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In the UK Captain John Alcock DSC, RNAS and Lieutenant Arthur
Whitten-Brown RFC had been testing a specially prepared and
company-owned Vimy. All its military equipment had been removed
and extra fuel tankage installed, increasing its capacity
to 865 Gals. After a few trial flights the Vimy was dismantled
and shipped to Newfoundland where it was erected at Quidi
Vidi airfield near St John’s. This airfield was found to be
unsuitable for take-off by the heavily laden aircraft, which
was moved to Lester’s Field.
At 16.13 (GMT) on 14th June 1919 Alcock and Brown
took off, crossing out over the Newfoundland coast 15 minutes
later. Most of the 1,890 mile flight was made during the hours
of darkness, and at 08.40 on the following morning the Vimy
landed in Derrygimla Bog, Clifden, Co. Galway in Ireland.
The two naval officers were given a tumultuous welcome in
London, and received the Daily Mail prize of £10,000. The
Vimy, which had nosed over in the soft ground on landing,
was repaired and subsequently presented to the Science Museum,
South Kensington, where it can still be seen today. In recognition
of their great pioneering flight, Alcock and Brown received
knighthoods from HM King George V.
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Before
Word War I the Daily Mail had put up a prize of £10,000 to be awarded
to the first airman to fly an aeroplane across the Atlantic non-stop,
with anywhere in the British Isles as the destination achieved.
Although some preparations had been made by various pilots the war
intervened, so that after the Armistice the prize remained un-won.