Journalist’s online campaign for help to solve family mystery

The couple on their wedding day

The discovery of an remarkable journey by a couple in the 1950s has prompted a Richmond-based journalist to appeal for help to investigate a family mystery.

Sarah Hartley (who also started this website) first heard about the so-called ‘phut-phut flyers’ from her mother-in-law and, curiosity piqued, she started trying to find out more.

Cuttings from local and national newspapers are helping her start to piece together the story of Bryan and Joyce Hartley who set off to fly across the world back to their Cheshire home in 1957 in a plane they restored back to life themselves.

“It sounded such an incredible story – imagine undertaking such a huge journey in a tiny aircraft. I wanted to hear more. They sound like a remarkably interesting couple with links into the celebrity scene of the era (Cilla Black was once a neighbour) and even an appearance on BBC Tomorrow’s World.”

But the story has an abrupt and mysterious end at the moment – after arriving back the couple then vanished without trace some years later and now Hartley is looking for support to investigate what happened to them.

Using an American-based website called BeaconReader.com, she’s looking to raise a small amount of money to cover the costs involved in the project and plans to write regular pieces about the search as well as provide regular updates on Twitter @foodiesarah using the hashtag #phutphutflyers.

“Although they don’t have a connection to Richmond, I thought it might be worth mentioning it on the Noticeboard just in case there’s anyone who might have come across their story or is simply interested in joining me to find out more about a couple’s unusual piece of aviation history. They seem to be the sort of people who made connections across the country and even the world. Making contact with anyone who knew them could be invaluable and might just end up being the vital piece in the jigsaw of discovering what happened – after all, you just never know who might be read this.”

To support her investigation, visit https://www.beaconreader.com/projects/how-did-these-1950s-jetsetters-vanish or to get in touch email foodiesarahATme.com with #phutphutflyers in the subject line.