Anything that is classed as a “Transatlantic Flight” means it has crossed the Atlantic Ocean, from Europe, Africa or the Middle East to North America, Central America, South America, or vice versa. While today these types of flights are commonplace, they were once amazing feats of human and technological endurance…
Fokker tri-motor monoplane
10 – 29th June – 1st July 1927 New York to Ver-sur-Mer, France. America, a Fokker tri-motor monoplane
Richard E. Byrd and his crew of three ditched in the sea off the French coast while attempting to reach Paris.
21 Giuseppe Bellanca
9 – 4th – 6th June 1927 New York to Eisleben, Germany. Columbia, 21 Giuseppe Bellanca
Clarence Chamberlain and his passenger, Charles A. Le vine, established a new total distance record of 6,294km/3,911 miles.
Savoia-Marchetti s.55 flying-boat
8 – 23rd May – 11th June 1927 – Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, to Lisbon, Portugal. Santa Maria II, a Savoia-Marchetti s.55 flying-boat
The aeroplane with a three man crew (Francesco Marquis de Pinedo, Capt Carlo deI Prete and Lt Vitale Vacchetti) ran out of fuel and ditched in the sea 482 km/300 miles before its destination and had to be towed to port. As the trip was incomplete, it was overshadowed by Lindbergh’s achievement.
single-engined Ryan monoplane
7 – 20th-21st May 1927 Long Island, New York, to Paris, France. Spirit of St Louis, a single-engined Ryan monoplane
Although Capt Charles Lindbergh is often erroneously said to have been the first to fly the Atlantic, his remarkable achievement was actually that he was the first to cross solo. He was, in fact. the 80th person to fly the Atlantic (or more than the 100th if the R-34’s return journey is counted). The total distance covered was 5,810km/3,610 miles in 33 hr29.5 min.
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Savoia-Marchetti s 55 flying-boat
6 – 13th – 24th February 1927 Sardinia to Pernambuco, Brale. Santa Maria. a Savoia-Marchetti s.55 flying-boat
Francesco Marquis de Pinedo Capt Carlo del Prete and Lt Vitale Vacchetti crossed in stages as part of a Fascist Italy good Will trip to South America.
Dornier Wal twin-engined flying-boat.
5 – 23rd January – 5th February 1926 Palos, Spain, to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Plus Ultra, a Dornier Wal twin-engined flying-boat.
The crew of four (Ramon Franco, Druan, R.de Alda and Prata) achieved the first air crossing of the South Atlantic.
German-built’ZR3 airship
4 – 12-15th October 1924 Friedrichshafen, Germany, to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Los Angeles, a renamed German-built’ZR3 airship
Piloted by its inventor, Dr Hugo Eckener, with 33 passengers and crew, this airship was acquired as part of the German war reparations and remained in service with the US Navy until it was decommissioned in 1932.
British R-34 airship
3 – 2-6th July 1919 Fast Fortune, Scotland, to Roosevelt Field, New York, British R-34 airship
Major George Herbert Scott and a crew of 30 (including the first-ever transatlantic air stowaway, William Ballantine) made the first east-west crossing. It was the first airship to do so and, when it returned to Pulham, England, on 13 July, the first to complete a double crossing. The outward journey of 5.03 7 km 3,130 miles took 108 hr 12 min, and the return journey of 5, 150 Ian/3,200 miles took 75 hr 3min.
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Twin Rolls-Royce-engined converted Vickers Vimy bomber.
2 – 14-15th June 1919 St John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden, Galway, Ireland. Twin Rolls-Royce-engined converted Vickers Vimy bomber
British pilot Capt John Alcock and navigator Lt Arthur Whitten Brown achieved the first non-stop Hight, ditching in a bog after their epic 16′ hr 27 min-journey. The first non-stop east-west crossing was made by Hermann K6121 on 12th-13th of April 1928.
Curtiss flying boat NC-4
1 – 16-27th May 1919 Trepassy Harbour, Newfoundland to Lisbon, Portugal. US Navy/ Curtiss flying boat NC-4
Lt-Cdr Albert Cushing Read and a crew of five (Elmer Fowler Stone, Walter Hinton, James Lawrence Breese, Herbert Charles Rodd and Eugene Saylor Rhoads) crossed the Atlantic in a series of hops, refuelling at sea. The Atlantic leg was part of an even longer journey; a convoy of three fying-boats: NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4, left Rockaway, Long Island, on the 8th of May, flying Via the Azores to Portugal, but only NC-4 completed the distance; its final destination, Plymouth, England, was reached on 31 May after covering a total distance of 7,591 km/4,717 miles.