![Daily Mail Front Cover June 16 1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Daily_Mail_Front_Cover_June_16_1919.jpg)
Between 1906 and 1930, the ''Daily Mail'' newspaper, initially on the initiative of its proprietor,
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journa ...
, awarded numerous prizes for achievements in
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...
. The newspaper would stipulate the amount of a prize for the first aviators to perform a particular task in aviation or to the winner of an aviation race or event. The most famous prizes were the £1,000 for the first cross-channel flight awarded to
Louis Blériot in 1909 and the £10,000 given in 1919 to
Alcock and Brown
British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. They flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, County Galway, Ireland. The Secretar ...
for the first non-stop transatlantic flight between North America and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
The prizes are credited with advancing the course of aviation during the early years, with the considerable sums offered becoming a much-coveted goal for the field's pioneers.
Prizes
In addition, four "consolation" prizes were awarded:
See also
*
List of aviation awards
This list of aviation awards is an index to articles about notable awards given in the field of aviation. It includes a list of awards for winners of competitions or records, a list of awards by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, various oth ...
* ''
Daily Mail''
*
Scott Collection
The Scott Collection is a collection of philatelic material relating to British internal airmails that forms part of the British Library Philatelic Collections. The collection is comprehensive in most areas and ends in the 1970s. It includes a spec ...
, a collection of
aerophilately
Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail service have been extensively studied and docu ...
items relating to the 1912 flights.
Annotations
Notes
References
*Lewis, Peter. ''British Racing and Record-Breaking Aircraft''. London:Putnam, 1970. .
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Daily Mail
Aviation awards
Aviation history of the United Kingdom
Challenge awards