Her father, James Cunnison was a lecturer in political economy at the University of Glasgow.

In 1933 Cunnison entered a competition to win an "air scholarship" with the Evening News and won lessons with the Scottish Flying Club.

[4] Together with Joan Hughes, Mona Friedlander, Rosemary Rees, Marion Wilberforce, Margaret Fairweather, Gabrielle Patterson and Winifred Crossley Fair they were known as the First Eight, and appointed by the Commandant of the ATA's women's section, Pauline Gower.

[5] Cunnison was the leading instructor at Hatfield Aerodrome responsible for evaluating and training the new pilots.

[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] A bus company in Hatfield named its eight buses after the "first eight" of the Tiger Moth pilots in the ATA, including Cunnison.