as
accomplished.

Meanwhile, H. G. Hawker, pilot of the Sopwith biplane, together with
Commander Mackenzie Grieve, R.N., his navigator, found the weather
sufficiently auspicious to set out at 6.48 p.m. On Sunday, May 18th, in
the hope of completing the trip by the direct route before N.C.4 could
reach Plymouth. They set out from Mount Pearl aerodrome, St John's,
Newfoundland, and vanished into space, being given up as lost, as Hamel
was lost immediately before the War in attempting to fly the North
Sea. There was a week of dead silence regarding their fate, but on the
following Sunday morning there was world-wide relief at the news that
the plucky attempt had not ended in disaster, but both aviators had been
picked up by the steamer Mary at 9.30 a.m. on the morning of the 19th,
while still about 750 miles short of the conclusion of their journey.
Engine failure brought them down, and they planed down to the sea close
to the Mary to be picked up; as the vessel was not fitted with wireless,
the news of their rescue could not be communicated until land was
reached. An equivalent of half the L10,000 prize offered by the Daily
Mail for the non-stop flight was presented by the paper in recognition
of the very gallant attempt, and the King conferred the Air Force Cross
on both pilot and navigator.

Raynham, pilot of the Martinsyde competing machine, had the bad luck to
crash his craft twice in attempting to start before he got outside the
boundary of the aerodrome. The Handley-Page machine was withdrawn from
the competition, and, attempting to fly to America, was crashed on the
way.

The first non-stop crossing was made on June 14th-15th in 16 hours 27
minutes, the speed being just over 117 miles per hour. The machine was a
Vickers-Vimy bomber, engined with two Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII's, piloted
by Captain John Alcock, D.S.C., with Lieut. Arthur Whitten-Brown as
navigator. The journey was reported to be very rough, so much so at
times that Captain Alcock stated that they were flying upside down, and
for the greater part of the time they were out of sight of the sea. Both
pilot and navigator had the honour of knighthood conferred on them at
the conclusion of the journey.

Meanwhile, commercial flying opened on May 8th (the official date
was May 1st) with a joy-ride service from Hounslow of Avro training
machines. The enterprise caught on remarkably, and the company extended
their activities to coastal resorts for the holida