The first direct Transatlantic flight from America to Europe has been achieved by Captain Alcock, D.S.C., a Manchester pilot flying the Vickers Vimy-Rolls aeroplane with Lieutenant A. W. Brown as navigator. The record is briefly:-
Newfoundland to Galway ............... 1,880 miles.
Total flying time .............................. 16h. 12min.
Average speed ..................... 116 miles per hour.
Thus the honours of the direct Atlantic crossing go to a British pilot and navigator and to a British-built machine. Captain Alcock's performance also sets up a number of new records, including that for non-stop distance flights, the previous record being that made by Lieutenant Commander Read, of the N.C.4, who in the first stage of the Newfoundland-Azores-Lisbon flight flew 1,380 miles in 1h. 18min.
The flight of the Vickers machine was accomplished under very unfavourable weather conditions ╤ except for a following wind ╤ as is clear from Captain Alcock's story, which we publish this morning.
The flight gains the prize of ú10,000 offered by the ╥Daily Mail╙ for the Transatlantic crossing.
THE AIRMEN╒S STORY.
(From Our Correspondent.)
GALWAY, SUNDAY NIGHT.
Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown, R.A.F., accomplished the Atlantic flight in unfavourable weather. They landed in Derrygimla Bog, behind the Marconi condenser-house at Clifden, and their approach through the morning mist over the sea was first noticed by an Australian soldier on holiday and a farmer╒s boy tending cattle near by. The plane circled over the town, and a few minutes later, spotting the aerials, dropped to earth at the Marconi station. The operators on morning duty who witnessed the landing had no idea that the great feat had been accomplished. Indeed, after the failure of Hawker and in the weather that prevailed it was thought to be impossible.
It was an enthralling story Captain Alcock told me this afternoon. The descent was accomplished virtually without mishap, and had it not been for the unfortunate accident of landing in a bog, the machine could have been taken off again and continued the flight to England, for not more than two-thirds of the petrol had been used and the engines were running beautifully. But directly the plane came to earth she bumped and ran about 50 yards, getting up to her axles in the bog and injuring the underplanes. A nose dive brought her to a dead stop, but beyond a slight jar the airmen were none the worse for their experience.
11,000 Feet Up.
Although the weather reports had led the pilot and navigator to hope for pleasant conditions, they had not got far afield when they found themselves driving into cloud banks, sleet, and fog. Rising to 11,000 feet they endeavoured to get above the clouds, but failed to do so. All through the night they travelled, with their wireless receiver out of order, their only guide an occasional glimpse of the stars.
During the night there were one or two thrilling moments ╤ as when it seemed that they had come down to within a few feet of the water, and again when it appeared as if they were flying upside down. They ate sandwiches and chocolate and drank coffee, and kept up an intermittent conversation as they sat side by side by means of notes and signals, but with the roar of the engines and the darkness it was not easy to communicate.
The machine throughout behaved beautifully, and soon after dawn the sun-glints in the clouds gave them a more secure sense of direction. They were making for Galway Bay, and two little islets out at sea were sighted like the Arans (the group across the mouth of Galway Bay). But soon they were over land near Clifden, 60 miles north of Galway Bay.
When I saw Captain Alcock at the residual bungalow of the Marconi station to-day, some hours after he had landed, he looked as spruce ╤ attired in navy lounge suit and cheerfully smoking a cigarette ╤ as any city man enjoying an hour╒s leisure. He received congratulations with a cheery smile. ╥Yes,╙ he said frankly, ╥I╒m glad we did it.╙
Fog and Icy Sleet.
╥Tell you about the flight? Well, we got off very nicely from St. John╒s in about a forty-mile fresh westerly wind. We got up against that to begin with, but as soon as we got clear of the land we had the wind in our tail, and it remained like that practically all the way over.
╥Most of the time we were compelled to fly between clouds and very thick banks of fog. Indeed, the conditions were anything but pleasant for flying. Sleet fell and our radiator shutters got frozen up, while all our petrol gauges were covered over with ice. We kept mounting until we got to 11,000 feet. We climbed all we could at the outset to try to get out of the clouds, but without avail.
╥The weather was very rough and very bumpy and the wind was blowing hard right down to the water. Five hours from land we endeavoured to get out of the clouds and thick fog, but investigated without avail.
╥Our instructions,╙ continued Captain Alcock, ╥were to go on to London, and we were making, in the first instance, for Galway Bay, which is the nearest and most convenient landing-place. We maintained an average speed of 120 miles an hour throughout the journey. Of course sometimes we did more than that, but that was our average, and we succeeded in doing the 1,900 miles in just under 16 hours - in 15 hours and 57 minutes.
The Navigator╒s Handicap.
╥Like myself, the observer got on very well, but he had great difficulty in getting sights, for, as I said before, we were flying most of the time between banks of clouds - indeed, we did not see the water more than six times on the way across. We might as well have been flying over land. The only sights the observer got were through holes in the clouds. We never saw the sky, even, for more than half an hour after the first hour out. For the first hour it was quite clear and pleasant enough for flying.
╥Did not these conditions discourage us? No. The machine was going well. We were intent on getting the job done, and I nursed the engine all through. Of course we had minor troubles in addition to those I have mentioned.
╥When we started to use our transmitter, about half an hour after we had left, we found the armature shaft in the dynamo which generates the current fractured for some reason or another, so that our transmitter was useless. Our receiver was working all right. But we got no information at all from any source and we did not exchange a signal with anyone in the outside world. During the entire period of our flight all the wireless that was going on was not for us, and it was merely jamming; therefore we got no help as to direction from any outside source. Our only guide was the stars, and we got occasional sights of the moon. We also managed to get two sights this morning of the sun which were very valuable to us. We got these through the clouds whilst flying at 11,000ft., just two hours before we landed in Ireland.
╥What were your impressions during this extraordinary experience of a flight through the night many thousand miles from land?╙
╥Well,╙ said Captain Alcock, ╥it is difficult to sum them up. No, there was no sense of remoteness, curious to say. We were too keen on our work. We wanted to get the job over, and we were jolly pleased, I tell you, to see the coast. We first saw the two little islands out in the sea, and then we swung round and landed at the station. Our landing would have been a perfect one, only that we happened to come into the bog. It looked quite all right from the air, but as soon as we touched the ground the machine began to settle down to the axles, and the wheels suddenly stopped, and the machine went down nose first. We were not hurt or shaken, and only a little damage was done to the under-plane of the machine.
╥As you see,╙ added Captain Alcock, pointing through the window of the bungalow, ╥The Royal Air Force lighter machine which has just come up has likewise sunk nose first in the bog. It is bad landing ground, but we have nothing to complain about. I have done a considerable amount of night flying in the past, and the sense of loneliness that might be supposed to accompany it has long since worn off. Indeed, I do not think that either of us had any thought of what we were flying over, being merely intent on getting the machine across, and the machine behaved perfectly.╙
The First Atlantic Mail.
Asked for an opinion as to the future of flying across the Atlantic, Captain Alcock said: ╥I think within the next twelve months they will have a cross-Atlantic service ╤ not, of course, on the lines of our trip but with a big flying machine. Of course, it is a costly hobby and may not actually be taken up generally, but that there is something in it I have no doubt.╙
Captain Alcock showed me a little white mail bag with lead seal unbroken in which he had carried across the Atlantic in a single night eight hundred letters. ╥This,╙ he said, ╥is the first Atlantic aerial mail.╙
Praising his machine and engine, Captain Alcock said:- ╥The engine is a Rolls-Royce, and it ran perfectly all through. We did not lose a spoonful of water on the journey, and no petrol. When I landed I had only two-thirds of the supply exhausted. What was left would have taken us to London easily.
╥I believe that the great secret of long-distance flying under conditions such as we went through last night is to nurse your engine. I never opened the throttle once. The machine of itself has an ordinary speed of ninety miles an hour. We could have done 115 miles an hour, but I never once opened the throttle, and with a following wind we did an average of 120.
╥I wore the electrically heated clothing as an experiment, but I never feel cold flying as the machine is warm enough in itself.╙
This evening Captain Alcock and his pilot came to Galway. They will remain overnight and proceed to London by the mail train, which leaves here at 2 25 to-morrow afternoon, being due to arrive at Euston in the Early hours of Tuesday morning.
A breakdown gang with full equipment left Oranmore Aerodrome this afternoon and proceeded by motor lorry to Clifden to take back both machines. The Vickers Vimy will be taken on to London.
