14th June 2009. TRANSATLANTIC BIPLANE RETURNS TO IRELAND
BROOKLANDS VIMY TRIUMPHS AT THE CONNEMARA AIR SHOW.
Yesterday the Brooklands Museum’s Vickers Vimy replica flew over the bay at Clifden, Galway, as the finale of the Connemara Air Show. Its flight marked the 90th anniversary of Alcock and Brown’s pioneering non-stop transatlantic flight of June 1919.
In 2005 this same aeroplane, piloted by Mark Rebholz and the late Steve Fossett, re-enacted the 1919 flight in 18 hours, 22 minutes, landing near Clifden, just as the original Vimy had done 90 years earlier.
Brooklands Museum’s chief pilot, John Dodd, a highly experienced flyer and display pilot, with 13,500 flying hours in his logbook, said “This has been the most significant aviation event I have ever been involved in. The aeroplane is unique and, with a wingspan of 68 feet, it is the largest airworthy biplane in the world”.
Engineer and copilot Clive Edwards said “in 30 years of flying worldwide on numerous aviation adventures, this one has really stood out. By operating this big old biplane, we are stepping back in time and learning how it used to be done 90 years ago”.
Brooklands Museum General Manager, Julian Temple, said “after the Vimy successfully completed the transatlantic re-enactment in 2005 she was donated to Brooklands Museum and we were delighted to be in Clifden this weekend to pay tribute to Alcock and Brown and to what we consider the most important flight in aviation history”.
The Vimy will be on show to the public at Duxford Airfield, Cambridge, throughout the summer. It will then be retired for permanent preservation at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey, where Vimys were built at the end of World War One.
For more information visit
Brooklands Museum and
www.connemaraairshow.ie. or contact Julian Temple on 07871 085049.
Further info:
The Vimy is due to depart Galway at 09:00a on Monday 15th June and arrive at Fairoaks around 13:00a +/- She will depart Fairoaks later that day bound for Duxford with a flypast of Brooklands on route. All this, obviously dependant on Weather and serviceability.
m5dnd