Manchester Men First to Fly the Atlantic

1910s

John Alcock was born 5th Nov 1892 in Basford House, Seymour Grove in Old Trafford. In April 1910 at the age of 17 his interest in aviation took him to Fog Lane Didsbury to watch the great French aviator Lewis Paulhan land in his Farman biplane to win the Daily Mail prize for the first flight from London to Manchester. This sight could well have been the moment that set Alcock on the road to the improvised runway in Newfoundland.

(Monochrome Photograph showing) - Front Page of the Daily Mirror June 16th 1919

Arthur Whitten-Brown was born 23rd July 1886 in Glasgow of American parents who moved to "Ellerslie" at 6 Oswald Road Chorlton-Cum-Hardy when he was only a toddler. He joined the Royal Flying Corp as an air observer but was shot down and captured in November 1915 becoming a prisoner of war. During captivity, Brown began formulating his ideas about a non-stop flight across the Atlantic.

On June 14, 1919 at an improvised airfield in St. Johns, Newfoundland John Alcock wrote a letter addressed to his parents "This letter I am sending by the first transatlantic air post, which I am going to carry". At just after 5 o'clock in the afternoon he climbed in to the cramped cockpit of the two engined Vickers Vimy bomber. Alongside him Lieutenant Arthur Whitton-Brown. Ahead a take-off run of 400 yards and over 1,900 miles of cold grey unfriendly Atlantic Ocean, an enormous distance to contemplate in such a flimsy flying machine.

The flight was fraught with danger and at one point the aircraft span out of control nearly hitting the water and on another occasion at 8,000ft Brown bravely climbed on the wing to remove ice from the engine fuel gauges. Finally after 15 hours and 57 minutes Alcock brought the Vimy in to land in Ireland at Clifden, Galway.

Unfortunately the strip of land was boggy and the undercarriage quickly sank causing the aeroplane to tip on it its nose. Thankfully the brave aviators were unhurt. They had completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight and Adcock's letter was duly delivered to his parents.

On July 17th 1919, the City of Manchester welcomed her two heroic sons to a glittering packed reception at Manchester Town Hall although a few months later the City was stunned to hear John Alcock had died in a flying boat accident in France. He is buried at Manchester's Southern Cemetery. Arthur Whitten-Brown passed away on 4th October 1948 at the age of 62.