Sir John William AlcockBorn 6 Nov 1892; died 18 Dec 1919 at age 27.British aviator who as pilot, with his fellow British aviator Arthur Brown as navigator, completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight on 15 Jun 1919. Alcock served with the Royal Naval Air Service and was considered one of their best pilots. In the WW I, he flew numerous missions over Turkish enemy lines, winning a DSC for a solo attack on three Turkish planes (1917). Alcock and Brown took off on 14 Jun 1919 in a twin-engine Vickers Vimy, a converted bomber from Lester's Field near St. John's, Newfoundland. They landed the plane in a bog near Clifden, Ireland, the next day, having flown 1,950 miles in 16h 27m averaging 118 mph. They received a prize of £10,000 from the Daily Mail newspaper and were knighted. He died in an air crash six months after his transatlantic flight. |
