Unusual Miniature Facsimile of "Alcock & Brown" Newspaper
SOLD
Unusual miniature facsimile copy of the British "Daily Express" newspaper which announced the news of the first successful non-stop flight across the Atlantic by Alcock & Brown on 15th June 1919.
This miniature newspaper measuring only 186mm x 125mm is a complete 10 page representation of the original full size issue published on 16th June 1919. Uncertain as to the exact date that this copy was printed, it certainly does not appear to be modern. Good condition (some light soiling).
Captain John Alcock was born in 1892 and first became involved in flying in 1910 when he started work as a mechanic at Brooklands. In 1912 he leaned to fly, and at the outbreak of W.W.I. he joined the Royal Naval Air Service. He was posted as an instructor at Eastchurch and was later transferred to the Aegean as a combat pilot where he earned a DSC for gallantry. In 1917 he was shot down and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Turkish. Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown was born in 1886 and from a youth had an interest in aerial navigation. He served as a navigator in the Royal Air Force with whom he also earned merit during the war. As well as Alcock, Brown also spent part of the war as a P.O.W. After the war, the Daily Mail announced it was awarding a £10,000 prize to the crew of the first aircraft to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. On the 14th June (one month after Hawker and Mackenzie Grieve's failed attempt) Alcock and Brown left Newfoundland flying in a specially modified Vickers Vimy bomber. After a hazardous journey through terrible weather conditions they crash landed (without injury) in a bog at Cliften, Ireland. They had become the first men in history to fly across the Atlantic non-stop. Shortly after they were both knighted by King George V. Sadly, six months after the flight, Alcock died while attempting to land a Vickers Viking flying boat in fog near Rouen, France.
For more information on Alcock & Brown's flight, please click on the link below :
Inventory No. A-29
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