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Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Daily Mail
How the forgotten British pilots who became the first to fly across the Atlantic survived 1,900-mile journey and haphazard landing... in a plane with a broken radio and burst exhaust
Today, if you ask most people, they will tell you that it was American aviator Charles Lindbergh who first flew non-stop across the Atlantic. And it is true that, in 1927, he became the first man to make the trip solo. But eight years before his feat, when technology was a generation behind and the risks were even greater, it was two now-forgotten British men who ended up being the true pioneers. Fuelled by the lure of a £10,000 prize put up by the Daily Mail - the equivalent of around half a million pounds now - First World War veterans John Alcock and Arthur Brown became the first human beings to cross The Pond in a single flight. The pair made the perilous trip from Newfoundland on the tip of Canada to the coastal town of Clifden in Ireland in just under 16 hours, arriving on June 15, 1919. The achievement came a decade after Frenchman Louis Bleriot had become the first pilot to fly from continental Europe to England. The Mail's founder and proprietor, Lord Northcliffe, opted to offer prizes for aviation achievements in the hope of boosting British airmanship at a time when the technology was flourishing. He had been frustrated by the British government 's seeming inability to see the military threat posed by ever-improving flying machines. The pair made the perilous trip from Newfoundland on the tip of Canada to the coastal town of Clifden in Ireland in just under 16 hours, arriving on June 15, 1919. Above: The plane departing Newfoundland And so in 1913, after awarding Bleriot £10,000, he offered the same financial reward to the first team to cross the Atlantic. Although the First World War put a pause on preparations, the race continued after hostilities came to an end in November 1918. Alcock and Brown were far from the only team to pitch up in Newfoundland with flying machines. As well as their Vickers plane, there were rival teams from Martinsyde, Handley Page, and Sopwith. Besides Alcock and Brown's effort, only the Sopwith team among the rivals successfully left Newfoundland. But after departing in May 1919, the plane developed engine trouble and the pilots had to ditch in the Atlantic. They were rescued by a Danish steamer. Newfoundland had been chosen so that the crossing would be as short as possible. But, at that time of year, it was bitterly cold and fierce winds would buffet the open cockpit. As for the landscape that they would be taking off from, it was covered with bogs, dotted with ditches and peppered with rocks and fences. Time and money had to be spent on preparing a stretch of land for take-off. Following a successful test flight of their aircraft, Alcock told journalists: 'I am perfectly satisfied with the machine. 'She behaved splendidly, and I shall be off to England as quickly as I can. I hope to be in London before the week end.' And the pilot also sent a cable to Vickers bosses, telling them: 'Machine absolutely top-hole'. In the cockpit they had flasks of coffee, hot chocolate and Horlick's. And in their pockets were the sandwiches that would give them much-needed energy during the bitterly cold journey. They also had a small flask of brandy each. There was more food and drink in a cupboard in the aircraft's tail, should they end up coming down on water. With them too was a bag of what would become the first transatlantic airmail. Among the letters were several written by the two airmen. Alcock wrote to his mother telling her not to worry. And he said to his sister: 'My Dear Elsie. Just a hurried line before I start. Th is letter will travel with me in the official mail bag, the first mail to be carried over the Atlantic. 'Love to all. Your Loving Brother, Jack.' For good luck, they also had their black cat toy mascots. Alcock named his Lucky Jim; whilst Brown's was called Twinkletoe. Both men, as airman veterans of the First World War, were convinced that black cats were a good omen. The flight is now remembered for the fact that it succeeded where rival attempts failed. But those 16 hours in the air were hellish. The radio failed, meaning Alcock and Brown's plan to update operators on the ground with their position at 20 minutes past each hour was dead. A working radio would also have meant that, should the men have to ditch into the Atlantic, they would be rescued in good time. Instead, they had to contend with the knowledge very soon into the flight that no one knew where they were. Mr Rooney writes: 'Whatever happened now, whatever challenges they faced, nobody would hear them. 'Jack Alcock and Ted Brown were entirely alone.' Next, the pilots were met with a sound that Mr Rooney describes as having sounded 'like machine-gun fire'. The Vickers' exhaust pipe had burst and a large section of it was now hanging loose. It got so hot that it turned white, before being blown away. Alcock and Brown now feared that the fire they saw emerging from the now-open exhaust pipe would engulf their aircraft. Although the plane did not burst into flames, the weather did not look kindly on the pilots. The men were flying at 3,500 feet when the plane was engulfed in thick fog that left them totally blind. 'There was no horizon, no sky, no sea,' Mr Rooney writes. All around them was total blackness. And then disaster. The plane went into a steep dive. By the time the aircraft left the cloud it had been stuck in, the aneroid - the device that gave a measure of their altitude - read 50 feet. The pilots had been just moments away from slamming into the Atlantic. Thankfully though, the aircraft recovered its height and the perilous journey continued. The rest of the trip was, by comparison, uneventful - until the landing. Above Clifden in Ireland, Alcock circled as he searched for a touch-down spot. Having found an open space, he turned off the Vimy's engines and glided down to the ground. But when the wheels touched the ground at around 8.40am on June 15, they dug into the soil. It turned out that Alcock had landed on a bog. The nose of the Vimy tilted forward and the tail lifted into the air as the plane sank into the soft ground. The nose buckled but did not totally break, meaning the cockpit stayed protected. Although Brown bumped his face, he and Alcock escaped otherwise unhurt. Brown then fired two flares into the sky and within minutes soldiers and officers from the nearby wireless station had appeared. Daily Mail reporter James Hodson arrived to interview the pair. Captain Alcock said in the Mail: 'We have had a terrible journey. 'The wonder is we are here at all. We scarcely saw the sun or the moon or the stars. For hours we saw none of them. 'The fog was very dense, and at times we had to descend to within 300 feet of the sea. 'For four hours the machine was covered in sheet ice caused by frozen sleet; at another time the sleet was so dense that my speed indicator did not work, and for a few seconds it was very alarming. 'We looped the loop, I do believe, and did a very steep spiral. We did some very comic "stunts", for I have had no sense of horizon.' He added: 'The only thing that upset me was to see the machine at the end get damaged. 'From above, the bog looked like a lovely field, but the machine sank into it up to the axle and fell over on to her nose.' The Mail's report announcing Alcock's death King George V sent his congratulations. An official message read: 'The King was delighted to receive your welcome announcement that Capt. Alcock and Lieut. Brown have safely landed in Ireland after their Transatlantic flight. 'His Majesty wishes you to communicate at once with these officers and to convey to them the King's warmest congratulations on the success of their splendid achievement.' The victory party was thrown by the Mail at The Savoy. More than 300 guests attended. Winston Churchill, then secretary of state for war and air, gave Alcock and Brown their prize and announced that they would be knighted. But then tragedy struck. On December 18, 1919, Brown was killed in a crash while flying the all-new Vickers Viking amphibian to the Paris Airshow. The Daily Mail announced Alcock's death on December 20. The news report read: 'We deeply regret to announce the death of Sir John Alcock, D.F.C., winner of the Daily Mail £10,000 prize for the first transatlantic flight and the first airman to be knighted. 'His death followed a crash due to a heavy storm while flying a new machine to the Paris Exhibition.' The report added: 'Sir John Alcock breathed his last in an old four-poster bed of a small Normandy farmhouse at Cottevrard at 4pm yesterday. 'His fatal injuries were received when he crashed into a field three hours earlier while flying the new Vickers combination aeroplane and flying-boat to Paris for the Air Show.' Despite the loss, Alcock's exploits with Brown did achieve the recognition they deserved from fellow pilots. Charles Lindbergh reportedly gave the two men apt recognition when he landed in Paris after his solo crossing from New York in 1927. He allegedly said to rapturous onlookers: 'Why all this fuss? Alcock and Brown showed us the way.' Lindbergh's fellow aviator, Amelia Earhart, described Alcock and Brown's flight as 'an amazing feat, and the least appreciated'. She became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo in 1932, before disappearing over the Pacific in 1937. And Amy Johnson, who flew from England to Australia in 1930, described Alcock and Brown's feat as 'the greatest in the history of aviation'.
Chicago Tribune
14-06-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: EPA bans use of pesticide DDT
Today is Saturday, June 14, the 165th day of 2025. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag Day. Today in history: On June 14, 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered a ban on domestic use of the pesticide DDT, to take effect at year's end. Also on this date: In 1775, the Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was created by the Second Continental Congress. In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the design of the first 'stars and stripes' American flag. In 1846, a group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the breakaway state of the California Republic, declaring independence from Mexico. In 1919, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown embarked on the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II; the same day, the Nazis transported their first prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled 6-3 that public school students could not be forced to salute the flag of the United States or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill adding the phrase 'under God' to the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands. In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced his nomination of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2005, Michelle Wie, 15, became the first female player to qualify for an adult male U.S. Golf Association championship, tying for first place in a 36-hole U.S. Amateur Public Links sectional qualifying tournament. In 2017, fire ripped through the 24-story Grenfell Tower residential building in West London, killing 72 people. In 2018, a Justice Department watchdog report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe criticized the FBI and its former director, James Comey, but did not find evidence that political bias tainted the investigation. Today's Birthdays: Actor Marla Gibbs is 94. U.S. President Donald Trump is 79. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Eric Heiden is 67. Jazz musician Marcus Miller is 66. Singer Boy George is 64. Tennis Hall of Famer Steffi Graf is 56. Classical pianist Lang Lang is 43. Actor J.R. Martinez is 42. Actor Lucy Hale is 36. Actor Daryl Sabara is 33. Rapper Gunna is 32.
Boston Globe
14-06-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Today in History: June 14, German troops occupy Paris
Advertisement In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the design of the first 'stars and stripes' American flag. In 1846, a group of US settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the breakaway state of the California Republic, declaring independence from Mexico. In 1919, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown embarked on the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II; the same day, the Nazis transported their first prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. In 1943, the US Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled 6-3 that public school students could not be forced to salute the flag of the United States or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Advertisement In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill adding the phrase 'under God' to the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered a ban on domestic use of the pesticide DDT, to take effect at year's end. In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands. In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced his nomination of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg to serve on the US Supreme Court. In 2005, Michelle Wie, 15, became the first female player to qualify for an adult male US Golf Association championship, tying for first place in a 36-hole US Amateur Public Links sectional qualifying tournament. In 2017, fire ripped through the 24-story Grenfell Tower residential building in West London, killing 72 people. In 2018, a Justice Department watchdog report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe criticized the FBI and its former director, James Comey, but did not find evidence that political bias tainted the investigation.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Daily Mail
'Impossible' escape of SAS commando from Hitler's Gestapo revealed after 80 years: How lone WWII hero killed six Nazi soldiers to make mountain dash for freedom from surrounded farmhouse
The heroics of an SAS commando who achieved the 'impossible' escape from the Gestapo after blowing up a German train can be revealed 81 years on. Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant John Alcock appeared doomed when nearly 40 enemy troops surrounded the French farmhouse he was hiding in. But he orchestrated a daring escape during a close quarters shoot-out, killing six of the enemy and leaping over a wall with his adversaries in close pursuit. He then lay in wait in dense woodland and picked off the enemy one by one before carrying on towards the Allied lines on the French-German border. The final dash for freedom saw him weave his way through German frontline positions in the Vosges Mountains, the most heavily defended lines in all of Western Europe, undetected. Then he made the unorthodox decision of capturing an American machine gun post facing the German lines to prevent being shot in a 'friendly fire' incident. The Dunkirk veteran's story has been told for the first time after 30-year-old manuscripts his son Graham wrote from conversations with his father about the mission came to light. Graham Alcock also kept hold of his father's wartime archive and showed it to the historian and author Damien Lewis. He carried out further research by trawling through the National Archives at Kew and has now published his latest book, SAS Great Escapes Four. Mr Lewis said: 'It is one of the most epic SAS escapes of World War Two - an impossible getaway. 'There are so few veterans still alive today so it gets more and more difficult to tell these stories and it is a privilege to do so.' Sergeant Alcock, a former 'butcher's boy' from Goole, East Yorkshire, was dropped behind enemy lines near Audviller in Alsace-Lorraine on September 15, 1944 as part of Operation Pistol. The mission was to hit nearby railway lines and communications, then make their way to the American lines. Sergeant Alcock led a four-man team, also consisting of Corporal Holden, Corporal Hannah and Private Lyczak, behind enemy lines with no transport and minimal supplies. They did not have functioning radios and a storm which blew them off course meant they parachuted onto farmland with no cover to hide from the enemy. Friendly farmers sheltered them before they planted explosives on a vital railway line which blew up a train near Insming, severing a German supply line and killing two officers. The daring act meant they were firmly on the Gestapo's radar and relentlessly hunted from that moment forward. They were hiding out in another farm when a couple of Polish workmen betrayed them and revealed their whereabouts to the enemy. An hour later, two trucks full of German troops turned up at the farm and surrounded the farmhouse, leaving them outnumbered almost 10 to one. Sergeant Alcock, knowing they would have to shoot their way to freedom, swiftly organised his men in the rear hallway. Two Polish girls, who were loyal to the Allies and were staying at the farm, went out the front door to provide a distraction. This crucially drew the Germans who had been hiding at the rear of the farmhouse away from their positions. Seconds later, the Germans stormed into the farmhouse through the front door. Sergeant Alcock and his men, with their pistols loaded, burst through the rear hallway door into the kitchen and shot at least six of them dead. They then dashed out of the back exit and hurdled a wall before running into the forest. When they got a certain distance inside, Sgt Alcock ordered them to take their positions and shoot anyone approaching. Three more Germans were killed in the ambush, which put other pursuers off from following them into the trap. But they then heard two gunshots which were the Polish girls who had helped them being executed. Sergeant Alcock knew that under Adolf Hitler's Commando Order, were they to be captured they would suffer the same fate. On October 1, after two weeks behind enemy lines, and by now wearing civilian clothes given to them by a French farmer, they reached the German frontline positions. Sergeant Alcock led them down a stone track and they crept across a canal before weaving a route around enemy trenches towards No Man's Land. At this point, they spotted a hill in the distance which Sgt Alcock was convinced was held by the Americans. But fearful that the American machine gunner on the hill would open fire on them, Sgt Alcock decided the best option was to capture the post. Two of his men drew his fire while the others approached from the sides and captured the gunner, whose partner was sleeping alongside him. They woke the sleeping soldier up and explained to their new prisoners that they were on the same side. At Sergeant Alcock's request, he was taken to the US high command where he divulged valuable information about the German positions they had just passed. The team had carried on doing sabotage operations, including cutting communication wires, right up until they reached the Allied lines. Mr Lewis, whose book The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was made into Guy Ritchie's film of the same name, said: 'Somehow, against all odds, Sergeant Alcock had done it. 'He had let his men to safety through the lines, evading the enemy at every turn. 'It had been a little short of miraculous that they had managed to navigate their way through. 'Since they had been dropped neae Audviller on the night of September 15, their mission had been plagued by bad weather, lack of supplies and terrain that was crawling with the enemy. 'Even so, they had successfully blown up a train, causing an important German supply line to be severed, and had emerged carrying priceless intelligence on key enemy positions. 'And while they accounted for at least 11 enemy dead or wounded, not a single man on Alcock's patrol had suffered so much as a scratch. 'Operation Pistol had, in the main, been a success, scoring victories and gathering vital intelligence. 'Its sister mission, Operation Loyton, would become infamous, as 32 SAS soldiers were taken prisoner, and duly murdered under Hitler's Commando Order, many of them personal friends of Alcock. 'The courage, tenacity and strength of will displayed by Alcock and his comrades typified the esprit de corps of the SAS during the Second World War. 'There was no other unit quite like it. 'For the freedoms we enjoy today, we owe such individuals an immense debt of gratitude.' Sergeant Alcock, who was Mentioned in Despatches for Operation Pistol, remained in the Army until 1966. He then worked for the East Riding Education Service before his retirement in 1983, spending his final years in his beloved Yorkshire. Sergeant Alcock died aged 78 in 1997.
