The first non-stop flight from America to Europe was accomplished in 1919 by the Vickers “Vimy” Bomber, a bi-motored Rolls-Royce airplane, piloted by Captain John Alcock and navigated by Lieut. Arthur W. Brown.
The trip started at St. Johns, Newfoundland, at 12.13 P.M., New York time, on Saturday, June 14, 1919 and 16 hours and 12 minutes later a landing was made at Clifton, Galway, Ireland, at 4.40 A.M., New York time. The 1960 miles of the Atlantic Ocean were thus navigated at an average speed of 120 miles per hour. The trip was accomplished through fog and mist, but the engines functioned consistently, and the most important mishap was the failure of the radio instruments so that no connection was had with the outside world during the 16 hours of the trip. Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown were awarded the Daily Mail $50,000 prize for making the first non-stop flight between Europe and America, and their conclusion, as expressed by Captain Alcock, was “that the Atlantic flight is practicable, but I think it should be done not with an airplane or seaplane but with flying boats. We had plenty of reserve fuel left, using only two-thirds of our supply.”
Captain Alcock had been for many years interested in aviation and aeronautics, starting his experiments with gliders, and in 1911 began to fly. In 1913 he won the first race in which he ever entered, and shortly thereafter took second place in the London to Manchester and return competition. He was the first man to bomb Constantinople, and it was on his return from his second bombing expedition over the Turkish capital that his engine failed, and forced to descend he was captured by the Turks.
Top Speed: 120 m.p.h.
Manufacturer: Vickers
Year: 1918
Engine: two 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce inline
Wingspan: 67 feet 2 inches
Weight: 10,884 lb.
Armament: 2 machine guns; 2,476 lb (1,123 kg) of bombs
The Vickers “Vimy” plane was twin engined and had a 67 feet 2 inch wing spread, being 42 feet 8 inches in length with a gap of 10 feet and a chord of 10 feet 6 inches. It was of the bombing plane type and was transformed for peace work by replacing the fighting equipment with gasoline tanks with a total capacity of 870 gallons. The two Rolls-Royce Eagle 375 horse power engines were mounted between the upper und lower planes on either side of the fuselage, driving two 4-bladed propellers. Hollow seamless steel tubing extending from the nose to well behind the planes was used in the construction, and a tank system of eight separate containers from which fuel could be consumed simultaneously at the same rate were important characteristics. A gravity tank at the top of the fuselage was arranged to be emptied first so that it could serve as a life raft any time after the first two hours of the flight.
This 1900 mile flight established a new world record, breaking that of Captain Boehm in a Mercedes driven Albatross plane which flew for 25 hours and 1 minute and covered 1350 miles.
ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA FLIGHT
The prize of £10,000 offered by the Australian government for the first airplane flight from Great Britain to Australia within a maximum time of 30 days was won by Captain Ross Smith flying a Vickers-Vimy Rolls-Royce airplane. This journey of about 11,500 miles was accomplished in 27 days, 20 hours and 20 minutes, the departure being made on November 12th from Hounslow aerodrome and the landing on the northern coast of Australia taking place on December 10th at Port Darwin.
The Vickers Vimy traveled by way of Lyons, Rome, Cairo, Delhi, Calcutta and Rangoon, and arrived at Bangkok on December 1st. Leaving on the following day it reached Singapore on the 4th, and then on the 6th proceeded down the coast of Sumatra over the island of Java to Timor from which place the last stage was accomplished. Arrival at Port Darwin did not end the flight which, after a few days’ rest, was continued across the island towards Melbourne. In competing for this same prize Captain Howell and a companion who left Hounslow on December 4th met with disaster off Corfu on December 10th and lost their lives.