Adventurer Steve Fossett aims to recreate Alcock and Brown's non-stop flight across the Atlantic - but without the crash-landing in a Clifden bog, writes Lorna Siggins.
An Australian soldier on honeymoon and a lad tending cattle in Connemara were among the first to witness the strange object that "fell out of the sky". On June 15th, 1919, two young men, Capt John Alcock and Lieut Arthur Whitten Brown, climbed out of their double-engined Vickers Vimy biplane which had nosedived on to Derrygimla bog near Clifden - recording the first non-stop aircraft flight across the Atlantic.
"Yesterday I was in America, and I'm the first man in Europe ever to say that," Lieut Brown is reputed to have joked after the 1,900-mile journey from St John's Harbour in Newfoundland, which took 16 hours and 12 minutes.
Obsessive, intrepid world-record-breaker Steve Fossett won't be able to put it quite like that when, and if, he and co-pilot Mark Rebholz emerge from their replica Vickers Vimy sometime this month in Ballyconneely, amid the glare of satellite television cameras.
However, the pair will probably feel the same urge to stretch stiff muscles - and to find the nearest bush.
The endeavour, which is being planned by Clifden Chamber of Commerce and the non-profit aviation organisation Vimy Atlantic, takes place just several months after Fossett completed the world's first solo, non-stop round the world airplane flight.
The aircraft the pair will use to recreate the Alcock-Brown flight is built of the same flimsy wood, metal and fabric, with an open cockpit and a 70-foot wingspan. "A bear to fly" is how Fossett describes the replica, which he and Rebholz have been testing since last autumn.
The Vickers Vimy was originally designed as a first World War bomber. The replica, which was built between 1991 and 1994, will weigh more than six tonnes when fully laden. Only the engines - currently Canadian-built 8.4 litre Orenda V8s - are different from the original Rolls Royce Eagle V-12s, which were impossible to source. It is a tribute to the Rolls Royce team of the time that the automotive engines have been changed on this aircraft several times.
Speaking to The Irish Times from Canada, after a flight across the US, Fossett notes that the aircraft has already proved itself on two of the three records set by Vickers Vimy in 1919-1920 - a London to Sydney run, repeated in 1995, and London to Cape Town flight, repeated five years ago. Its average speed is 75mph, and it will be flying at an altitude of about 1,500ft initially, rising to an average of 5,000ft as it sheds fuel and reaches the Irish coast.
"It is mechanically excellent, while true to the original, and we think we've figured out good weather forecasting for the trip, which we hope to undertake as close to the original June 14th-15th date as possible," Fossett says. "We've flown from California to Ottawa in stages, so we just have to get to St John's and then spend a few days preparing there."
The pair will pack away their global positioning system (GPS) for use in an emergency only, and track their route by celestial navigation.
"Alcock and Brown were two of the first to use an aeronautical sextant, and Mark is going to be busy with that," Fossett says. "We will wear survival suits, we have a good life raft and we will carry satellite rescue beacons (EPIRBs), so that's a bit different. Since this is a primary shipping route, there will be a ship within one hour of us at all times if we do have to ditch. But we are pretty confident in our plane."
Apart from advanced safety equipment, the "one big advantage" that both will have over Alcock and Brown is knowledge of weather conditions, Fossett notes. "We can understand it so much better and we can forecast tail winds. Alcock and Brown had to go without knowing that. At the same time, the plane handles exactly like the original, and is very difficult."
Only the landing won't be true to the original, Fossett says. "Alcock and Brown crash-landed in Derrygimla bog, and we want to land on solid turf." The landing site has been earmarked for the golf course or commonage at Ballyconneely.
"A terrible journey" was how Alcock described it, as he and Brown were exposed to fog and sleet storms, and sustained themselves with sandwiches, chocolate, coffee and beer! Fossett and Rebholz have their own choices to help them stay alert: "I am into diet milkshakes, and Mark likes protein bars," Fossett says.
He may not quite realise the significance of the event for Clifden, but relishes such challenges, since he switched from a lucrative career in the financial industry to set and break records in ballooning, "speed" sailing and aviation. In July 2002, he fulfilled his eight-year dream to become the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world, and he has set 10 world flight records and more than 20 speed and distance sailing records - including a transatlantic passage on the maxi-catamaran Cheyenne in just four days and 17 hours.
"Yeah, I do get scared and I spend a lot of time trying to avoid being like that," Fossett admits. "I do this sort of thing because it interests me, but I am not trying to be someone else."
His role models are Irishman Ernest Shackleton and Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen who undertook unsuccessful polar navigations. "Both men led outstanding expeditions and didn't lose anyone on the way, and that's success in my eyes," he adds.
Clifden Chamber of Commerce is planning a series of events around the project, including a flotilla of boats to welcome the pilots, and festivities during June and July to mark the landing. The plane will remain on display at Clifden for at least a month, and full details will be available on website www.clifden.ie. The Vimy Atlantic website www.vimy.org will have up-to-date details on the flight