Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1927 TRANS-ATLANTIC AVIATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 9 June 1927, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1927 TRANS-ATLANTIC AVIATION

IN the admiration and wonderment awakened by the remarkable Irans-At-iantic flights of Lindbergh and Chamber lain there is a tendency to forget that the. Atlantic Ocean was fust crossed eight years ago by two aviators, the one British and the other American, in a Vickers-Vimy bi-planc, in 16 hours and 12 minutes, at an average speed of 122 miles an hour.

In 1913 Lord Northcliffe, proprietor of "The Daily Mail" newspaper, offered £IO,OOO as a priio to the crew of the first heavier-than-air flying-machine which should fly across the Atlantic without making a single stop. Probably, if'the Great War had not. broken out .in 1914, .competitors would have been found to have entered for the contest for "The'Daily, Mail's" prize earlier than actually, was !tbo case. But the war demandod all the energies of all the most daring and skilful of our airmen, and it was not till tho spring of 1919 that aviators turned their attention to the winning of tho £IO,OOO donated by Lord'Northcliffe. There were several competitors, but the successful ones were Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitton Brown, tho one an Englishman and the other an American.

They started from the neighbourhood of St. John's, Newfoundland, on June 14th, 1319, at 4.28 p.m., and on June 15th at 8.40 a.m. they landed at Clifdcii on tho west coast of Ireland, Here are some extracts from Captain Alcoe.k's account to "Tho Daily Mail":—

At Signal Hill, Newfoundland, Lieutenant Brown set our course for the ocean on 124 degrees of tho compass. We kept that course until well on in the night. I had the engine throttled down nicely, and t let her do her own climbing. At dark we were 4,000 feet up. We found it very cloudy and misty . . . . it was impossible to see the sea to get our bearings . . . we flew on onr original bearing until we struck a patch about 3 a.m. where we could swe a few stars. Brown gave me a new course of. 110 degrees compass points, and we went on steadily until the weather started to get very thick again. About 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. we could see nothing. The. bank of fog was extremely thick and wo began to have a very rough time. (The air speed indicator became, frozen, and so the aviators had no knowledge of the speed they were travelling at, they had no id'ea of their position.) . . . We. came down arid flew, ovit the sea at 300 . feet. It was still cloudy, but we could see. the sun as it tried "to break through. It was a terrible trip. We never saw a bout, and we could get no wireless messages at all. We new along the water, and wo liad doubts as to our position, though we believed we. were "there or thereabouts." We. looked for land, expecting to find it at any time. We saw land at about, 9.15 a.m. (that, is, by their chronometer on board the 'plane, not Greenwich mean time) when we discovered the coast. It was great to do that. We saw two little islands, which must have been East-Sal and Turbot Islands. We came along and got to Ardbear Bay, an inlet in Clifde.n Bay, and when we saw the wireless mast we. knew where we were. YV'-hen still oyer Clifden village I saw after a few minutes what I took to be a nice field—a- lovely meadow. We came down and made a perfect landing, but it was a bog The wheels sank ankle deep in the held. The Virny toppled over on her nose.

It was a very notable performance, nnd elicited the warmest eulogiums front Lord Northcliffe, who had generously donated £5030 to Hawker and Grieve who had nearly succeeded, the month previously. To Captain Alcock he sent the following message:— A hearty welcome to the pioneer of direct Atlantic flight. Your journey with your brave companion, Whitton Brown, is a typical exhibition of British courage and organizing efficiency. (Apparently Lord Northcliffe did not know, at the time, that Brown i was an American, or he would have included the United States in his words of praise). Just as in 1913, I offered the prize, I felt that it would be won, so do I silrely believe your wonderful journey is the warning to the cable monopolists and others to realise that within the next few £aars we shali be less dependent upon them, unless tiiey increase their wires, and speed up. Your voyage was made more quickly than the average press message of 1919, etc. Since this many improvements have been made in the construction of aeroplanes, and the remarkable performances of Lindbergh and Chamberlain have followed as a natural sequence. But as a matter of fact it was Alcock arid Brown who, as aoroplanists, conquered the Atlantic. In 1913 Lord Northcliffe imagined his prize would soon be won. In 1919 he imagined that commercial aircraft would quickly be plying between Britain and America. Light years havti gone by, and as yet not. a single commercial aeroplane has crossed the. Atlantic. But, the performances of Lindbergh and Chamberlain seem to bring Lord Northcliffe's hope nearer to fulfilment. Tri any case a full measure of praise is due to tho dead pressman who so gnnerously stimulated the ardour of the- fust dauntless airmen who crossed the Atlantic.