Take-off On Ice

It had taken Elsie's high level contacts and her skilled powers of persuasion to gain permission to use RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire. The unprofessional behaviour of Levine's team the previous year had caused the top brass to put a ban on civilians using the military base. Captain Hinchliffe's reputation as an airman and his status as an Ace of the First World War also went some way to changing the mind of the Air Minister SIr Samuel Hoare. But the permission they were given to make final preparations and take off were limited, some sources say one week others two. Of course Sir Samuel had no idea that Elsie was secretly planning to be part of the flight or that they were going to head west and not east towards India. 

Any enquiries about the tests Elsie and Hinch were carrying out were met with vague answers and if pressed they referred to a possible attempt on the long distance record to India. Captain Hinchliffe's known aversion to women being involved in flight, the reason given for his leaving the employment of Charles Levine, helped with the subterfuge. 

Levine and Hinchliffe 

But despite managing to maintain the mystery around their plans the one thing they hadn't accounted for was the weather. After the flight many criticised Elsie for insisting the attempt was made in March - the time was chosen because her parents were out of the country in Egypt for her mother to convalesce. Her father's connections to the most powerful people in business and government circles meant that if he had had any idea of his daughter's ambition he would have been able to bring it to an immediate halt. Her only chance was to make the flight while he was abroad. 

The Endeavour was moved to Cranwell on February 24th but then the weather changed and the country was covered in deep snow. It brought all their plans to a halt and by early March they were beginning to feel the pressure. The arrival of such a glamorous pair had not gone unnoticed and people were starting to ask questions, especially when Elsie was seen in flying gear. Hinch answered enquiries with this excuse: "My assistant pilot has been taken ill and an operation necessary. And Miss Mackay, who is a pilot and who is interested in the project took part in the preliminary flights to see that the engine was working properly." The assistant pilot referred to was not a complete fiction. Hinch's good friend from the war, Captain Gordon Sinclair, had been brought in to help with the obfuscation of the project and he would play a major role in keeping everyone guessing as to who exactly was going to be in the cockpit. 

For now there was nothing to be done. The country was covered in ice and repeated snowfalls. The small group who were in on the secret were holed up at the George Hotel in Grantham. They just had to keep their heads down and pray for a change in the weather before Lord Inchcape could discover what his daughter was really planning to do.