At the age of 22, Mollison became a flying instructor at the
Central Flying School (CFS), again setting the record for being the youngest in this role. Shortly after, he transferred to the RAF Reserve and devoted his time to civil aviation. In 1928–29, he worked as an instructor with the South Australian Aero Club in Adelaide, leaving that position to become a pilot with
Eyre Peninsular Airways and
Australian National Airways. Mollison had flown commercially for
Charles Kingsford Smith's ill-fated
Australian National Airways. During one of his commercial flights, he met the equally famous aviator
Amy Johnson, to whom he proposed only eight hours after meeting, and while still in the air. Johnson accepted; they married in July 1932. She then went off to break her husband's England to South Africa record. They were dubbed
The Flying Sweethearts by the press and public. Mollison continued to attempt aviation records. On 18 August 1932 he made an east-to-west solo trans-
Atlantic flight of 31 hours, from
Portmarnock, Ireland to
Pennfield, New Brunswick, Canada, using a
de Havilland Puss Moth called "The Heart's Content". In 1933, using the same aircraft, Mollison flew from England to Brazil in 3 days, 13 hours, staging through West Africa, the first solo east-west South Atlantic crossing. By then, he and his wife began to plan a record-breaking flight across the world. On 22 July 1933, they took off from
Pendine Sands in
South Wales on a non-stop flight to
New York, but were forced to crash land in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, just short of their target, after running out of fuel. He and his wife were both injured, and the plane broken apart by souvenir seekers. In October 1934 the Mollisons took part in
MacRobertson Air Race. Their
de Havilland DH.88 Comet
Black Magic led the competitors off the line and was leading at
Baghdad, but they were forced to retire at
Allahabad after having to use non-aviation fuel, which damaged their engines. In November 1936 Mollison made his last major record attempt, a flight from
Croydon to Cape Town, South Africa. This time he flew with a co-pilot, French aviator
Édouard Corniglion-Molinier. The attempt ended with a forced landing some 160 km short of Cape Town. The Mollisons' marriage had become strained; they were rivals for the same aviation records and Mollison was at times a heavy drinker. They divorced in 1938 and Amy Mollison resumed her maiden name. ==World War II==