames.

Robert added: "The tragedy happened after her marriage break-up which made her depressed. She had also heard rumours she was to be grounded because of nervous exhaustion.

"It all points to the fact she may have committed suicide. It is very tragic."

Amy's first record-breaking solo flight was to Australia in 1930 and two years later she claimed another first by flying to Tokyo.

Robert explained how valuable the photos were, saying: "These are unique photos of what was a major event at the time. It is the first time we have had any documentation of her trip and these photos go a long way to helping us see what happened when she travelled to China and Japan."

Other photos in the collection show Chinese life under the Japanese occupation, which Robert would like to hand over to one of the two eastern governments.

"Amy obviously took a lot of interest in what was happening, and if either the Japanese or Chinese Governments want them, they are more than welcome to them," Robert said.

"As for the photos of Amy, I will be passing them to the Science Museum in London which deal with her artefacts."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.