Alcock and Brown in a Vickers Vimy ?

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15 years 1 month

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I heard a rumour that two british aviators back in 1919 had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an aeroplane !

Could that be true ?

What did Charles Lindbergh then do in 1927 ?

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17 years 11 months

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Became the 85th person to cross the Atlantic by air? :)

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20 years 4 months

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Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop between New York and Paris, thus winning the Orteig prize.

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15 years 3 months

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hi,
also did it solo...

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19 years 4 months

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Not only was Lindy solo, he did it in a small single engine aeroplane...with less power than a modern Cessna 182.

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15 years 2 months

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Alcock and Brown was big news in 1919, it was a big feat as several perished trying in the previous months.However Linbergh was in a slightly different era. this was one of radio and talkie newsreels. Plus he landed at Le Bourget rather than a boggy field in remote Ireland. He just received much more publicity and tends to linger in the mind more.

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Solar Impulse II crossed the Atlantic Ocean about 100 years after the first ones, but when do we see the battery powered plane crossing the big water ?

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Lindbergh's biggest battle was against sleep (once that hairy takeoff was successful). The Wright J-5 was state-of-the-art at the time, and had been serviced by the best AMEs in America.

The Vimy flight was harder, even though there was a crew and it was shorter in distance. Icing, and other problems, took them right to the edge. It was barely survivable. A triumph.

Fortunately the R-R Eagle was a superb engine, particularly by the standards of the time. And it was perfectly supported as well. So, other devices failed, but the engines kept running, and they made Ireland.

It it was the NC flying boats, then Alcock and Brown in the Vimy, then Lindbergh much later.

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......he was an American, therefore whatever he did was more important than just being the first, second, third etc

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I think Alcock and Brown were very important. Lindy flew non stop from New York to Paris...which was the Zeppelin territory...untill 1937. So Lindy with very long solo flight in a different era was still very important too.

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Of course all were important.
Different aircraft at different times.

The fact that Lindbergh received disproportionate attention has to do with several factors, most of which he personally had little to do with.

I think some members of the aviation community (especially UK members) hold his media/public reception and ultimate fame against him, seeing his fame as an insult to Alcock and Brown (and the lessor known others who proceeded him).

​​​​​​It's silly to try to compare the flights.
Both were daring, pushing the available technology of the day...not to mention the luck of the aviators involved.

It took a large twin engine converted bomber to fly the Atlantic in 1919. t
The fact that one man in a smaller single engine plane could do the same thing...in a longer flight...do the same thing just right years later is a testament to the progress in aviation of the period.
if you don't like Lindbergh's nationality, the fame he received or his later anti-war political views, look at his 1927 flight from that perspective and leave it at that.

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if you don't like Lindbergh's nationality, the fame he received or his later anti-war political views, look at his 1927 flight from that perspective and leave it at that.

Presumably it would also be rude to mention his antisemitism and admiration for Hitler and National Socialism too. Lets concentrate on the fact that he was the 82nd person to fly across the Atlantic. It's not his nationality that's offensive, it's the re-writing of history

http://www.zakkeith.com/articles,blogs,forums/Charles-Lindbergh.htm

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Why are only the West to East Atlantic flights being discussed here? When arguably flying East to West is the harder direction, ie prevailing headwinds.
I spent many years flying out of the airfield that was RAF Abingdon and I always considered it a strange choice of starting point for an East West crossing of the Atlantic (Beryl Markham, first solo female crossing, in that direction, 1936).

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Maple01

I thought this was an aviation forum, not a political one.
It sounds like you want to minimize his aeronautical accomplishments because of his later issues.

If we start that game we might as well ignore the aeronautical contributions of WWI and WWII Germany, Imperial Japan, the USSR...and just about everyone else if you take exception to their political views.

You post a link to an obviously biased website, there are books that are equally strident in his defense of him regarding his trip to Germany...that point out he provided intelligence to the USAAC...and his trip was not illegal at the time. The USA was still trading with Germany.
​​​Remember as late as 1935, Rolls Royce provided engines for the Bf-109 prototypes.

Basically, his detractors have used that visit to smear his reputation because of his opposition to FDR's cancellation of the airmail contracts and later opposition to the U.S. entering the war before it was attacked.

I'm not defending him, just pointing out that linking to a biased website doesn't prove your beliefs any more that linking to a pro-Lindy site would prove he was a great guy.
Denying his real accomplishment of 1927 because you don't like his (alleged) politics is silly in an aviation forum.

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John, to be fair you had stated "I think some members of the aviation community (especially UK members) hold his media/public reception and ultimate fame against him".

In Maple's defence, I think it could well be that his support of the Nazis has more to do with the attitude of the UK members than his "media/public reception and ultimate fame" that put people off the guy, especially those Brits who were taking a pounding at the same time he was making speeches that even Roosevelt reckoned could not have been more Nazi if they were written by Goebbels.

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Allow me to point out Roosevelt was hardly a disinterested party. I'm not surprised he would call him a Nazi simply for disagreeing with him.
I don't believe CAL supported the Nazis, as I understand it, he just advocated the the U.S. staying of another European war (a feeling shared by a good percentage of Americans, not all of which could be considered Nazis...or even just pro-German).
I can certainly see why Brits might not like that. Fair enough.
Lindy's position on the war was diametrically opposed to FDR'S...and as I noted above, their bad blood went back to the air mail emergency of 1934.

​​​​​​
​​​​​So expecting FDR to say anything objective about Lindy would be akin to expecting Corbyn to say something positive about May.

I'll be more than happy to condemn him if someone produces bona fide quotes where he supported the Nazis...as opposed to just being against U.S. involvement before Dec. 1941.
​​​​​​Also...post war he was an advisor to the USAF, and I can't believe they would have used him if he had uttered pro-Nazi sentiments, (considering everyone in the service above the rank of Captain were WWII veterans) likewise he was portrayed in the Spirit of St.Louis film by James Stewart. Considering Stewart's war record (probably the finest record of any celebrity), a man who flew combat missions against Germany, and lost friends and colleagues as a squadron commander and staff officer, I can't believe he would associate himself in any way to a Nazi sympathizer.

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Aeronut 2008 !

Do you have any figures how much more head wind average the east to west bound crossing consists of ?

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What if any celebrations of Alcock and Brown Atlantic cross is being plan for next year ?

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I would like to see a movie made to celebrate the Alcock & Brown Flight and possibly get the RAF Museum Replica airworthy ??