On June 14-15, 1919 — eight years before Lindbergh — British aviators Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight, flying a modified Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland in 16 hours and 27 minutes.
Alcock and Brown flew through fog, sleet, snow, and darkness over the North Atlantic in an open cockpit biplane with no autopilot and no modern navigation aids. Brown repeatedly had to climb out onto the wing to clear ice from the engine instruments. They nearly died multiple times. At one point the aircraft entered an inverted spin just 50 feet above the ocean before Alcock recovered it.
They landed — or rather nose-dived into an Irish bog — at 8:40 a.m. on June 15. The aircraft nosed over in the soft ground, but both men were unharmed. They won the £10,000 Daily Mail prize for the first transatlantic flight, and within days both were knighted by King George V.
Alcock and Brown's flight is often overshadowed by Lindbergh's solo crossing eight years later, but their achievement was arguably the more technically demanding. They flew a twin-engine modified bomber — not a purpose-built aircraft — carried a navigator (Brown), and crossed in far worse conditions than Lindbergh encountered.
Alcock and Brown crossed the Atlantic eight years before Lindbergh — through fog, ice, and near-disaster. At Cleared4Tees, we salute every aviation pioneer.
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Blue skies and tailwinds — The Cleared4Tees Crew ✈️
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