When it became proven that airflight was possible,
The Daily Mail offered £10,000 prize for the first
nonstop flight across the Atlantic. On June 15th 1919
Capt. John Alcock, pilot and Lt. Arthur W. Brown,
navigator, in a Vickers Vimy Biplane bomber won the
race for the prize money. They took 16 hours
12 minutes to fly the 1900 miles from St.John's,
Newfoundland to Galway, Ireland. They landed
on what had looked like firm ground near the
Marconi telegraphy station near Clifden. However
it turned out to be bogland! However they survived.
Their plane is preserved in the Science Museum in
London. Both were knighted, but sadly Alcock
died in a flying accident the same year. Brown
died in 1948. |