Hike to Alcock and Brown Landing Site, Derrygimla Bog, Ireland

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The walk from the car park to the landing site is about 2km, through a beautiful bog landscape, with interpretive features along the way. The first successful non-stop transatlantic flight was achieved by British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown in June 1919. The two flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, where they crash landed in Derrygimla Bog. They were awarded the Daily Mail prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane in “less than 72 consecutive hours” by Winston Churchill. Furthermore, a small amount of mail was carried on the flight, making it the first transatlantic airmail flight. There are two memorials commemorating the flight sited near each other; the landing spot and a memorial sculpture of an aircraft’s tail-fin on Errislannan Hill dedicated on the fortieth anniversary of their landing, 15 June 1959.

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