From: Brendan Lynch brendanlynch@iol

From: Brendan Lynch brendanlynch@iol.ie
Please note that Lord Brabazon and many fellow-pioneers feature in my new book YESTERDAY WE WERE IN AMERICA which will be published by Haynes in March, 2009. The book also contains a photograph of Lord Brabazon, who had the honour of being given the first British flying licence. Details of the book may be seen on http://www.brendanlynchbooks.com/ YESTERDAY WE WERE IN AMERICA (Foreword by Len Deighton) details the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic ocean from Newfoundland to Ireland by Manchester airmen John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in their open-cockpit Vickers Vimy plane in June 1919.
During their 16-hour epic of 1880 miles, the longest distance ever flown by man., Alcock and Brown survived continuous cloud, snow and ice and a near-fatal stall, as well as a damaged exhaust and a non-functioning wireless. With no modern aids and depending solely on Dead Reckoning, they landed in Connemara, Galway only 20 miles north of their target destination.
The first persons to greet the fliers refused to believe that they had crossed the ocean. “We are Alcock and Brown. Yesterday we were in America ,” the pilot reiterated. John Alcock was the first person to make that statement in Europe . Lord Brabazon helped unveil a statue to Alcock and Brown at London's Heathrow Airport in 1954.