ATLANTIC FLIGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 10

ATLANTIC FLIGHT

WOMAN'S ACHIEVEMENT COURAGE OF MRS. B. MARKHAM [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Sept. VI The daring challenge of Mrs. Ber\! Markham to North Atlantic weathei earned success for a flight which, in a single-engined aeroplane unequipped ■with radio, must remain an adventure even when the sun shines and the aij is calm. Eighteen hundred miles of open sea separate Ireland from Newfoundland along the route she followed. Sk flew through storm after storm. Head winds held her back, and forced up the fuel consumption. She was obliged to n\ low instead of at the more economical heights several thousand feet up. Finally, after--passing over a fog shrouded Newfoundland, Mrs. -Mark ham, with fuel at the point of exhaustion, made a heavy landing in a clearat Baleine, on the north-east short of Cape Breton Island. She had pulled off a 500 to one chance. In doing so she accomplished the first westward solo crossing of the -North Atlantic dt a woman, and' set a new world record for the longest feminine solo non-stop flight. Jn all, she flew about 2700 miles from Abingdon, England. The flight was magnificent, but 111 1936 it is not aviation. North Atlantic waters will not thus be conquered for the air mail and the passenger aeroplane. Yet the courage of the pilot, the skill with which she kept a perfect course across the ocean in spite of appalling storms, and the determination that kept her going on when still within easj range of Ireland and a safe return, compel admiration. Once again, too, a pilot has shown how the modern British light aeroplane and its engine will respond to the most extreme demands.