RAF Historical Exhibition on Alcock and Brown

The next stop was Swansea Museum where an RAF exhibition was being opened, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first transatlantic flight by John Alcock and Arthur Brown.  Sir Arthur Whitten Brown lived in Swansea for most of his adult life, working at the Vickers office in the town centre.

As Wikipedia recalls, together with John Alcock, Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. The two men flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.

The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presented them with the Daily Mail prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane in "less than 72 consecutive hours".  A small amount of mail was carried on the flight, making it the first transatlantic airmail flight. The two aviators were awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) a week later by King George V at Windsor Castle.

Today's event was to celebrate that crossing and also the links with Swansea and I was joined by the Lord Lieutenant and the High Sheriff. The original plane is housed in the British Science Museum, hanging from a ceiling, but we had the next best thing as a replica was unveiled, made for the exhibition by Vickers.

The exhibition will be open for some months at the museum of people wish to view it.