\o6 



NATURE 



[June 19, 1919 



THE ATLANTIC FLIGHT. 



THE honour of the first direct trans-Atlantic 

 flight, for which the Daily Mail offered a 

 prize of io,oooZ., has fallen to two English avia- 

 tors on a British machine. The Vickers " Vimy " 

 bomber has made the crossing, with Capt. J. 

 Alcock as pilot, and Lt. Whitten Brown as navi- 

 gator. Newfoundland was left at 4.25 p.m., 

 G.M.T., on June 14, and a landing made at 

 Clifden, Galway, at 8.40 a.m., G.M.T., on 

 June 15. The machine is a standard bombing 

 aeroplane, slightly modified for the present flight, 

 and has a span of 67 ft. It carries two Rolls- 

 Royce engines of 375 h.p. each, and the gross 

 load is about 12,500 lb. The passage was made 

 in 16 hours 15 min., giving an average speed of 

 nearly 120 miles per hour. The wind was favour- 

 able, but the weather very bad, according to 

 the report of the aviators. Clouds were met at 

 all altitudes, and it was generally impossible to 

 see either ocean or sky. At the higher altitudes 

 the machine became covered with ice, and at one 

 time the air-speed indicator became clogged, thus 

 robbing the pilot of his best guide as to the atti- 

 tude in which he was flying. The sense of hori- 

 zontality was for the time lost, and the machine 

 executed various evolutions until it had fallen so 

 low that the sea became visible, and Capt. Alcock 

 was able to recover a normal attitude. 



Only four observations of position were taken 

 during the flight, these being made with reference 

 to the sun, the moon, the Pole star, and Vega 

 respectively. Under these adverse conditions 

 the precision with which the correct course was 

 kept is very remarkable. All ships were warned 

 that the flight was taking place, and asked • to 

 wireless their positions, but the aviators received 

 no messages to guide them, and were entirely 

 dependent on their own scanty observations. 



Owing to the favourable wind, only two-thirds 

 of the petrol was used during the flight, and the 

 time of crossing was but two hours more than 

 the minimum that had previously been calculated 

 for the most favourable conditions possible in the 

 North Atlantic. The average altitude was about 

 4000 ft., but attempts were made to find better 

 atmospheric conditions at various altitudes up to 

 11,000 ft. without success. 



The flight may well be regarded as one of the 

 most wonderful feats of recent times, and the two 

 brave aviators are to be heartily congratulated on 

 their great achievement in the face of such enor- 

 mous difficulties. It is probable that an early 

 start was made, in spite of bad weather reports, 

 owing to the fact that the Handley-Page machine 

 was almost ready for flight. The circumstances 

 of Hawker's attempt were thus repeated, but this 

 time no engine trouble was experienced, and the 

 passage was successfully completed In worse 

 weather than that with which Hawker had to 

 contend. The primary importance of engine trust- 

 worthiness has often been commented upon, and 

 the history of the Atlantic attempt has strikingly 

 demonstrated it. 



NO. 2590 VOL. 103] 



It is of interest to note that both Messrs. 

 Vickers and Handley Page are believers \n 

 methods of design based upon model experiments, 

 and that both firms possess their own wind- 

 tunnel equipment by means of which such experi- 

 mental data can be obtained. 



It is only ten years since the first flight across 

 the Channel was made, and now the Atlantic has 

 been flown under extremely adverse conditions. 

 Such a record of rapid progress surely leaves 

 room for the most optimistic views of the future 

 possibilities of aviation as a rapid means of com- 

 munication between distant parts of the world. 



Weather Conditions. 



On Friday night, June 13, the Air Ministry reported 

 "Conditions are favourable from west to east. A belt 

 of high pressure extends across the Atlantic, just 

 south of the course. . . ." 



The wireless reports of weather issued by the 

 Meteorological Office show that the winds during the 

 flight all had a large amount of westing in their 

 direction, and on the eastern side of the Atlantic the 

 weather was cloudy, with some rain. The telegraph 

 s.s. Faraday, at about 20° W. long., in close 

 proximity to the aeroplane, at i a.m. June 15, had a 

 moderate south-westerly gale with rain. Much of the 

 excess speed throughout the flight is doubtless due 

 to the brisk following wind, and to have achieved the 

 journey in sixteen hours from coast to coast is an 

 accomplishment not to be easily beaten. 



At this time of year the disturbances moving^ 

 generally north-eastwards across the Atlantic are 

 usually at their most northern limit, and the strongest 

 winds experienced on the track of steamships or air- 

 craft have a large amount of westing. Fog, however, 

 is at its worst in the summer season, whilst on the 

 western side of the Atlantic sleet and snow_ would 

 probably have to be encountered at the height of 

 2000ft. or more, at times, at any season of the year. 



BRITISH PETROLEUM. 



SO long ago as 1896 the late Sir Boverton 

 Redwood examined a sample of oil from 

 Ashwick Court, near Shepton Mallet, and reported 

 that it was straw-coloured, transparent, and free 

 from fluorescence. The odour was rerniniscent 

 of refined petroleum, the specific gravity was 

 o-8i6, and the flash point (Abel) 175° F. 

 In 1906 he wrote: "A considerable number of 

 other districts where petroleum similarly occurs, 

 are known, and, although it has been suggested 

 that some at least of the deposits may have been 

 produced by a natural process of distillation from 

 coal or bituminous shales, there is no reason to 

 doubt that most of them are true petroleum, and 

 are quite distinct from the oils which are obtained 

 by known processes of distillation from either 

 coal or shale." Later, In 191 1, Sir Boverton 

 examined and reported on an oil from a well at 

 Kelham, and stated that the material should be 

 regarded as a "true normal petroleum," and in 

 1914 he advocated that the bore hole should be 

 deepened, believing that "more productive strata 

 might be found at greater depth." It Is a strange 

 coincidence, not untouched by the irony of fate, 

 that the last piece of work carried out before he 

 died was the analysis of the Hardstoft oil. 



