Transatlantic Flight in 1919 by NC-4 Aircraft "The Great Flight" 1970 US Navy 15min

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• published: 29 Feb 2012
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more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/aviation_news_and_search.html "Department of Defense... THE STORY OF THE FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT IN 1919 PERFORMED BY A NAVY NC4 AND THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF THAT HISTORIC FLIGHT." US Navy film MN-10845 Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and equalization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NC-4 The NC-4 was a Curtiss NC flying boat which was designed by Glenn Curtiss and his team, and manufactured by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. In May 1919, the NC-4 became the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, starting in the United States and making the crossing as far as Lisbon, Portugal, in 19 days. This included time for numerous repairs and for crewmen's rest, with stops along the way in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and twice in the Azores Islands. Then its flight from the Azores to Lisbon completed the first transatlantic flight between North America and Europe, and two more flights from Lisbon to northeastern Spain to Plymouth, England, completed the first flight between North America and Great Britain. The accomplishment of the naval aviators of the NC-4 was somewhat eclipsed in minds of the public by the first nonstop transatlantic flight, which took 15 hours and 57 min and was made by the British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, two weeks later... The NC-4's transatlantic capability was the result of developments that began before World War I. In 1908 Curtiss had unsuccessfully experimented with floats on the airframe of an early June Bug craft, but his first successful take off was not achieved until 1911 with an A-1 fitted with a central pontoon. In January 1912 he first flew his first hulled "hydro-aeroplane", which led to an introduction with the retired English naval officer John Cyril Porte who was looking for a partner to produce an aircraft with him in order to win the Daily Mail prize for the first transatlantic crossing. Porte improved the hull, including an innovative hull step for breaking clear of the water at takeoff. They were joined by Lt John H Towers of the US Navy as a test pilot. This "America" flying boat of 1914 was a larger craft with two pusher engines, with which they hoped to claim the transatlantic prize. Development stopped on the outbreak of war in Europe later that year. Porte, now back in the Royal Navy's flying arm the RNAS, commissioned more flying boats from Curtiss, which could be used for long-range anti-submarine and Zeppelin patrols. Porte modified these and developed them into his own range of Felixstowe flying boats with more powerful engines, longer range and better handling characteristics. The design was shared with Curtiss, who built these improved models under license, selling them to the US government. This culminated in the NC-4, the fourth of the Navy's first series of four medium-sized Curtiss NC floatplanes made for the Navy by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. The NC-4 made its first test flight on 30 April 1919. After the end of the war and with several of the new Curtiss NC aircraft on its hands, the officers in charge of the U.S. Navy decided to demonstrate their capability of transatlantic flight. However they allowed stops for meals and overnight sleeping, and also to refuel and carry out maintenance on the aircraft. The U.S. Navy's transatlantic flight expedition began on 8 May 1919. The NC-4 started out in the company of two other Curtiss NCs, the NC-1 and the NC-3 (with the NC-2 having been cannibalized for spare parts to repair the NC-1 before this group of planes had even left New York City)... On 16 May, the three Curtiss NCs departed on the longest leg of their journey, from Newfoundland to the Portuguese Azores Islands in the mid-Atlantic... ...it landed at Lisbon harbor... becoming the first aircraft of any kind to fly across the Atlantic Ocean - or any other ocean. The part of this flight just from the Island of Newfoundland to Lisbon on the European mainland had taken a total time 10 days and 22 hours, but with the actual flight time being just 26 hours and 46 minutes...