Flight International – 11 June 2019

flightglobal.com 11-17 June 2019 | Flight International | 77

PARIS

Transatlantic first

crowd that had gathered.

“I must say the flight has been quite

straightforward,” said Captain Alcock.

“Although we had a little difficulty in keeping

our course, Lieutenant Brown did very well

and steered a wonderful course. With regard to

the flight itself, all the credit is due to the ma-

chine, and particularly the [R-R Eagle] engine

• that is everything.”
  Shortly after completing their epic journey,
  the two men were honoured at a reception at
  Windsor Castle where they were knighted by
  King George V.
  Sadly, Sir John Alcock died just six months
  later, aged only 27, in an accident in France
  while flying the Vickers Viking amphibian pro-
  totype to Paris for the “Salon”. His funeral took
  place at Manchester Cathedral with military
  honours on 27 December 1919.
  In his sympathy message, the King told
  Alcock’s family: “Your distinguished son...
  will ever occupy an honoured place in the
  roll of British airmen who never spared
  themselves in order to uphold the honour of
  their country.” ■

After the crossing, Alcock was keen to

give credit to the aircraft and engines

The pilot and navigator were knighted by
King George V shortly after their flight

Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock

Granger/REX/Shutterstock

one from the sun, one from the moon and one
from the Pole Star and Vega.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail about their “ter-
rible journey”, Captain Alcock described how
the two voyagers battled ice and fog, which
made the crossing treacherous when the air-
speed indicator jammed.

LOOPING THE LOOP
“We looped the loop, I do believe, and did a
very steep spiral. We did some very comic
‘stunts’, for I had no sense of horizon,” said
Captain Alcock. “At any rate it went into a
steep spiral, which only ended with the ma-
chine practically on its back about 50ft from
the water,” reported Flight. “The machine was
covered with ice, and it continually became
necessary to chip ice off the instruments, etc.”

Captain Alcock continued: “An hour and a

half before we saw land, we had no certain

idea where we were, but we believed we were

at Galway or thereabouts. Our delight in seeing

Eashal Island and Turbot Island (five miles

west of Clifden) was great. People didn’t know

who we were when we landed, and thought

we were scouts on the look-out for the Vimy.”

His one regret was that the Vimy was dam-

aged on landing: “From above, the bog looked

like a lovely field, but the machine sank into it

up to the axle and fell over on to her nose.”

Flight wrote that the rough landing was un-

fortunate, as it was believed the intention had

been for the flight to continue to London. As it

was, the two adventurers had to travel by sur-

face transport back home, but not before re-

ceiving a civic reception at Galway and an en-

thusiastic greeting on arriving at Dublin: “The

students of Trinity College carried Captain Al-

cock into ‘commons’ where there was much

cheering with some speeches. Eventually the

provost rescued the pilot,” reported Flight.

CHEERING CROWDS

Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown crossed

to Holyhead the following morning, where

they were met by “Mr Pierson, the designer of

the Vickers Vimy, and by Captain Vickers... At

Crewe Mr Claude Johnson, managing director

of Messrs Rolls-Royce Ltd, joined the train.”

Flight reported that on the platform at Eus-

ton the crowds were so great that “General Sir

Capel Holden, the Vice-Chairman of the Royal

Aero Club, was unable to get close enough to

shake hands with Captain Alcock”.

The two then travelled in a procession to the

Royal Aero Club for “a very hearty reception”,

after which they stepped out onto the balcony

to be greeted with loud cheers by the large

Alcock’s one regret was that the Vickers

Vimy was damaged on landing

Read our original coverage of this historic

flight in the Flight archive:

flightglobal.com/1919atlantic