4o8 : The Atlantic 



portant flight made in the same year. This was the remarkable 

 achievement o£ USA Lieutenants Maitland and Hegenberger in 

 making a nonstop flight from Oakland, California to Honolulu. 



It is interesting to observe that the North Atlantic weather system 

 that was such a problem to the sailing ship captains was now also 

 proving to be a great problem to aviation pilots. Our chapter on the 

 packets serves to illustrate how the prevailing system of westerly 

 winds that troubles the North Atlantic in most seasons of the year 

 was a great advantage to eastbound ships and a great handicap to 

 those making the passage to the west. They played the same part in 

 airplane travel and this accounts for the fact that while the first flight 

 from North America to Europe took place in 1919 it was nine years 

 later, that is, one year after Lindbergh's flight, before an airplane 

 succeeded in flying from Europe to the American continent. This 

 was accomplished by a German Junker ship called the Breman com- 

 manded by a Captain Koehl. 



The carrying of passengers by airplane across the Atlantic which 

 had long been anticipated and projected began in a tentative and ex- 

 perimental way at the end of the 1930's. In March of 1939 a Pan 

 American Airways ship, christened the Yan\ee Clipper, made a sur- 

 vey flight under the command of Captain Harold E. Gray from Bal- 

 timore to Europe carrying twenty-one passengers. In May of that 

 year Pan American Airways began the first North Atlantic air-mail 

 service on a route that ran between Port Washington, Long Island, 

 the Azores, Portugal and Marseille, France. About this time also, 

 Imperial Airways of Great Britain and other foreign companies 

 began pioneer flights from Europe to America by a variety of routes. 



So far as civilian services were concerned, transatlantic flying was 

 curtailed by the outbreak of war in Europe. However, this Second 

 World War speeded up developments in the aviation industry and in 

 this respect was similar in its effects to the First World War. 



Throughout the war period there was a steady demand for in- 

 creased speed and climbing ability for the pursuit ships and the fight- 

 ers and great increases in power, range and capacity of the bombers 

 and transports. Again, types of aircraft and of motors developed 

 during the war were subsequently made available for the improve- 

 ment of civilian flying services. 



When the war began flight across the Atlantic still wore the air 

 of a special or unusual event but it was not long before the crossing 

 became a matter of scheduled and routine operation. In June of 1940 

 fifty-five attack bombers were flown from Mitchel Field, Long Is- 



