The Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race was a race between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, UK and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, USA to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the first trans-atlantic crossing by John Alcock and Arthur Brown.

The race

Organised by 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 ...

'' newspaper, the race was held between 4 and 11 May 1969, although named an air race it was actually a race of individuals between the

Post Office Tower The BT Communication Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. Originally named the Museum Radio Tower (after the adjacent Museum telephone exchange), it became better known by its unoff ...

in London to the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...

in New York. Each of the individuals or "Runners" had to use some form of air transport. With a number of different categories a total of 21 prizes could be won. A number of point-to-point world records for aircraft were broken. The shortest overall time between London and New York was by Squadron Leader Tom Lecky-Thompson flying a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Hawker Siddeley Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is a British military aircraft. It was the first of the Harrier series of aircraft and was developed in the 1960s as the first operational ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft with vertical/short takeoff an ...

in 6 hours 11 minutes. The shortest time between New York and London was by Lieutenant Commander Peter Goddard, a passenger in a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

McDonnell Douglas Phantom (callsign 'Royal Blue 3', serial XT859) in 5 hours 11 minutes.

Civilian competitors

The first civilian competitor to leave London was Anne Alcock, the niece of Sir John Alcock. She was followed by a number of other runners including

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of com ...

Mary Rand Mary Denise Rand, MBE (née Bignal on 10 February 1940) is an English former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track ...

and

Sheila Scott Sheila Christine Scott OBE (nee Hopkins; 27 April 1922 – 20 October 1988) was an English aviator who broke over 100 aviation records through her long distance flight endeavours, which included a "world and a half" flight in 1971. On this fli ...

, who used her own private aircraft.

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy entered three "runners" each to be flown across the Atlantic in a McDonnell Douglas Phantom. The navy runners used Phantoms which flew from the Floyd Bennet Naval Air Station to Wisley Aerodrome and were refuelled by

Handley Page Victor The Handley Page Victor is a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final '' V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Avr ...

aerial tankers over the Atlantic. On 11 May 1969 a Royal Navy Phantom of

892 Naval Air Squadron 892 Naval Air Squadron (892 NAS) was a carrier-based fighter squadron of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in 1943, flying Grumman Martlets, and was the only operational Fleet Air Arm squadron to fly the McDonnell Douglas P ...

set a new world air speed record between New York and London in 4 hours and 46 minutes. The Vickers Alcock and Brown trophy was awarded to Lieutenant Commander Peter Goddard for his 5 hour 11 minute crossing which was the fastest West to East crossing.

Royal Air Force

The

decided to use the unique Vertical Take Off and Landing capability of the

. The Harrier used a coal yard next to

St Pancras station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It ...

in London and landed on the quayside of the Bristol Basin in New York.

London to New York

New York to London

Notes

References

External links

''The Atlantic Race - Details of Categories in the "Daily Mail" event''
- 1969 ''Flight'' pre-race article
''Harrier at St Pancras?''
- a 1969 news item in ''Flight'' about the probable take-off point for the RAF's Harrier entry

news of the unofficial New York - London record set by the Royal Navy Phantom
''Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Record Holder 1969''
From an article in the FAAOA News Sheet September 2009, Doug "Stormy" Fairweather, Anthony "Robbie" Roberts {{Authority control Air races Aviation history of the United Kingdom 1969 in aviation History of the Atlantic Ocean 1969 in London 1969 in New York City