The Sopwith Atlantic was an experimental

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

long-range aircraft of 1919. It was a single-engined

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

that was designed and built to be the first aeroplane to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop. It took off on an attempt to cross the Atlantic from

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

on 18 May 1919, but ditched during the flight owing to an overheating engine.

Development and design

In 1913, the British newspaper the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' offered a

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

of £10,000 for the first flight across the Atlantic.''Flight'' 5 April 1913, p.393. Although plans were drawn up to attempt to win the prize, notably by

Rodman Wanamaker Lewis Rodman Wanamaker (February 13, 1863 – March 9, 1928) was an American businessman and heir to the Wanamaker's department store fortune. In addition to operating stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, he was a patron of the arts ...

, who ordered two Curtiss America

flying boats A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

, with

John Cyril Porte Lieutenant Colonel John Cyril Porte, (26 February 1884 – 22 October 1919) was a British flying boat pioneer associated with the First World War Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe. Early life and career Porte was born on 26 February ...

selected to be the pilot, the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in August 1914 put a stop to these plans. Following the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

on 11 November 1918, the competition was reopened,''Flight'' 21 November 1918, p.1316.

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eig ...

, the head of the

Sopwith Aviation Company The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during the First World War, most famously ...

decided to build an aircraft to compete for the prize.Robertson 1970, p.134. George Carter of Sopwith based his design for the transatlantic aircraft on the single-engined Sopwith B.1

bomber aircraft A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircraf ...

. It was a large, two-bay

Rolls-Royce Eagle The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of oth ...

engine in a

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

. The new aircraft had a deeper fuselage than the B.1, housing a fuel tank carrying 330 imperial gallons (1,500 L) of petrol and with the crew of two sat well aft of the wings. The

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

mainwheels were jettisonable to reduce drag, while a boat was provided in case of emergency landing on the sea, being built into the fuselage decking behind the crew's cockpit.

Operational history

The transatlantic aircraft, named the Sopwith Atlantic was designed and built quickly, being completed early in 1919. Following testing at Brooklands airfield, the Atlantic was dismantled and dispatched to Newfoundland aboard ship, arriving on 28 March 1919. The aircraft was soon assembled, but weather was poor, with the chosen airstrip at St John's snowbound. Despite the fact that the competing

Martinsyde Martinsyde was a British aircraft and motorcycle manufacturer between 1908 and 1922, when it was forced into liquidation by a factory fire. History The company was first formed in 1908 as a partnership between H.P. Martin and George Handasyde ...

aircraft had also arrived in Newfoundland, the crew of the Atlantic, Australian pilot

Harry Hawker Harry George Hawker, MBE, AFC (22 January 1889 – 12 July 1921) was an Australian aviation pioneer. He was the chief test pilot for Sopwith and was also involved in the design of many of their aircraft. After the First World War, he co-fou ...

and navigator

Kenneth Mackenzie Grieve Kenneth is an English language, English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and ''Cináed (disambiguation), Cináed''. The modern Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic form of ''C ...

could not attempt the Atlantic flight for several weeks.''New York Times'' 13 April 1919.''New York Times'' 19 May 1919. Hawker and Grieves finally took off from St John's on 18 May 1919 (other sources: from

Mount Pearl Mount Pearl is the third-largest settlement and second-largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The city is located southwest of St. John's, on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. Mount Pearl is the fo ...

). During the night, however, the aircraft's engine started to overheat, possibly because of a blocked filter in the cooling system. After making several attempts to clear the blockage by diving the aircraft and stopping and restarting the engine to attempt to cool it, with the engine still overheating and heavy weather ahead, they turned south to seek out the shipping lanes, and on encountering the Danish steamer SS ''Mary, ''

ditched In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an Landing, aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the ...

in the Atlantic and were rescued, 1130 mi 1,820 km) from St Mary's and 750 mi (1,210 km) from Ireland.Robertson 1970, p.135.''Flight'' 29 May 1919, p.694. As the ''Mary'' was not fitted with radio, no news of Hawker and Grieves' rescue had reached the rest of the world, and they were feared to have been killed, a telegram of condolence being sent by King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

until the ''Mary'' reached Scotland on 25 May.''Flight'' 29 May 1919, p.696. The ''Daily Mail'' prize was finally won by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown who flew from St. John's to

Clifden Clifden (, meaning "stepping stones") is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Cap ...

, Ireland in a

Vickers Vimy The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" ...

on 14–15 June 1919."Alcock and Brown"
''Aviation-History.com''. Retrieved 14 August 2009. Harry Hawker however won a prize of £5,000 for the first pilot to fly 1,000 miles over the ocean without ditching.Kev Darling: ''Hawker Typhoon, Tempest and Sea Fury''. The Crowood Press, 2003. . p.8

Specifications

Notes

References

. ''Flight'', 5 April 1913. p. 393.

. ''Flight'', 21 November 1918. p. 1316.

. ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'', 10 April 1919. pp. 476–480.
The Transatlantic Race
. ''Flight'', 17 April 1919, pp. 503–505.
Plan Start Today on Win Or Die Atlantic Flight
. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 13 April 1919, pp. 1,3.
Hawker Waited Six Weeks To Start
. ''New York Times'', 19 May 1919, p. 5.

. ''Flight'', 29 May 1919. *Robertson, Bruce. ''Sopwith-The Man and his Aircraft''. Letchworth, UK:Air Review, 1970. . {{Sopwith Aviation Company aircraft 1910s British sport aircraft

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1919

Development and design

Operational history

Specifications

See also

Notes

References