Straight on Till Morning (28 page)

A touching footnote to all the excitement occurred in the offices of the
East African Standard
in Nairobi.

All the newspapers made particular mention of the fact that two other transatlantic flyers had delayed their take-off from England due to the inclement weather. Harry Richman, a Broadway singer, and Richard Merrill, a professional pilot, were two Americans who had flown from New York to Britain a few days earlier. Technical problems forced them to land in a meadow near Bristol but they refuelled and flew on to their destination, Croydon, a flight of 221 miles which, due to the strong winds that would have been favourable to Beryl, took them nearly three hours to cover. Much had been made by the papers of the fact that their wings were stuffed with forty thousand table-tennis balls which they hoped would keep the aeroplane afloat should they come down in the ocean. Merrill said they would autograph the table-tennis balls when they got back to the USA and sell them as souvenirs. Now they were waiting for suitable weather for their return trip, but at present were not prepared to risk it. Their aeroplane, the
Lady Peace
, was a much larger, heavier aircraft than
The Messenger
, with an engine of 1000 hp compared to
Messenger
's 200 hp.

While the world lauded her achievement, Beryl had woken at 4.30 a.m. It was a kind of pre-jet jetlag, one supposes, but she was unable to sleep longer than four and a half hours. She complained that she could still hear the roar of the engine in her head. ‘They wanted me to sleep but I couldn't. I was so mad that petrol had stopped me from getting to New York.' She was up and dressed before her host, Captain George Toom, and went out for a walk. Later, after a light breakfast she was driven out to see
The Messenger
, still embedded in the bog. There with Ray Goodwin, the manager of Sydney Airport, the damage was examined. Clearly it would not be possible to continue the flight in the crippled aeroplane, though Goodwin thought it could be repaired and made airworthy again. Beryl noted with considerable bitterness that the weather was clearing up. It was a fine morning with light, high cloud. If only…

She was depressed, still suffering from mild concussion, the after effects of the long hours of flight and the seeming failure of her venture despite an almost superhuman effort. She had then no idea that her flight was seen as a tremendous success. She was not to remain long in ignorance as the press descended on Baleine Cove, an isolated coastal town at Cape Breton which was once known as ‘the Dunkirk of America. A proud fortress, Cape Breton has the only walled city in North America, Louisburg, and was reputedly named by early French settlers in honour of King Louis IV.'

Gradually it was borne in on Beryl that she was being feted. As more and more people – press and members of the tiny community – appeared at her side in the bog, it seemed that the world did not think she'd failed after all. Telegrams started to arrive in handfuls. One was from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of New York:
PERMIT ME TO EXTEND MY CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ON YOUR EPOCHAL ACHIEVEMENT IN BEING THE FIRST WOMAN TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL EAST–WEST CROSSING OF THE ATLANTIC
.
I SHARE WITH YOU YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT IN BEING FORCED DOWN BEFORE REACHING FLOYD BENNETT FIELD YOUR ORIGINAL DESTINATION
.
I HOPE YOU WILL FIND IT CONVENIENT TO CONTINUE ON ANOTHER PLANE AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE PLEASURE OF SEEING YOU COME TO NEW YORK
.
¹⁷
After that Beryl's talk became brighter, flippant. ‘What did I think about? Oh, a lot of unpleasant things – all the terrible things I've ever done…' ‘I didn't know whether I was over Lapland or Newfoundland.' ‘See this watch. That watch has crossed the Atlantic three times. It was Jimmy Mollison's. He put it on my arm as he left. He wore it both times – when he flew alone and when he flew with Amy…'
¹⁸

When she was told that an aeroplane was waiting at a nearby airfield to take her to New York, she gave only a rueful glance at
The Messenger
, asking Goodwin to try to ensure that not too many parts were torn off by souvenir hunters, before allowing herself to be led away. From the local airfield she was flown to Halifax.

There she was met by A. L. MacDonald, the Premier of Nova Scotia, who headed a civic reception and conveyed congratulations from the Canadian Government. Awaiting her arrival was a US Coastguard Beechcraft 17,
The Staggerwing
, one of the most beautiful light aeroplanes (in the opinion of the author) ever to grace the skies. Harry Bruno had been busy and Beryl was to co-pilot the powerful bi-plane to Floyd Bennett field where crowds were swelling by the minute to greet her.

Like most beautiful women, Beryl thrived on the adulation which was now directed at her. With the dressing still adorning her forehead, she smiled happily at the crowd (estimated at over five thousand people) who cheered as she stepped from
The Staggerwing
which she had piloted for most of the trip down from Halifax. Her clothes, which had been grey when she left England, had apparently changed colour overnight, for when she arrived in New York she was unaccountably described as ‘the beautiful lady in blue'. Perhaps she had borrowed some clothes in Nova Scotia. ‘Hello Blondie…' the crowds were reported to have shouted to her. ‘Hello, hello,' she called back, and later she is supposed to have said, ‘America is jolly grand.' The same newspaper reports that she chewed gum – an equally unlikely event. Much more likely was the report that in the airport building Beryl had asked a girl if she could borrow her compact, whereupon she hastily applied lipstick and a dusting of face powder before she faced the reception committee. ‘I haven't a stitch of clothing except what I'm wearing, nor a toothbrush, comb nor a pair of stockings. That's hard on a woman you know,' she told reporters. Within days she was swamped with offers of clothes.
¹⁹

Among the first to greet Beryl were the Carberrys. ‘It was a very sporting thing that Beryl did,' said June. ‘We are delighted over her success. It's a shame she was not able to reach New York non-stop, but we are very happy to have her with us after such a remarkable trip from home.' John Carberry would not give interviews, but described the trip somewhat dismissively as ‘purely a sporting proposition'. The others in the smiling committee, adroitly handled by Bruno, were representatives of the Coastguard, New York Aviation Committee, the police commissioner, airport manager and, inevitably – the customs inspector.

After a short interview with the press she was driven off amidst the deafening sound of ‘the hooting of thousands of motor car horns' in her first experience of a motorcade, escorted by police motorcycles with sirens wailing, to New York. On arrival at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where a suite had been booked for her, she bounded up the steps to the cheers and applause of a waiting crowd. In the foyer she was asked, ‘How about a drink of orange juice?' Beryl burst into peals of laughter, apparently sharing some private joke with her party. ‘Oh I think I'd like something stronger,' she said, stifling her laughter. ‘I'll have a champagne cocktail.'
²⁰

After a short rest she appeared on the stage of the Avon theatre in West Forty-fifth Street for a radio interview with Milton Berle in which she laughed and joked, but said she'd rather fly the Atlantic again than appear on radio. ‘I am so very glad to have got here,' she said, serious for a while. ‘I only wish I could have done it in my own machine.' Later still, interviewed for the newsreel, she clasped her hands tightly behind her back, hung her head and smiled her sweet, shy smile. ‘…and did you have anything to drink, Mrs Markham?' ‘Yes I did…I had a drink of brandy.' ‘Just one?' ‘No,' she replied, irrepressible laughter bubbling up, ‘Two swigs, I'm afraid.'

The following day was Labour Day. She enjoyed a quiet morning in the hotel with friends, and the inevitable few journalists. Several fans managed to invade Beryl's suite asking for kisses and autographs. Bruno put a security guard on her door and later took her in an open-top car into the countryside around Westchester. That evening she attended a celebration party given by the Carberrys and other friends. Someone loaned her an evening dress. ‘I am waiting for the shops to open tomorrow,' she told reporters, ‘so that I can do a lot of shopping. I am also looking forward to seeing New York.'
²¹

The days that followed were a whirlwind of interviews, luncheons, dinners. On Beryl's behalf Bruno had been in touch with Goodwin in Nova Scotia about
The Messenger
, and subsequently contacted Wing Commander Edwards of the Royal Canadian Air Force, at Halifax. After a survey he reported to her that it was structurally sound, though souvenir hunters had stripped the fabric from one wing and stolen the sparkplugs.
²²
The engine needed major repairs too so there was no question of her making the return trip to England in the aeroplane…or at least not for some considerable time. She had mentioned this possibility to journalists, and it may be that Carberry was insisting on her fulfilling her part of the bargain to get the aeroplane back to Britain in time for him to participate in the Johannesburg Race. Now, it was obvious that Carberry's participation in the race would have to be abandoned.

Bruno cabled Wing Commander Edwards:
WOULD APPRECIATE CHEAPEST AND BEST METHOD PUTTING SHIP FLYING CONDITION BILL SHOULD COME OUR OFFICE ADVISE COST BEFORE REPAIR STARTED BELIEVE ESSENTIAL GET SHIP UNDER SHELTER EARLIEST MRS MARKHAM AND I APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO HELP STOP HARRY BRUNO
.

There was a civic reception where Beryl met the popular, rumpled little mayor, Fiorello La Guardia. She towered over him, svelte, happy and confident in her new clothes. ‘It's hot, isn't it?' he said, mopping his forehead. Looking as cool as a cucumber, she agreed. The two clasped hands so often for the hordes of cameramen that in the end Beryl said with exasperation, ‘Look! Do you mind…?'
²³

Congratulatory cables and letters poured in. In 1986 this writer ploughed through more than forty which Beryl had kept in her old tin trunk. It was an astonishing selection. People wrote to say that they'd stopped work to pray for her, had sent drawings of her. One letter was supposedly written and signed by a dog, yet another was from a man named Markham who sent her the Markham family history dating back to the Battle of Hastings. There were cables from the firms who had sponsored petrol and parts, and from friends:
MARVELLOUSLY DONE BERYL LOTS OF CONGRATULATIONS EVA VON BLIXEN; THANK GOD YOU SAVED MY WATCH JIM MOLLISON
; and from people she had never heard of:
I HAD FORGOTTEN HOW TO PRAY UNTIL I HEARD OF YOUR MAGNIFICENT ATTEMPT. I PRAYED THAT GOD WOULD GIVE YOU COURAGE AND KEEP YOUR INSTRUMENTS TRUE AND LAND YOU SAFELY. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MAGNIFICENT VICTORY. ENGLAND DARES AND PERPETUATES BRITISH SPIRIT. HURRAY FOR THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND. HARRY O'HEARN
2746
HAMPDEN PORT, CHICAGO
; there was even a cable from a theatre producer of a show in England,
Broadway Rhythm
, offering her £500 a week to appear in the opening scenes representing the arrival at Croydon of the first transatlantic passenger aeroplane.
²⁴

During the busy, exciting days that followed Bruno tried to arrange a lecture tour of the United States. Beryl could fly from city to city in
The Messenger
if it could be repaired, or even another aeroplane would do. Things looked great, he assured her. She relaxed and started to enjoy herself but told him that she was returning to England in time to see the start of the Johannesburg Air Race, and then she intended to fly down to South Africa herself. But she would return to the USA later to take up some of the offers.

On 14 September, a week after her own arrival, came news that Merrill and Richman had also landed in a swamp after running out of petrol. They had failed in their objective of a New York– Croydon–New York round trip, but they had broken the east–west record, taking 17 hours and 44 minutes for the trip. They had encountered headwinds, thought not as strong as those Beryl met, and the papers were quick to point out that Beryl had gone nearly 400 miles further than the two men, despite the fact that her aeroplane and engine were smaller. There were said to have been ‘disagreements' between Merrill and Richman during the flight, especially about the dumping of fuel whilst over the ocean.
²⁵

Immediately Beryl heard the news she offered to fly up to rescue the two stranded pilots. This created further headlines but Eddie Rickenbacker – the famous American air ace of the First World War, and Merrill's employer – would not allow her to take any further risks. Richman and Merrill waited for rescue by a light aeroplane in the same way that Beryl had done. It was still not proven that man in his puny machines could successfully make the crossing, and a commercial transatlantic passenger service was a long way from becoming a reality.

Meanwhile, some of Beryl's friends were busy furthering their reputations. Eva von Blixen was planning a non-stop flight from New York to Stockholm with a countryman, K. Bjorkvall. The flight eventually took place on 7 October, but at the last minute, to Eva's fury, ‘Bjork' refused to take her and took off on a solo attempt. He made a forced landing near the Irish coast and was rescued by a French trawler. The baroness had some acid comments to make to journalists on her countryman's performance.
²⁶