Biplane Crosses Atlantic Ocean In 16 Hours and 12
Minutes. . . Makes Continuous Non-Stop Flight to Ireland
London, June 15—The final
goal of all the ambitions which flying men have ventured to dream since the
Wright Brothers first rose from the earth in a heavier-than-air machine, was
realized yesterday morning when two young British officers, Captain John Alcock
and Lieut. Arthur W. Brown, landed on the Irish coast after the first non-stop flight
across the Atlantic ocean.
Their voyage was without
accident and without unforeseen incident so far as can be learned. It was a
straightaway clean cut flight achieved in 16 hours and 12 minutes, from New
Foundland to Cliften, Ireland, a distance of more than 1,800 miles.
But the brief and modest
description which comes from the airmen at Cliften tells of an adventurous and amazingly
hazardous enterprise. Fog and mists hung over the North Atlantic, and the
Vickers Vimy biplane climbed and dove, struggling to extricate herself from
folds of the airplane’s worst enemy.
She rose to 11,000 feet,
swooped down almost to the surface of the sea, and at times the two navigators
found themselves flying upside down only 10 feet above the water.
Before coming to earth
near the Clifden wireless station, Alcock circled the wireless aerials, seeking
the best spot to reach the earth, but no suitable ground was found, so he
chanced it in a bog.
The wireless staff rushed
to the aid of the aviators. They found Brown dazed and Alcock temporarily
deafened by the force of the impact. As soon as they were able to be escorted
to the wireless station they telegraphed the news to their friends; then they
had breakfast.
“That is the best way to
cross the Atlantic,” said Lieut. Brown after he had eaten.
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