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Not just 50 years since Apollo 11: Aviation Centenary year

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:23 pm
by GRA
With all the well-deserved hoopla over the Apollo 11 anniversary, what's been overlooked is that 2019 is also the centennial of 4 significant aviation flights, developments stemming from which have had more impact on the average person than the moon landings.

These were:

First crossing of the Atlantic by air, west to east, by the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 flying boat with its crew of 6, from trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, to Lisbon, Portugal with stops in the Azores:

First non-stop crossing ditto, a Vickers Vimy crewed by two, from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland: ... _and_Brown

First (lighter than air) east to west non-stop crossing from East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, Long Island, and first two-way (lighter than air) crossing (Mineola to Pulham Royal Naval Air Station), both by the British R34 dirigible and a crew of 30, plus a stowaway and a kitten:

Anyone who's flown the Atlantic or any other ocean in a passenger airliner is benefiting from the fruits of those early labors.