Alcock and Brown
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British aviators Alcock and Brown (Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown) made the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in June 1919. One month earlier, the first flight across the Atlantic was made by the NC-4, a United States Navy flying boat; however, the flight took over 19 days, with multiple stops along the way.
Flying a modified Vickers Vimy IV twin-engined bomber powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, each of 360hp, they took off from Lester's Field, Newfoundland (now in Canada) in the late afternoon of June 14, 1919 and 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 15 hours 57 minutes, at an average speed of 118 mph (190 km/h).
John Alcock was born in 1892 at Seymour, Old Trafford, England. He first became interested in flying at the age of seventeen. He became an experienced 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.
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 if he would be the navigator for the proposed transatlantic flight, partnering John Alcock, who had already been chosen as pilot.
In April 1913, the Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 for the first flyers to cross the Atlantic non-stop.
The flight lasted 19 hours, at an average speed of 118 mph (190 km/h), and the altitude varied between sea level and 12,000 ft (3,700 m). 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 subsequently turned out to be a bog, but neither of the airmen were 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 memorial statue was erected at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 to celebrate their flight. There is also a monument at Manchester International Airport, less than 8 miles from John Alcock's birthplace. Three monuments mark their starting point, while a single monument marks their landing point, and their aircraft (rebuilt by the Vickers Company) resides in the London Science Museum in South Kensington.
Alcock was killed on December 18, 1919 whilst flying the new Vickers Viking amphibian to the Paris airshow when its wing struck a tree at Cote d'Everard, near Rouen, Normandy after stalling in fog. Brown however lived until October 4, 1948. He never flew again.
The 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 crossing from the American mainland to the European mainland. Even recently, the X Prize organisation remembered Lindbergh's flight, omitting Alcock and Brown, announcing it as the first aviation crossing of the Atlantic, whereas, by the time Lindbergh actually did it, he was, in fact, the 67th. The other 64 were 31 in the British airship, the R34, and 33 from the German dirigible LZ-126, built as war reparation and re-christened the U.S.S. Los Angeles, the crossing was its delivery flight. The flight of the R34 was in fact a round trip, so, arguably, there were 97 crossings before Lindbergh.
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 Clifen 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 to hand.
One of the propellors from the Vickers Vimy is in use as a ceiling fan in Luigi Malone's Restaurant in Cork City, Ireland.
See also
External links
- [Alcock and Brown at 'Flights of Inspiration']
- [Alcock and Brown's plane at the London Science Museum]
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