<P> When Markham decided to take on the Atlantic crossing , no female pilot had yet flown non-stop from Europe to New York , and no woman had made the westward flight solo , though several had died trying . Markham hoped to claim both records . On 4 September 1936 , she took off from Abingdon , England . After a 20 - hour flight , her Vega Gull , The Messenger , suffered fuel starvation due to icing of the fuel tank vents , and she crash - landed at Baleine Cove on Cape Breton Island , Nova Scotia , Canada . She became the first person to make it from England to North America non-stop from east to west . She was celebrated as an aviation pioneer . </P>
when did beryl markham fly across the atlantic
4 September 1936