In 1913, Lord Northcliffe, proprietor of the Daily Mail launched his now infamous competition to cross the Atlantic non-stop in less than 72 hours. Shortly after, the Great War broke out, putting the competition on hold. Once peace was declared in November 1918, Lord Northcliffe repeated his challenge. Alcock and Brown gathered a team that would begin a course of events leading to the daily transatlantic flights we enjoy today.
Among the spectators who watched the pilots’ modified Vickers-Vimy bi-plane take-off from St.John’s was Eric Platford, Head of Production Testing at Rolls-Royce and Bob Lyons, a Rolls-Royce mechanic. Both were sent to supervise the final tuning of the two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines that powered the historic crossing.
The engines had been specially prepared for the attempt at Rolls-Royce in Derby, UK, where today, pioneering aero engines such as the Trent XWB are still assembled. The Eagle was the first aero engine Henry Royce ever made.
Alcock and Brown completed the flight in treacherous conditions, surviving continuous cloud, snow and ice and a near-fatal stall in their open-cockpit Vickers-Vimy, as well as a thick fog that meant they had to blind-fly almost the entire way.