TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 278, 20 August 1919, Page 2

TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT

;* ALCOCK AND BROWN'S GREAT /

"Our flight has shown that tho Atlantis, flight is practicable, but I think it should 1)0 dono not with an airplane or seaplane, but with a flying boat," said Captain Alcock, wbo, with Lieutenant Brown; was tho first airman to accomplish . the Atlantic crossing; The greater part of the flight was made in' a heavy fog, and tho aviators did not know at tinier whfetWr they were flying upside down or right side up. Lieutenant' Brown's task as navigator was rendered extremely difficult because of tho adverse weather conditions, and hiS success in striking the Irish coast comes in for praise from naval men and all stui dents Of aeronautics. "I believe the greal secret of long distance flying under such conditions as we experienced," said Captain Alcock. "is to nurse J'out engine. I never opened tho throttle ouco. The machine itself lias a speed of ninety mileS an hour, but, without opening tin throttle and with ,a following wind, w« averaged: 120. "I wore electrically heated clotliw as an experiment, but the machine itself was so snug that it was unnecessary to'switch on the current. "It is curious to be able to say that I had no sense of remoteness. . I have dono considerable night flying-arid any sensfl of..loneliness has worn'off long ago. I do not think that either of us had any thought of what we wero flying over, being' merely-intent on getting across. Wo wanted to get the job done, and 1 con tell you that we were jolly well pleased wlitn wo saw tho coast . , "For a time," Captain Alcock. saw, "ws spoke to each, other through thd communication telephones, but tnesa broke down after four hours, andi iyo had to discard, them. Then I had to /shout to Lieut. Brown. Most of our 'conversation' consisted of tapruug ono another on the. shoulder and through the motions of drinking. Wlren tho Vickers-Viiny machine landed, Lieut, Brown, the navigator, said io "What do youlhink of that for fancy Dl )Jy|'Jy "good," replied Captain Alcock. The two men who had just completed air epoch-making non-stop flight over tho •Ulantic then shook-hands. ' Describing tho trip, the aviators said thev hail a very trying ordeal. Captain ■Ucock saving that the sun came out only once when tho biplane had attained a" height of 11,CCO feet. Only three astronomical observations wero, possible during the voyage. Thc x altitudo of tho machine varied from a few. feet from the water up to 13,000 feet, and tho flyora ncvor sighted a single ship. "I did not know once durinft the night whether I was upside down or not," said Captain' Alcock'. "Once wa ascended •'hurriedly when wo saw the'green Atlantic only thirty feet boCow." Tho breaking awny of the propeller generating current for the wireless appiiratus soon after tho start prevented tho men from communicating with tho shore. When it happened, Lie\U\ Brown, noticed' that the propeller bad . carried away with it one of the stay wires, but he did not tell Captain Alcock until after thev liad landed at Clifden. When .Alcock learned of the incident, he isaid< "I would hnvo turned V»ck, had I known." t ''. ■ ' . Tho two aviators said they wero only once in real danger, when the-machine went into a flat spin, owing to the pilot being unable to know how tlie machine was moving. Lieut. Brown, noticing that tho compass needle was swinging from side to side—tho first iniiicalSon that something was wrong— managed to get Captain Alcook 'to understand the difficulty. The maehino travelled *at the rate of 110 miles an hour.at times, and the pilot once found himself diving straight toward tho surface of tho ocean. Ho was so near tho water than he had to "snatch" tho maehino from its dive so quickly that it abnost looped-tho-loop. • Ho says the maohino..- would have crumpled up had it touchcd the wator at the speed it was then travelling. ■