Albert Read - The Atlantic in 1919!
The possibility of transatlantic flight by aircraft emerged after the First World War, which had seen tremendous advances in aerial capabilities. In April 1913 the London newspaper The Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 to the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the United States of America, Canada or Newfoundland and any point in Great Britain or Ireland" in 72 continuous hours".
The competition was suspended with the outbreak of war in 1914 but reopened after Armistice was declared in 1918.
Between 8 and 31 May 1919, Albert Cushing Read, in the Curtiss seaplane NC-4, made a crossing of the Atlantic flying from the U.S. to Newfoundland, then to the Azores and on to mainland Portugal and finally the UK. The whole journey took 23 days, with six stops along the way. A trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic gave the aircraft points to navigate by. This flight was not eligible for the Daily Mail prize since it took more than 72 consecutive hours and also because more than one aircraft was used in the attempt.
Albert Cushing Read
Albert Cushing "Putty" Read was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. As a Lt. Commander in May 1919, Read commanded a crew of five on the Curtiss NC-4 flying boat, the first aircraft ever to make a transatlantic flight, eight years before Charles Lindbergh's historic solo, non-stop flight, and a couple of weeks before Alcock and Brown's non stop flight. Read's flight started from Rockaway Beach, Long Island, took 23 days before arriving in Plymouth, England. The six stops included layovers at Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, the Azores, and Lisbon, Portugal.
In 1929, Read and the rest of the flight crew of NC-4 were awarded Congressional Gold Medals.
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