Who Made The First Non-Stop Transatlantic Flight

Most everyone you ask who knows history will immediately come up with the name Charles Lindbergh, the pilot who made the first solo flight from New York in the United States to Paris, France back on May 20-21, 1927. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was built to win the $ 25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight non-stop between these two cities. 

 

A picutre of the Orteig Prize for a non-stop flight between New York and Paris.

 

While this was a great accomplishement in 1927, the first transatlantic flight took place 8 years earlier on June 14, 1919! The flight took 16 hours and 12 minutes, departing St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, to a bog near Clifden, County Galaway, Ireland.

 

A portrait of Sir John William Alcock, one of the two pilots who made the first non-stop Transatlantic flight.

 

John Alcock was born on November 6, 1892, in Manchester, England. He received his pilot's certificate in 1912 and then joined the Royal Navy Air Service as an instructor pilot when World War I started.

 

In 1916 he received a posting to a wing group of the Eastern Mediterranean theatre whose home base was at Munros, Scotland. Among the many dangerous missions he flew was the bombing of Constantinople. 

 

But, as luck would have it, in September of 1917 enemy antiaircraft fire caused him to crash into the sea near the Dardanelles where he and his crew of two were taken prisoners by the Turks. He remained a Prisoner of War until the end of World War I, and upon his return left the service in March of 1919.

 

When Alcock returned after the war he became a test pilot for the Vickers Aircraft Company. Vickers was preparing an aircraft to fly the Atlantic non-stop to win a £10,000 prize offered by the London paper Daily Mail.

 

A photograph of Sir Arthur Witten Brown.

 

Arthur Witten Brown was born on July 23, 1886, in Glasgow, Scotland to American parents. He was trained as an engineer and became an observation pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War I. 

 

Whilst visting the Vickers's Aircraft Company plant in Weybridge, Surrey England, Brown chanced to meet up with Alcock. During an exchange of correspondence Alcock chose Brown as navigator for the upcoming transatlantic flight. 

 

Brown had been approaching a number of aircraft manufacturers about signing on for a transatlantic flight as navigator. He soon found himelf teamed up with Jack Alcock and the Vickers Aircraft Company Vimy aeroplane for their attempt to win the prize.

 

A three view drawing of the Vickers Vimy World War I bomber.

 

The Vickers Vimy was a British long-range bomber designed to hit targets in Berlin from the Western Front.

 

Brown was a man who paid a lot of attention to the details of the contract for the flight, covering such things as matters regarding sea passage to America, the purchase of kit (equipment), and the payments to cover various other unexpected costs.

 

For the flight across the Atlantic Brown decided that the needed a sextant, to which they added whiskey and coffee for their flight. The aircraft was an open cockpit World War I bomber, so one must assume the whisky was to keep them warm and the coffee to stay awake.

 

A photograph of the Vickers Vimy IV aircraft being assembled in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.

 

The Vickers Vimy IV General Characteristics:

• Crew: 3;
• Length: 43 feet 7 inches;
• Wingspan: 68 feet 1 inch;
• Height: 15 feet 8 inches;
• Empty weight: 7,104 pounds;
• Max Takeoff weight: 10,884 pounds;
• Maximum speed: 100 mph;
• Range: 900 miles;
• Service ceiling: 7,000 feet.

The Journey Begins

Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, in a modified Vimy IV, made the first non-stop aerial crossing of the Atlantic. They took off from Lester's Field, near St. Johns, Newfoundland on June 14,1919, and landed June 15,1919, at Clifden in Ireland. The time for the crossing was fifteen hours, fifty-seven minutes.

 

On the morning of their departure from an airfield near St. John’s, Newfoundland, Alcock and Brown loaded up on flasks of coffee, hot chocolate, Horlicks and brandy, as well as sandwiches wrapped in linen—they expected to be well-nourished on their flight. They wore windproof flying suits made by Burberry. Their helmets were lined with fur. They brought black toy-cat mascots for good luck.

 

The two climbed into the Vicker Vimy IV and began their takeoff role just barely clearing a low wall around a farmer's field by a mere 2 feet! The aircraft engines roared into life echoing from the hills around St. Johns.

 

At 1:45 p.m. they were airborne. (Photo courtesy of Cynthia Long)

 

As they climbed out over the St. John's Harbor vessels below blew their horns to bid a farewell to Capt Alcock and Lt Brown who had reached 1,083 feet. Alcock turned the aircraft eastwards towards Ireland. Soon they reached 1,300 feet.

 

At 5 pm the dreaded "Newfoundland fog banks" suddenly appeared on the horizon, stretching without a break from North to South as far as the eye could see. Alcock said "We've got no coice." Brown quickly calcuated their position just before the aircraft disappeared into the fog.

 

The fog was so thick that neither of them could make out the blades of the propellers. Even the roar of the Rolls-Royce "Eagle" engines was muffled, while Alcock flew on virtually soundless and blind.

 

Later their wireless radio quit, and around six o'clock they heard a sound not unlike the sound of a machine gun. They discovered that the right-hand engine's exhaust pipe had burst.

 

The two men were scared stiff as the exhaust pipe of the cylinder facing inwards had split, sending naked flames into the slip-stream. Alcock and Brown sat there, helpless, as the metal of the pipe turned red hot. As it melted away white-hot globules of metal started striking the controls.

 

They climbed above the fog bank only to discover clouds above them and not a sign of the sun. They flew right into the clouds only to be thrown around like a leaf in the wind.

 

As Alcock glanced at the altimeter he could see that the airplane was plunging from 4,000 feet down towards the ocean below. The plane was now in a death spiral, but neither of the men thought that the end might be near.

 

Alcock's only thought was "However shall we get back on our original course and avoid being lost in the endless waste of the Atlantic?" He looked at his altimeter, saw that they were a mere 65 feet above the waves. Alcock managed to regain control of the aircraft and began to climb again.

 

Alcock swung the airplane 180 degrees back to its original course while climbing slowly to a height of 7,200 feet. The weather began to improve, and suddenly the crew realized that they were hungry. After a couple of sandwiches, some whisky and a bottle of beer, the crew felt much better.

 

Finally they saw the sun behind them, and Brown was able to use the sextant and determine their position. They were a little too far South but had flown 850 nautical miles with an average speed of 106 knots.

 

At 3:00 am they saw the first signs of dawn, but suddenly they saw a mountain of cumulus cloud ahead, too close to fly around. Once again the turbulence in the clouds tossed them about flinging the aircraft about and out of control again.

 

Suddenly they were drenched in rain, followed by hail. At 90 knots the airspeed indicator froze from the moisture and the cold. Once again Alcock had to struggle to regain control of the aircraft which plummeted towards the ocean. As they came out of the clouds Alcock saw the sea lying vertically, and quickly he righted the airplane and regained control once again.

 

The airplane had been covered with ice and the pilots, sitting in an open cockpit, began to freeze. Brown climbed out on one wing and removed the ice from the inlet connections, then over to the other wing to clear the inlets on that side of the airplane.

 

They knew they had to descend to lower altitudes where the air was warmer. Soon at 3,200 feet Brown shouted "It's melting! The ice is breaking up!" Soon both men were sitting in a puddle of water.

 

Alcock continued the descent to 1,000 feet and 20 minutes later the men sighted land. It was not their intended destination, but Brown knew that the land had to be Ireland. He searched his map, soon identified the town of Clifden, and scribbled his findings into the log book which he held up for Alcock to read.

 

Alcock circled the town looking for a field to land in. Finding nothing suitable he headed towards the Clifden radio station circling around it until he found an inviting green meadow and headed for it.

 

It turned out that the deceptive green covering hid the swamp that lay below, the Derrygimla Moor. The men in the transmitter building waved and gesticulated in vain, trying to warn Alcock of the danger.

 

Alcock thought that they were waving a welcome, brought the Vimy down and flew right into the swamp.After 1,890 miles and 15 hours and 57 minutes of flying they landed in a bog.

 

The first nonstop transatlantic flight ended with a nosedive into a bog.

 

The men who had been waving rushed towards the airplane, jumping from one grass tuft to another, through the swamp. A man named Taylor was the first to reach them and asked: "Anybody hurt". They answered "No.", followed by another question "Where are you from?" They quickly answered "America."

 

Alcock and Brown had completed a monumental feat, becoming front-page news all around the world. Alcock sent a cable to the Daily Mail about the journey, stating that "The flight has show that the Atlantic flight is practicable."

 

When Alcock and Brown got back to the Aero Club they feted them with a banquet featuring Oeufs Poches Alcock, Supreme de Sole a la Brown, Poulet de Printemps a la Vickers Vimy, Salade Clifden, Surprise Britannia, Gateau Grand Success.

 

Don't ask me what any of this means except I know what Sole is!

 

I hope you enjoyed this trip through some of the history of aviation. If you enjoyed this trip, and if you are new to this newsletter, sign up to receive your own weekly newsletter here: Subscribe here!

 

Until next time, keep your eyes safe and focused on what's ahead of you, Hersch!