ABC: Alcock, Brown, and a flight across Continents

We live in an age where every part of the world is better connected than probably ever before. Flights take people across continents on an everyday basis and there are likely over 500 flights per day on average flying between Northern America and Europe.

In such a situation, a flight from New York to London – among the most popular cities in North America and Europe respectively – could cost you anywhere between £250-500. Would you believe it if I told you that there was once a £10,000 prize on offer for flying across the Atlantic Ocean?

If you are thinking I must be mad, think again. We’ve been flying in a powered aeroplane for just a little over 120 years now, meaning the aviation industry was still in its infancy even a century ago.

Unachievable turns achievable

When the Daily Mail announced a prize of £10,000 for the first non-stop transatlantic flight in under 72 hours in 1913, it seemed too hard a challenge to surmount. World War I, however, brought with it unimaginable progress and developments in aviation. This meant that when the Daily Mail renewed its offer in 1918, the 3,000 km separating North America and Europe didn’t seem too far for many aviation pioneers. This, despite the fact that aircraft navigation and weather forecasting were still developing fields, with much to be accomplished.

A number of teams were simultaneously attempting to be the first to fly non-stop across the vast Atlantic Ocean. It wasn’t just the prize on offer that was motivating them, but also the fact that history was to be made by whoever achieved success. John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown are the ones who’ve now gone down in history as the first to successfully fly non-stop across the Atlantic.

A prisoner’s dream

Born in Trafford, England in 1892, Alcock was interested in engines and flight from a young age. After working on an engine for pioneer aviator Maurice Ducrocq, Alcock sought a chance to work as a mechanic when delivering the engine to Ducrocq at Brooklands, Surrey. He might have persuaded Ducrocq to take him as a mechanic, but Alcock also used the opportunity to learn to fly, earning his pilot’s license by November 1912.

Joining the war effort once World War I broke out, Alcock had to be content teaching others to fly in the first two years. When he finally got his chance to fly fighter and bomber missions, he went on to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He was captured by Turkish forces in September 1917 and held prisoner for the rest of the war – time during which Alcock was enticed by the challenge of flying across the Atlantic.

Brown was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1886 and moved to Manchester with his American parents while still a small boy. After beginning his career as an engineering apprentice, Brown gave up his American citizenship to become a British subject to join the war effort following the onset of World War I.

Brown too was held as a prisoner of war for over two years after he was shot down over enemy lines. It was then that he studied aircraft navigation, an emerging field, and it lured him towards the dream of flying across the Atlantic.

Fate brings them together

When he returned to the U.K. in 1917, the Air Ministry didn’t allow him to return to active service. This was because of the serious leg injury he had suffered on crashing that had now forced him to be dependent on a walking aid for the rest of his life. Brown, however, was able to persuade the Air Ministry to get him switched to the Ministry of Munitions, where he was involved in the production of aero engines.

At the end of World War I, both Alcock and Brown were without jobs. Alcock approached Vickers at Brooklands to enter an aeroplane into the race to fly across the Atlantic non-stop with him as the pilot. Brook, who had little luck finding work as a navigator for a transatlantic attempt, gave up on the idea and tried to focus on getting a job instead. As fate would have it, his interview with Vickers highlighted his interest in aerial navigation and he was soon paired up with Alcock once the two had been introduced to each other.

Modified aircraft

The Vickers Vimy aircraft chosen for the task was a bombing aircraft with heavy payload capacity designed during the war. While it was produced too late to see action in the war, it was perfect for adapting for long-haul flights as it could carry large amounts of fuel. Once modified to fit these needs and tested at Brooklands, it was dismantled and shipped to Newfoundland, Canada. There, it was rebuilt and put through the tests again ahead of its historic voyage.

A 500 yards long makeshift runway – the minimum distance Vimy needed to take off when loaded fully – was prepared by removing walls and fences on a field in St. John’s. Boulders were blasted to level and clear the only suitable runway in the easternmost point in North America, allowing for the shortest possible flight given the challenge.

A number of teams had attempted and failed before Alcock and Brown began their historic flight on June 14, 1919. They barely just managed to take off themselves, as the heavily laden aircraft narrowly avoided the tops of trees and houses of St. John’s.

Twinkletoes and Lucky Jim were among the lucky charms that Brown and Alcock carried on board, respectively. Considering the kind of flight that they had, they surely did require all the luck that they could muster. | Photo Credit: Rept0n1x / Wikimedia Commons

Flight full of incidents

The inauspicious start was a sign of things to come as the entire journey was full of incident. They were promised clear weather, but what panned out was quite the opposite. Thick clouds and fog made both flying and navigating rather difficult.

With the featureless oceans offering no landmarks, Brown had to make observations of stars, sun, and the ocean below – akin to navigation techniques used on ships. This task, however, was made more difficult by clouds above and below, enabling only a few observations through cloud gaps.

Flying too, was no easy task. Alcock flew into a bank of clouds and they lost their sense of direction on an occasion, spiralling downwards when they fell out of the sky. Alcock used all his flying experience and regained control just 50 feet above the waves.

Even once they had sighted land the following day, Brown wasn’t sure where exactly they were. The masts of the Marconi wireless station, however, helped him figure out that they were near Clifden in County Galway, Republic of Ireland.

After flying for 16 hours and 28 minutes in the air, Alcock chose a smooth-looking green field to land their aircraft on June 15. As the Vimy touched down, the duo soon realised that the smooth field was in fact a bog and the nose of their craft quickly sank – probably the only way their incident-filled journey could have come to an end.

Celebrated as heroes

Alcock and Brown not only picked up the £10,000 prize by the Daily Mail, but became instant celebrities. They were knighted in no time, drew huge crowds wherever they went, and attended dinners that were held in their honour.

Alas, it didn’t last long for Alcock, who tragically died when his aircraft crashed just six months later, aged 27. Brown got married, worked for Vickers and then Metropolitan-Vickers, and died aged 62 at his home in Swansea, Wales. By then, flights between North America and Europe had become highly reliable and passenger flights had become operational.