Sunday, June 12, 2005
American millionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett and his co-pilot Mark Rebholz are planning to recreate John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown’s historic first non-stop transatlantic flight of 1919.
Following the original route, the pair hope to leave Lester’s Field in Newfoundland, Canada next weekend and fly to Clifden on the west coast of Ireland. They intend to land at the Ballyconneely golf links near the Irish town. However, the date of departure, 19 June, is very much weather dependent because the pilots will be relying solely on the sun and stars for direction — no instruments are being used for navigation.
The trip, which will be completely in a replica Vickers Vimy, will take approximately 20 hours to complete. The Vickers Vimy was originally designed as a World War One bomber. This particular plane has already been used to recreate significant journeys; having flown from Britain to Australia in 1994, and from England to South Africa in 1999.