Alcock and Brown's first non-stop 1919 Atlantic flight was arguably the most significant aviation feat after the Wright Brothers' 1904 flights. The first crossing of an ocean, the longest distance ever flown by man, it was a triumph of navigation, flying skill and rare courage. Mancunians Alcock and Brown survived continuous cloud, snow and ice and a near-fatal stall in their open-cockpit Vickers Vimy, as well as a deafening damaged exhaust and non-functioning wireless. With no modern aids and depending solely on dead reckoning, they landed in Derrygimla, Galway, only 20 miles north of their target destination, having covered 1,880 miles in their 16-hour marathon from Newfoundland to Ireland, the longest distance flown by man.
