#OTD Scottish aviatrix Elsie Mackay and her co-pilot Captain Hinchliffe set off from RAF Cranwell on a secret flight in their plane ‘Endeavour’. Elsie intended to be the first woman to fly the Atlantic in either direction and, with Hinch, to make the first successful flight over the Atlantic in the harder east-west direction.

Portrait of Elsie by Sandy Morrison @sandysdrawingroom

Elsie had no need of fame and fortune but wanted to use her achievement to launch her own commercially viable airline.

A former filmstar with the stage name Poppy Wyndham, she was the wealthy daughter of Lord Inchcape, chairman of P&O shipping line, and worked as interior designer on his ships. Their Scottish home was fairytale Glenapp Castle in Ayrshire.

Find out more about Elsie’s extraordinary story in The Endeavour of Elsie Mackay, published by Allison and Busby.