Society mother prepares near London for Long East - West Atlantic flight . Mrs Beryl Markham , 31 year old mother of a boy of seven and sister in law of Sir Charles Markham , the colliery baronet , is preparing at an aerodrome near London for her attempt to fly non stop from London to New York alone . She is using a Vega Gull plane fitted with long range tanks sufficient to cover about 3 , 800 miles at a cruising speed of more than 150 miles an hour . Mrs Markham , who has done more than 2 , 000 hours of flying , has spent months planning the flights with experts . Photo shows , Mrs Beryl Markham stepping out of her plane after an inspection . 22 August 1936 Original caption from negative