Alcock & Brown’s Competitors
Peter Elliott
Curator Emeritus
Daily Mail prizes
• 1906 London to Manchester (Paulhan 1910)
• 1908 Cross-Channel (Blériot 1909)
• First circular flight of a mile or more by a British pilot in a British-built machine (Moore-Brabazon)
• 1911 1000 mile Circuit of Britain (Conneau)
• 1912 1000 mile Seaplane Circuit of Britain (not won)
• 1913 Transatlantic flight
American Air Bridge?
“It is understood that the U.S.A. Govt are most anxious to fly their large machines straight across to France instead of by shipment, time and money being saved thereby. This places the whole question on a totally different footing to that originally advanced by Mr Handley-Page where the prestige of Great Britain being first across the Atlantic was the chief consideration.”
Vickers
The Transatlantic Competition
The hopefuls…
Pilot & crew Aircraft
Capt. Sundstedt & Maj.
Morgan
Sundstedt Sunrise
(seaplane)
Crashed on a test flight,
27 March
Mr Dawson Kennedy-Dawson
(Modified Sikorsky)
Not built?
S Pickles & A G D West Fairey Atlantic (modified
IIIC)
Capt. A Payze + 2 Whitehead biplane Not built?
J A Peters &
Capt W R Curtis
Alliance Seabird Did not compete
Maj. Savory, Capt. Woolner &
A L Howarth
Boulton & Paul P.8 First aircraft crashed,
second aircraft not ready in
time
Alliance Seabird
Boulton & Paul P.8
The five competitors
Pilot & crew Aircraft
Maj. J C P Wood &
Capt. C C Wyllie
Short Shirl “Shamrock”
H G Hawker & Cdr R Mackenzie Grieve Sopwith Atlantic
F Raynham & Capt. Morgan Martinsyde Raymor
Maj. Herbert Brackley, Adm. M Kerr, Maj. T Gran, F
Wyatt, H A Arnold & C C Clements
Handley Page V/1500
J Alcock &
A Whitten Brown
Vickers Vimy
First across: Curtiss NC-4
Wood & Wyllie
Hawker & Mackenzie Grieve
Hawker & Mackenzie Grieve
Hawker & Mackenzie Grieve
Marketing opportunity No. 1: Selfridges
Marketing opportunity No. 2: Motor Radiators
Marketing opportunity No. 3
Raynham & Morgan – preparing to go
Raynham & Morgan
Handley Page
Brackley and crew
Left to right:
H A Arnold or C C Clements (Fitter & Rigger)
Mr Wyatt (Wireless operator)
Major Trigby Gran
Admiral Mark Kerr
Major Herbert Brackley
Brackley & Crew
Brackley and crew – Plan B
Alcock & Brown
Conclusions
• Was a single engine worth the risk?
• Some novel design features:• Trim
• Jettisonable undercarriage
• Emergency provision
• Use of wireless
• Friendly rivalry
• Wing-walking
Journey’s End