In July 2005 the Vimy Atlantic team recreated the first direct crossing of the Atlantic by the British team of John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown in June 1919.
Our mission was to recreate the flight and bring to life the impact this flight had on the peoples on both sides of the Atlantic. This and subsequent Vimy flights demonstrated that the airplane, considered a tool of war, had a tremendous civilian application.
Alcock and Brown's flight happened when a spirit for adventure and incredible skill combined to accomplish a truly heroic act. Today, significant pioneering and invention often happens at the far reaches of science and at the molecular level; invention appears out of reach to today's students.
The Vickers Vimy replica that flew across the Atlantic has become almost as famous as its original ancestors, whose feats also include the first London to Australia flight in 1919 and the first London to Cape Town flight in 1920.
The record-breaking Vickers Vimy, which in 1919 made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, was designed as a new generation heavy bomber for the Royal Air Force and was intended to attack German targets at the height of the First World War. Designed by Reginald Kirshaw Pierson, the Vimy was manufactured at the Vickers Company factory in Leighton Buzzard but failed to see active service during the War. However, its place in history was guaranteed with a number of historic pioneering flights.
In 1913, the London Daily Mail offered a £10,000 prize for the first successful non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. By the end of the First World War, despite numerous attempts the prize remained unclaimed. However, on 14 June 1919, a Vickers Vimy Mk.IV flown by two Royal Air Force officers, pilot Captain John Alcock and navigator Lieutenant Arthur Whitten-Brown, took off from St John’s, Newfoundland, and headed across the Atlantic towards Europe.
They flew through the night battling against snow, ice, fog and fatigue. The Vimy flew between sea level and 12,000 feet at an average speed of 118 miles per hour and the following morning the two aviators sighted
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