Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours

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builder. Tell him I

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Such an accusation implies the duty of living up to other people's expectations; and me

t quite-I have come to believe it. And this half-belief makes me very humble, when I consider the splendid company of pioneers who, without due recognition, gave life, money or precious years, often all three, to further

the myths and fables of every race are tales of human flight. The paradise of most religions is reached through the air, and thro

s of flight, it is the first to see dreams and theories translated into fact by the startling development of practical avia

dangerous pastime. As such it attracted the first-class adventurers of every race, many of whom lost their lives on weird, J

nes were born of private enterprise, for capitalists had no faith in the commercial future of flight. Very few firms applied themselves solely to the

d the impetus which swept pioneer aviation into headlong progress, the Vickers productions moved with the times, and helped largely to make the British aircraft industry the greatest in the world. Now that aviation has entered into the third phase of its advance-that of a peace-time commercial proposition-t

e of aviation. The development of a?ronautics has been helped enormously by the generous prizes of Lord Northcliffe and the Daily Mail fo

case the unimaginative began with scoffing doubts and ended with wondering praise. Naturally, the prizes were offe

rse position as regards aviation than she was. And all who flew on active service during the first three years of the war

ht otherwise lie fallow; but I do not believe the system of money prizes for spectacular flights to be altogether an economically sound proposition. It is not generally realized that as a rule the amount spent b

ere are plenty of men able and anxious to devote themselves competently to seeking for yet-hidden solutions whereby flying will be made cheaper, safer and more reliable. What is especially wanted for the moment is the financial endowment of res

to have helped in a small way in the construction of a new link between the two continents to which I belong. My family is d

United States, we lived in Manchester. There, after leaving school, I served an apprenticeship in the works of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. I inherited in some degree a love of and an instinct fo

sociates of the workshop good companions, useful instructors and incorrigible jokers. My father's warnings, however, saved me from hours of waiting

ders all about engineering, when the outbreak of war changed all my plans and hopes, and interfered with the career I had mapped o

s. With an English friend I enlisted in the British University and Public Schools battalion, when it was formed in September, 1914. And, although

us. Several times I saw a private step from the ranks, produce from his pocket the Infantry Training Manual, and show a lieutenant where he had gon

n the trenches before Ypres and on the Somme. Then came the second step towards the transatlantic flight.

re carrying out artillery observation over Vendin la Vielle when, at a height of 8,000 feet, two anti-aircraft shells set our machine on fire. Somehow, the pilot managed to bring down his craft

of the machine in which, with Lieut. Medlicott, I was reconnoitering behind the enemy lines. As a result we were unable to reach the British zone. W

e months in Switzerland. Medlicott, meanwhile, made thirteen determined but unsuccessful bids f

soner of war that I first found time to begin a careful study of the possibilities of a?rial navigation. This I continued a

y studies of a?rial navigation might be useful to one of the firms who were preparing for such a f

talking with the superintendent, Captain Alcock walked into the office. We were introduced, and in the course of conversation the competition was mentione

of aircraft for long flights over the sea. These were received favorably, and the outcom

flying when engaged in bombing Constantinople and other parts of Turkey, with the detachments of the Royal Naval Air Service in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hi

pparatus and instruments ready for shipment to Newfoundland. Besides our two selves the Vickers transa

ptain Rostron-made me free of his bridge, and, as a widely experienced navigator, gave me

undland Railway to St. John's. There, we joined the merry and hopeful company of British aviator

d weather in face of the news that the American flying boat N. C. 4 had reached the Azores, they made their attempt under conditions that were definitely unfavorable. Fate tripped up Raynham and Morgan at the start, when they tried to take their heavily-laden machine into the air w

t, and for the spirit that prompted it. To Hawker and Grieve we owed particular thanks in that we profited to a certain extent by what we learned from the cabled reports o

dom from it was an important factor in our good fortune. Others were the excellence of the Vickers-Vimy machine and the Rolls-Royce eng

the Atlantic Ocean; and even had the winning of the competition brought us no other benefits, each of us would have remained well content to be pioneer

SIR JOHN ALCOCK