Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Across the Atlantic with string and wood

Posted by Hemos on

SteveAstro writes "Steve Fossett together with Mark Rebholz and a recreation of the Vickers Vimy aircraft have just completed a re-enactment of the first transatlantic crossing by a piston engined aircraft by Alcock and Brown in June 1919. The team, with National Geographic Magazine. Fossett and his team are aiming to recreate the Triple Crown achieved by the Vimy, across the Atlantic, London-Cape Town and London - Australia"

4 of 9 comments (clear)

  1. Elmer's Glue by poopdeville · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's a little known fact that the plane this was modelled after was the world's first use of Elmer's white glue. It was used to glue wooden dowel and tenon joints together.

    --
    After all, I am strangely colored.
  2. Newfoundland: Vickers, Matthew, Marconi, Oh my! by munner · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Vickers Vimy just left here (Newfoundland) a few days ago. Awfully strange to see an old biplane flying where jets normally go.

    This isn't the first reproduction of a voyage that passed through here. In 1497, John Cabot landed in St. John's or Bonavista. In 1997, a reproduction of his boat, The Matthew, left Bristol, England and sailed here for the 500th anniversary of the voyage. See http://www.matthew.co.uk/voyages/index.html.

    Other interesting bits from Newfoundland:
    • The first transatlantic wireless signal was sent in 1901 from Signal Hill (St. John's) by Marconi to England. (Wikipedia, Nobel Prize Bio)
    • The oldest known establishment in North America was a viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows around 1000 AD. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site.
    • Canada Day, July 1st is also Memorial Day locally, as it was the day with the heaviest losses among the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. This was at Beaumont Hamel, during the Battle of the Somme. Every Newfoundlander who advanced was either wounded or killed.
    • We are home to the most Easterly point of North America, Cape Spear. That is, if you don't count Greenland.

    Anyone interested in Newfoundland or St. John's should read:
  3. Not accurate by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

    They didn't recreate the crash landing. Pretty wimpy.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  4. Yawn by fixer007 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm guessing by the lack of posts in here that this is getting a big yawn from the crowd.

    Is anyone fascinated by recreating events that happened a long time ago?

    Should we be impressed by people that do things like this? It's been done folks, and there are alot better ways to do it now.

    Is there any event that you would like to see recreated? I suppose someone trying to recreate Magellan's voyage around the world(almost) would be pretty impressive.