America even before she had left Australia in April. Few pilots had attempted record flights over the South Atlantic; the record at the time was 16 hours, 30 minutes, held by a Spanish pilot, and no female had yet done it solo. The record for the quickest flight from England to Brazil was held by Jim Mollison, who achieved it in three days, ten hours, and Batten decided to attempt to break this record as well. However, the route was already in use by Zeppelin airships and the French airline Aero-postale also regularly crossed the South Atlantic for its mail service. At least one aviation journal thought Batten's record attempt, once it became public knowledge, had little value. To replace the Gipsy Moth, Batten purchased a Percival Gull Six monoplane. Much faster than her old aeroplane, it had a six-cylinder 200 horsepower de Havilland Gipsy Six engine, electrically operated fuel pumps and starter motor, an enclosed cabin that seated three people and was capable of flying per hour. She arranged for the Gull to be fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks, giving it a range of , and a discreet toilet tube. She took delivery of the aircraft, finished in silver with the registration G-ADPR, on 15 September, her birthday. According to Batten, it had cost £1,750, "practically every penny" she had. Mackersey doubts the accuracy of this statement, pointing out Batten had received fees from newspapers and film companies, as well as money earned from the Australian flight and the sale of her Gipsy Moth. Batten planned to start from Lympne Aerodrome, flying to Casablanca, go onto Dakar, in West Africa, via Villa Cisneros in the Spanish Sahara, and then flying across the South Atlantic to land at Port Natal in Brazil. When she left on 11 November 1935, it was to news that Kingsford Smith had disappeared off the coast of Burma during an attempt to make the quickest England-Australia flight. Making Casablanca without incident she left the next day for a military airfield at Thies. This was a late change to her itinerary due to the aerodrome at Dakar being under repair. However, on arrival she found that her fuel was still at Dakar. It was dispatched and arrived at midnight whereupon she immediately organised the refuelling of her Gull. After a short nap, and despite a pessimistic weather forecast, Batten left Thies at 4:45am, 13 November. Because