Evening star., 1936-09-05

degrees at st. Johns. Rain and mist
swept the coast from the Atlantic.
Until the steamer report came in,
only one point was believed to have
heard the planes progress. and that
report was only conjecture.
The drone Of plane believed to be
hers was heard over Castletown Bere-
haven on the western shore of Ireland
little less than four hours after she
left the runway at the Royal Air
Force Airdrome at Abingdon in Berk-
shire.
From there her course lay over the
open sea-over the ocean graves Of
her Inflated feminine predecessors in
East-West attempts, Elsie Mackay and
Princess Lowenstein-W -Wertheim, who
perished with the men pilots who few
their ships.
Her turquoise blue, stock model
plane carried no radio equipment.
She battled 30-mile headwind in
| negotiating the airline distance of 385
miles from her starting point to Cas-
tletown.
Her ship. "the Messenger" loaded
with $50 gallons of gasoline, lifted
perfectly into the air from the long
Abingdon Airdrome runway at $50
pm. British Summer time u2:50
pm, Eastern standard time).
Next stop United States, I trust"
Mrs. Markham said. Her 7-year-old
son was sleeping peacefully in an Eng
lish countryside home at the time.
The take-of came after q week of
nerve-racking waiting for favorable
weather. The aviatrix was visibly
nervous at the start. lighting numer-
ous cigarettes as she received last
minute instructions from an aviator
friend.
Her course after leaving Ireland
gave her an 1,800-mile over-water hop
under light full moon before she ap-
preached the heavy weather forecast
near land on the western side of the
Atlantic.
She said she expected to average
1856 miles an hour on the projected
3,450-mile flight That placed her
possible landing in New York at be-
tween 20 and "a hours after her take
of, or around noon today.
Cruising Range 1900 Miles.
THE Messenger" bore the markings
"VP-KCC." The single-engined. low
wing monoplane had q cruising range
of 1000 miles.
Only a few friends gathered at the
airdrome to say farewell.
II believe in the future of an At
lantic air service" she said before
taking OF, land want to be in on it
at the beginning
1T is a difficult flight, know.
just don't like the look of the map.
The blue seems too vast between the
friendly pieces of land"
A jug of black coffee and a package
Of fruits and nuts, her only food and
drink, were stored in her planes
cabin.
The aviatrix, schooled In the dan
gers Of flying over African jungles,
wore a light gray jumper and gray
flannel trousers, q jaunty white hat
perched on her head and tufts of her
blond locks whipped in the heavy
breeze.
Her take-off came only a day after
Dick Merrill and Harry Richman,
American flyers, had flown from New
York to Wales.
Richman, stage and screen enter
tainer. shook his head when he heard
Mrs. Markham had gone.
ut would be folly to fight against
that wind" he declared.
II don't think she will get far with
light plane. wish she had talked
to me before taking OF, because I had
q report from the United States
Weather Bureau about q hurricane
of Bermuda.
The American flyers themselves
were considering in London a take
of perhaps today on their return
flight to the United States. They
said they would await favorable
weather reports.
No woman ever has accomplished
what Mrs. Markham essayed.
Amelia Earhart Putnam, the Ameri-
can aviatrix. new the Atlantic from
west and east alone. and Amy Molli-
son crossed from Wales to Connecticut
with her husband, James A. Mollison,
in 1888.
Mrs. Markham said she had had
the Atlantic flight in mind for some
time.
"The chance to do 1t was given me
by q Kenya syndicate interested in
aviation" she explained. "They are
backing me right through"
She started flying in 1891, when she
soloed after only eight hours instruc-
ton.
On her first flight to England from
Africa she was forced down in .
jungle. but finally made her way to
an English port, where she stepped
from her plane with the remark:
Il have flown alone from Nairobi." Z"
A ship In which she was touring the
continent by air crashed In Germany
In 1882 and she narrowly escaped
death.
HUSBAND ON AUTO DRIVE.