Transatlantic flight

Transatlantic flight is any flight of an aircraft, whether airplane, balloon or other device, which involves crossing the Atlantic Ocean -- with a starting point in North America or South America and ending in Europe or Africa, or vice versa.

Early notable transatlantic flights

• May 8-31, 1919. U.S. Navy flying boat NC-4 under command of Albert Cushing Read makes first transatlantic flight, 4,526 miles, from Rockaway, N.Y., to Plymouth, England, via Newfoundland, Azores, Lisbon, Portugal, and other intermediate stops, in 53 hours, 58 minutes.

• June 14-15, 1919. Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. A.W. Brown of the United Kingdom in Vickers Vimy bomber make first nonstop transatlantic flight, between islands, 1,960 miles, from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland, in 16 hours, 12 minutes.

• July 1919. Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force with his crew and passengers flies from East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, Long Island in an airship R.34, covering a distance of about 3,000 miles in about four and a half days, then he made a return trip to England.

• March 30-June 17, 1922. LCdr. Sacadura Cabral (pilot) and Cdr. Gago Coutinho (navigator) of Portugal, using three Fairey IIID floatplanes ("Lusitania", "Patria Brasileira" and "Santa Cruz") used successively after two ditchings, make first flight across the South Atlantic, using only internal means of navigation (the Coutinho-invented sextant with artificial horizon) from Lisbon, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• October 1924. The Zeppelin airship ZR-3 (LZ-126) flies from Germany to New Jersey with a crew commanded by Dr. Hugo Eckener, covering a distance of about 4,000 miles. It was the first nonstop aircraft flight between Europe and America mainlands.

• May 8-9, 1927. Charles Nungesser and François Coli attempted at crossing the Atlantic from Paris to the USA in Levasseur PL-8 "L'Oisseau Blanc" biplane, but were lost. According to some witnesses, they might have crashed already in Maine, USA.

• May 20-21, 1927. Charles A. Lindbergh flies Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, in first solo transatlantic flight and first nonstop airplane flight between America and Europe mainlands, 3,600 miles, from New York City to Paris, in 33 1/2 hours.

• June 4-5, 1927. Clarence D. Chamberlain and Charles Levine in Bellanca monoplane make first nonstop New York-Germany flight, 3,911 miles, in 43 hours, 49 minutes, 33 seconds.

• October 14-15, 1927 - Dieudonne Costes and Joseph le Brix make the first non-stop aerial crossing of the South Atlantic, flying a Breguet 19 from Senegal to Brazil.

• April 12-13, 1928. Gunther von Huenfeld and Capt. Hermann Koehl of Germany and Comdr. James Fitzmaurice of Ireland fly the Junkers monoplane "Bremen" in first nonstop westbound flight over North Atlantic, 2,070 miles, from Ireland to Labrador, in 36 1/2 hours.

• June 17-18, 1928. Amelia Earhart in Fokker F.VII trimotor Friendship is first woman to fly Atlantic as a passenger.

• September 1-2, 1930. Dieudonne Costes and Le Brix fly the Breguet 19 Super Bidon biplane "Point d'Interrogation" (Question Mark) in first nonstop westbound flight between European and American mainlands, from over North Atlantic, 6,200 km from Paris to New York City.

• June 23-July 1, 1931. Wiley Post as pilot and Harold Gatty as navigator fly Lockheed Vega monoplane Winnie Mae in around-the-world flight, 15,477 miles, from Long Island, N.Y., in 14 stops, in 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes; flying time, 107 hours, 2 minutes.

• May 20-21, 1932. Amelia Earhart in Lockheed Vega makes first transatlantic solo flight by a woman, 2,026 miles, from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Londonderry, Ireland, in 15 hours, 18 minutes.

• August 18-19, 1932. Jim Mollison makes the first solo westbound crossing of the Atlantic, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth from Dublin to New Brunswick

• May 7-8, 1933. Stanislaw Skarzynski makes a solo flight across the South Atlantic, covering 3,582 km (2,238 miles), in a smallest plane that crossed the Atlantic, the RWD-5bis - empty weight below 450 kg (990 lb).

• July 1-15, 1933. Gen. Italo Balbo of Italy leads 24 Savoia-Marchetti seaplanes in mass transatlantic flight, 6,100 miles, from Orbetello, Italy, to Chicago, Ill., in 47 hours, 52 minutes.

• July 15-22, 1933. Wiley Post flies Lockheed Vega monoplane Winnie Mae in first around-the-world solo flight, 15,596 miles in 11 stops, in 7 days, 8 hours, 49 minutes; flying time, 115 hours, 36 minutes.

Commercial transatlantic flight

Transatlantic airline travel was pioneered by Pan American World Airways of the United States, Imperial Airways of Britain, and Aeropostale of France, which used flying boats to connect the Americas to Europe via Bermuda and the Azores during the 1930s. After World War II, American and European carriers such as Pan Am, TWA, Trans Canada Airlines, BOAC, and Air France acquired larger piston aircraft based on new bomber designs, which allowed services over the North Atlantic with intermediate stops (usually in Gander, Newfoundland and/or Shannon, Ireland). Jet service began in the late 1950s, and supersonic service (Concorde) was offered from the 1970s through the 1990s. Since the loosening of regulations in the 1970s and 1980s, a large number of airlines now compete in the transatlantic air travel market.

Other early transatlantic flights

Apart from most notable flights described above, many persons attempted to fly across Atlantic, what was quite dangerous in early years of aviation. These include:

• June 29 - July 1, 1927 - Richard Evelyn Byrd with crew flies Fokker F.VIIa/3m "America" from New York City to France.
• January 16, 1933 - Jean Mermoz and crew make a non-stop flight from Senegal to Brazil, across South Atlantic, in 17 hours 27 minutes.
• February 6-9, 1933. Jim Mollison flies a de Havilland Puss Moth from Senegal to Brazil, across South Atlantic, becoming the first person to fly solo across the North and South Atlantics.
• July 15-17, 1933. Lithuanians Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas were supposed to make a non-stop flight from New York City via Newfoundland to Kaunas, but crashed in the forests of Germany after 6411 km of flying, only 650 km short of their final destination. Flying time 37 hours, 11 minutes.
• June 29-30, 1934 - Polish-Americans Benjamin and Joseph Adamowicz brothers, amateur pilots, flew across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to France.