Alcock and Brown
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British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop Transatlantic flight in June 1919. They flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador to Clifden, Ireland. For this feat Winston Churchill presented them with the Daily Mail prize[1] for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in less than 72 consecutive hours and they were knighted by King George V.[2]
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[edit] John Alcock
John Alcock was born in 1892 at Seymour, Old Trafford, England. He first became interested in flying at the age of seventeen and became a pilot during World War I, though he was shot down during a bombing raid, and taken prisoner in Turkey. After the war, Alcock wanted to continue his flying career and took up the challenge of attempting to be the first to fly directly across the Atlantic. Alcock was the pilot for the Atlantic flight. Alcock was killed on December 18, 1919 whilst flying the new Vickers Viking amphibian to the Paris airshow.
[edit] Arthur Whitten Brown
Arthur Whitten Brown was born in Glasgow in 1886. He began his career in engineering before the outbreak of the First World War. Brown also became a prisoner of war, after being shot down over Germany. Once released and back in Britain, Brown continued to develop his aerial navigation skills. While visiting the engineering firm of Vickers he was asked to serve as navigator for the proposed transatlantic flight with John Alcock, who had already been chosen as pilot. Brown lived until October 4, 1948.
[edit] Flight
In April 1913, the Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 to "the first person making a transatlantic flight in a hydro-aeroplane in seventytwo consecutive hours between any point in the United States of America, Canada or Newfoundland and any point in Great Britain or Ireland". [1] They flew a modified Vickers Vimy IV twin-engined bomber powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, each of 360hp, taking off from Lester's Field in St. John's, Newfoundland at around 1:45pm, June 14, 1919.[3] The aircraft crash landed () in a bog near Clifden in Connemara, Ireland, at 8:40am on June 15, 1919, crossing the coast at 4.28pm. They flew 1890 miles (3040 km) in 16 hours 27 minutes, at an average speed of 115 mph (185 km/h).[4] The altitude varied between sea level and 12,000 ft (3,700 m) and 865 gallons (3,900 L - assuming imperial gallons) of fuel were on board.
The flight nearly ended in disaster several times owing to engine trouble, fog, snow and ice. It was only saved by Brown's continual climbing out on the wings to remove ice from the engine air intakes and by Alcock's excellent piloting despite extremely poor visibility at times and even snow filling the open cockpit. The aircraft was badly damaged upon arrival due to the attempt to land in what appeared from the air to be a suitable green field but which turned out to be the bog on Derrygimlagh Moor, but neither of the airmen was hurt.
Alcock and Brown were treated as heroes on the completion of their flight. In addition to the Daily Mail award of £10,000, the crew received 2,000 guineas from the Ardath Tobacco Company and £1,000 from Lawrence R. Phillips for being the first British subjects to fly the Atlantic Ocean. Both men were knighted a few days later by King George V.[2]
[edit] Memorials
Two memorials commemorating the flight are found near the landing spot in County Galway, Ireland. The first is an isolated cairn four kilometres south of Clifden on the site of Marconi's first transatlantic wireless station from which the aviators transmitted their success to London, and around 500 metres from the spot where they landed. In addition there is a sculpture of an aircraft's tail-fin on Errislannan Hill two kilometres north of their landing spot, dedicated on the fortieth anniversary of their landing, June 15, 1959.
A third monument marks the flight's starting point in Newfoundland.
A memorial statue was erected at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 to celebrate their flight. There is also a monument at Manchester Airport, less than 8 miles from John Alcock's birthplace. Their aircraft (rebuilt by the Vickers Company) can be seen in the London Science Museum in South Kensington.
[edit] Other crossings
Two weeks before Alcock and Brown's flight, the first trans-Atlantic flight had been made by the NC-4, a United States Navy flying boat, commanded by Lt. Commander Albert Cushing Read, who flew from Naval Air Station Rockaway, New York to Plymouth, England with a crew of five, over 23 days, with six stops along the way. This flight was not eligible for the Daily Mail prize since it took more than 72 total hours.
Alcock and Brown's achievement, much celebrated at the time, was later eclipsed in the mind of the American public by Charles A. Lindbergh's 1927 achievement, winning the Orteig Prize, which was the first solo crossing, and also the first nonstop airplane crossing from the American mainland to the European mainland.
The X PRIZE organisation remembered Lindbergh's flight and omitted Alcock and Brown, announcing Lindbergh's flight as the first aviation crossing of the Atlantic[citation needed]. In fact Lindbergh was the 104th person to fly the Atlantic. As noted above, the six men of the NC-4 were ahead of Alcock and Brown. They themselves were followed a month later by 31 more (including a stowaway) who crossed on the British airship R34. Thirty of this crew, plus a different American observer, then flew back to Europe. The next crossing was in 1924, three years ahead of Lindbergh, when 33 men arrived on the German dirigible LZ-126. The latter was built as war reparation and re-christened the U.S.S. Los Angeles; the crossing was its delivery flight.
On July 2-3 2005, American adventurer Steve Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz recreated the flight in a replica of the Vickers Vimy aircraft. This time, they landed on the Clifden golf course rather than in a bog. However, true to tradition, they had to call on the services of a local motor mechanic to fabricate a replacement part from materials at hand.
[edit] Trivia
One of the propellers from the Vickers Vimy is in use as a ceiling fan in Luigi Malone's Restaurant in Cork City, Ireland.
A small amount of airmail was carried on this flight. The government of the Dominion of Newfoundland overprinted stamps for this carriage. They are valuable, while the covers (envelopes) used on the flight are particularly rare. Numerous forgeries exist.
Upon landing in Paris, Charles Lindbergh told the crowd welcoming him that "Alcock and Brown showed me the way!"
[edit] References
- ^ a b "$50,000 for Flight Across Atlantic", The New York Times, April 1, 1919. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ a b Captain Jack Alcock (1892-1919). Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester, England. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ Alcock and Brown. Aviation History Online Museum.
- ^ Inscription, Alcock and Brown memorial, near Clifden, Ireland
[edit] Video games
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 has a re-creation of the flight
