Alcock & Brown Memorial

Alcock & Brown landed near here after a 16 hour flight. It was the aircraft pioneers John Alcock and Arthur Brown who took off in Newfoundland, Canada, with their Vimy on June 14, 1919 at 4:12 p.m. That was a bomber made at the end of WWI. But the interior space was replaced by a giant fuel tank. Michiel Hendryckx describes their navigation talent in a fantastic way:

"Despite favorable weather forecasts, the plane immediately encountered dense fog, which made navigation impossible. Ice formed on the wings, which Brown removed after climbing out of the cockpit, a breakneck task. In the few moments when they had an unobstructed view , they determined their position using a sextant. By studying the ocean's surface, Brown was able to measure the air currents that were taking them off course."

That was a feat of pure navigational art because they were only 32 km from their target.

Did you know that they described the phenomenon of jet lag for the first time?

Dromos