Wright Brothers Day

[Jim Morehead]

Unless I missed it somewhere, I saw nothing on the Wright Brothers December 17th. Last year was #100 and this year #101,but that doesn't mean we should forget it.

I also have a hard time believing that pilots have never been to the Wright Memorial. I can understand about maybe people not from America,but to have not seen Kitty Hawk and Nags Head as a pilot still surprises me even among my friends.

[Lou Scannon]

Yup.
A lot of pilots have never been to the Alcock and Brown statue either.

[Jim Morehead]

Lou...gimme a hint...where is it and what is there to see???

Actually in that area of NC there is a guy from NC called Aycock Brown. He was a writer/photographer there.

[Daysleeper]

Or Percy Pilcher's monument.

[Jim Morehead]

Gimme a hint....Sounds like????

[Avman]

And on that historical day (yesterday) I became a grandad! Perhaps the lad will take up flying. Ah well, a few years to go yet!

A bit off topic, but what the heck eh ;)

[Jim Morehead]

CONGRATS...are you going to call him Wilbur or Orville or is he a SHE?

[Avman]

Male. His mum & dad already had a name for him well before birth. I did suggest Wilbur Orville to them, but they politely declined!

[Lou Scannon]

Jim Morehead:

Flight Lieutenants Jack Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown were the first aircrew to fly the Atlantic non-stop in 1919. (An American had flown the Atlantic in a seaplane, but with countless refuelling stops at US ships a little earlier).

Alcock and Brown took some 19 hours from Newfoundland to Ireland and Brown had to climb out on to the wings several times to chip ice from the air intakes. The one mistake they made was to land in a field that subsequently turned out to be a bog and their aircraft was damaged somewhat.

One story that sums up their humour was that the press had great difficulty in remembering who was who. They would conclude their press conference by standing up and saying, in turn:

"Remember: It's Alcock in front"

"...and a Brown behind!"

There are statues to them at London Heathrow and Manchester Airports.

Sadly,Sir Jack Alcock(as he became) was killed in an air crash not long afterwards but Sir Arthur Whitten Brown lived until 1948.

I understand that an American chap managed a non-stop some eight years later.
:ok: :ok: :ok:

[Jim Morehead]

Do you know who the American was in 1919? I wonder why so few attempts by anyone from 1919 to 1927

I guess the group of 4 including Byrd near 1927 was signficant ,but they had 4 guys in a a trimotor. They were trying to find Paris nonstop from New York and went in at Ver-Su-Mer, France. That was also a D-day battlefield and the musuem there is run by a nice guy named John Pierre.

He took me down to the airstrip which was used by people like IKE and other from Britain and the allies. It is long overgrown with corn and plants. I very small memorial and they go back there annually.

[Lou Scannon]

A search on Google for transatlantic flights produced:

"Dozens of people had flown the Atlantic Ocean by 1927. Then Lindbergh made his historic nonstop flight we forgot about all that went before him. The first flight was made in May 1919 from New York to Plymouth, England. It was done in a six-man, four-engine, Navy flying boat which stopped in the Azores and Lisbon on the way. That same month, Raymond Orteig of New York City offered a $25,000 prize for the first nonstop airplane flight from New York to Paris. Just one month later, Alcock and Brown flew a two-engine airplane nonstop from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland".

I believe that the USN provided guard ships at 200 mile intervals (which did much to reduce navigation errors) on several US attempts.

[henry crun]

Jim Morehead:In my book on this subject the only Americans mentioned were the three USN NC's piloted by Towers, Read, and Bellinger.
Their route was Newfoundland - Azores - Lisbon - Plymouth.
There were supposed to be four of them but one damaged in a hangar fire.

Of the three that set out only Read made it.

Others to try in 1919 were Wood and Wylie who attempted east to west, but ditched before reaching Ireland.
Then came Hawker and McKenzie west to east in a Sopwith biplane.
This was a well thought out attempt, they had an early type of immersion suit, jettisoned the u/c after takeoff to reduce drag, and the rear fuselage upper decking was a boat.

This was just as well because they had engine trouble and survived a ditching in very rough seas and were rescued by a ship.

Next to try in 1919 was Raynham and Morgan but they wiped the u/c off on takeoff in Newfoundland.

Then came Alcock and Brown.

Last aircraft in June 1919 was HP Atlantic with a crew of four piloted by Brackley.
After that was the airship R-34.