Not just 50 years since Apollo 11: Aviation Centenary year

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GRA

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With all the well-deserved hoopla over the Apollo 11 anniversary, what's been overlooked is that 2019 is also the centennial of 4 significant aviation flights, developments stemming from which have had more impact on the average person than the moon landings.

These were:

First crossing of the Atlantic by air, west to east, by the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 flying boat with its crew of 6, from trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, to Lisbon, Portugal with stops in the Azores: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_NC-4

First non-stop crossing ditto, a Vickers Vimy crewed by two, from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight_of_Alcock_and_Brown

First (lighter than air) east to west non-stop crossing from East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, Long Island, and first two-way (lighter than air) crossing (Mineola to Pulham Royal Naval Air Station), both by the British R34 dirigible and a crew of 30, plus a stowaway and a kitten: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R33-class_airship

Anyone who's flown the Atlantic or any other ocean in a passenger airliner is benefiting from the fruits of those early labors.
 
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