Alcock and Brown

Alcock and Brown, British pioneer aviators who were the first to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. John William Alcock (1892-1919) was born in Manchester and was educated at the Empress Motor Works in the same city. He passed the Royal Aero Club’s flying certificate at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1912 and at the outbreak of World War I he enrolled in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), the forerunner of the Royal Air Force (RAF), as an air instructor. Alcock saw action over Turkey, where he was involved in long-distance bombing raids; he received a Distinguished Service Cross for his military exploits before being captured by the Turks.

Arthur Whitten Brown (1896-1948) was born in Glasgow to American parents. He worked as an electrical engineer for the British Westinghouse Company before enlisting in 1914 at the outbreak of war. He served with the 2nd Battalion in France in 1915. He joined the Royal Flying Corps as an observer, and was wounded and interned, being repatriated in 1917.

Alcock and Brown came together in order to attempt the crossing of the Atlantic. The Daily Mail newspaper was offering a prize of £10,000 for the first to succeed. Preliminary testing flights were held at Brooklands aerodrome before the attempt in June 1919. Alcock and Brown set out from St John’s in Newfoundland on June 14, 1919, landing the following day in Clifden, Ireland. The flying time was 16 hours, 12 minutes and the average air speed was above 120 mph. Their aircraft was a Vickers Vimy twin-engined biplane that had been built in Weybridge, Surrey. In addition to the £10,000 prize money Alcock and Brown were honoured with knighthoods in the same year.

Alcock died of head injuries towards the end of the year when he crashed on a flight to Paris; Brown continued to work for Vickers and trained RAF crew in navigation and engineering.