06/15/2026
📆 On This Day in Aviation History:
Captain John William Alcock, D.S.C., and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown (both of the RAF), completed the first-ever non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean... after 16 hours and 27 minutes!
While they initially took off from Lester’s Field, St. John’s, Newfoundland, at 16:13 GMT on June 14th, they landed at Clifden, County Galway, Ireland at 08:40 GMT on June 15th, 1919. They encountered so many trials during that long icy flight Brown actually had to clear snow and ice from the engine intakes by going out onto the wings multiple times... on a non-stop flight!
But it's not over 'til it's over. You have to watch out for those trials every step of the way, even at the very end. As they made their final descent, the plane pitched just a little too far over onto its nose. 😬 Nobody was hurt! But it did make for a slightly amusing victory picture.
Plane in perfect condition or not though, they had accomplished what no one else yet had, and the rewards were waiting! They were both made Knight Commanders of the Order of the British Empire by King George V later in June, and earned a total of £11,000 and 2,000 guineas from those offering prizes for the feat, a good chunk of which they insisted go to the mechanics who had prepared their plane.
The British may have paved the way here on the first non-stop transatlantic flight, but the first solo transatlantic flight would go to an American a few years later, who's famous for connecting two much more major cities. Do you know who later made THAT flight?
