Who flew across the atlantic first?

Question

I know it was not Lindbergh as as Capt Alcock and Lt Brown of the RAF beat him by a few years, non solo of course, but were they the first?

Answer 1

Well, there are several categories defined as 'first' ones when searching for the first to fly over the Atlantic...

Have a look and pick which one you're looking for:

Early notable transatlantic flights:

First Transatlantic Flight

May 8 - May 31, 1919. U.S. Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4 under command of Albert Read makes first transatlantic flight, 4,526 statute miles (7,284 km), from Rockaway, New York, to Plymouth, England, via Trepassey, Newfoundland, Azores, Lisbon, Portugal, and other intermediate stops, in 53 hours, 58 minutes.



Alcock and Brown's Vickers Vimy takes off from Newfoundland.First Non-Stop Transatlantic Flight

June 14 - June 15, 1919. Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. Arthur Whitten Brown of the United Kingdom in Vickers Vimy bomber make first nonstop transatlantic flight, between islands, 1,960 nautical miles (3,630 km), from St. John's, Newfoundland (then an independent dominion and not yet part of Canada), to Clifden, Ireland (then still part of the United Kingdom), in 16 hours, 12 minutes.

First East-to-West Transatlantic Flight

July 1919. Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force with his crew and passengers flies from East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, Long Island in airship R34, covering a distance of about 3,000 statute miles (4,800 km) in about four and a half days, the first East-West transatlantic flight; he then made a return trip to England.

First Flight across the South Atlantic

March 30 - June 17, 1922. Lieutenant Commander Sacadura Cabral (pilot) and Cdr. Gago Coutinho (navigator) of Portugal, using three Fairey IIID floatplanes (Lusitania, Portugal, and Santa Cruz) used successively after two ditchings, make first flight across the South Atlantic, using only internal means of navigation (the Coutinho-invented sextant with artificial horizon) from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [1]

First Non-Stop Aircraft flight between European and American mainlands

October 1924. The Zeppelin ZR-3 (LZ-126) flies from Germany to New Jersey with a crew commanded by Dr. Hugo Eckener, covering a distance of about 4,000 statute miles (6,400 km). It was the first nonstop aircraft flight between Europe and American mainland[2].

Notable failed attempt

May 8 - May 9, 1927. Charles Nungesser and François Coli attempted at crossing the Atlantic from Paris to the USA in a Levasseur PL-8 biplane (named L'Oisseau Blanc), but were lost. According to some witnesses, they might have crashed in Maine, USA.

First Solo Transatlantic Flight and First Non-Stop Fixed-Wing aircraft flight between American and European mainlands

May 20 - May 21, 1927. Charles A. Lindbergh flies Ryan monoplane (named Spirit of St. Louis) in the first solo transatlantic flight and first nonstop fixed-wing aircraft flight between American and European mainlands, 3,600 nautical miles (6,667 km), from New York City to Paris, in 33 1/2 hours. The flight was timed by the Longines watch company.

First Transatlantic Air Passenger

June 4 - June 5, 1927. The first transatlantic air passenger was Charles A. Levine. He was carried as a passenger by Clarence D. Chamberlin from Roosevelt Field, New York, to Eisleben, Germany, in a Wright-powered Bellanca.

First Non-Stop Aerial Crossing of the South Atlantic

October 14 - October 15, 1927 - Dieudonne Costes and Joseph le Brix make the first non-stop aerial crossing of the South Atlantic, flying a Breguet 19 from Senegal to Brazil.

First Non-Stop Fixed-Wing Aircraft Westbound Flight over the North Atlantic

April 12 - April 13, 1928. Gunther von Huenfeld and Capt. Hermann Koehl of Germany and Comdr. James Fitzmaurice of Ireland fly a Junkers W33b monoplane (named Bremen) in first nonstop fixed-wing aircraft westbound flight over North Atlantic, 2,070 statute miles (3,331 km), from Ireland to Labrador, in 36 1/2 hours[3].

First woman to fly as a passenger

June 17 - June 18, 1928. Amelia Earhart in Fokker F.VII trimotor Friendship is the first woman to fly Atlantic as a passenger.

First Nonstop East-to-West Fixed-Wing Aircraft flight between European and American mainlands

September 1 - September 2, 1930. Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte fly a Breguet 19 Super Bidon biplane (named Point d'Interrogation, Question Mark) in first nonstop westbound fixed-wing aircraft flight between European and American mainlands, from over North Atlantic, 6,200 km from Paris to New York City.

Notable flight (around the world)

June 23-July 1, 1931. Wiley Post (pilot) and Harold Gatty (navigator) fly a Lockheed Vega monoplane (named Winnie Mae) around-the-world, 15,477 nm (28,663 km) from Long Island, New York in 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes; with in 14 stops, total flying time was 107 hours 2 minutes.

First Transatlantic Solo Flight by a Woman

May 20 - May 21, 1932. Amelia Earhart in Lockheed Vega makes first transatlantic solo flight by a woman, 2,026 nautical miles (3,752 km), from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Derry, Northern Ireland, in 15 hours, 18 minutes.

First solo westbound crossing of the Atlantic

August 18 - August 19, 1932. Jim Mollison makes the first solo westbound crossing of the Atlantic, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth from Dublin to New Brunswick

Smallest plane that crossed the Atlantic

May 7 - May 8, 1933. Stanisław Skarżyński makes a solo flight across the South Atlantic, covering 3,582 km (2,226 statute miles), in a RWD-5bis - empty weight below 450 kg (990 lb).

Mass Flight

Mass Transatlantic Flight: July 1 - July 15, 1933. Gen. Italo Balbo of Italy leads 24 Savoia-Marchetti seaplanes in mass transatlantic flight, 6,100 statute miles (9,817 km), from Orbetello, Italy, to Chicago, Ill., in 47 hours, 52 minutes.

First Around-the-World Solo Flight

July 15 - July 22, 1933. Wiley Post flies Lockheed Vega monoplane Winnie Mae in first around-the-world solo flight, 15,596 statute miles (25,099 km) in 11 stops, in 7 days, 8 hours, 49 minutes; flying time, 115 hours, 36 minutes.

First Jet Aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean

July 14 1948, six de Havilland Vampire F3s of No 54 Squadron RAF became the first jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Commanded by Wg Cdr D S Wilson-MacDonald, DSO, DFC, they flew via Stornoway, Iceland and Labrador to Montreal on the first leg of a goodwill tour of Canada and the US.

First Jet Aircraft to make a non-stop Transatlantic Flight

February 21 1951. An RAF Canberra B Mk 2 (serial number WD932) flown by Sqd Ldr A Callard, became the first jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight when it flew from Aldergrove, Northern Ireland to Gander, Newfoundland. The flight covered almost 1,800 miles in 4h 37 m. The aircraft was being flown to the U.S. to act as a pattern aircraft for the Martin B-57.

[edit] Other early transatlantic flights

Apart from most notable flights described above, many persons attempted to fly across Atlantic, which was quite dangerous in early years of aviation. These include:

January 22 - January 26, 1926 Plus Ultra was a Dornier Do J hydroplane which completed a Trans-Atlantic flight with a crew of Spanish aviators, that included Ramón Franco and Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, Juan Manuel Duran and Pablo Rada.

June 4 - June 5, 1927. Clarence Duncan Chamberlin and Charles Albert Levine in Bellanca monoplane make first nonstop New York-Germany flight, 3,911 statute miles (6,294 km), in 43 hours, 49 minutes, 33 seconds.

June 29 - July 1, 1927 - Richard Evelyn Byrd with crew flies Fokker F.VIIa/3m "America" from New York City to France.

July 13, 1928 - Ludwik Idzikowski and Kazimierz Kubala attempted at crossing the Atlantic westbound from Paris to the USA in Amiot 123 biplane, but crashed on Azores.

January 16, 1933 - Jean Mermoz and crew make a non-stop flight from Senegal to Brazil, across South Atlantic, in 17 hours 27 minutes.

February 6 - February 9, 1933. Jim Mollison flies a de Havilland Puss Moth from Senegal to Brazil, across South Atlantic, becoming the first person to fly solo across the North and South Atlantics.

July 15 - July 17, 1933 - Lithuanians Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas were supposed to make a non-stop flight from New York City via Newfoundland to Kaunas on their plane named Lituanica, but crashed in the forests of Germany after 6411 km of flying, only 650 km short of their final destination. Flying time 37 hours, 11 minutes. They carried the first transatlantic airmail consignment.

June 29 - June 30, 1934 - Polish-Americans Benjamin and Joseph Adamowicz, amateur pilots, flew across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to France.

July 5, 1937 Captain Harold Gray of Pan American Airways flew from Botwood, Newfoundland to Foynes, Ireland in a Sikorsky 42 flying boat as part of the first transatlantic commercial passenger test flights. Captain Arthur Sydney Wilcockson of Imperial Airways flew from Foynes to Botwood July 6, 1937 in a Short Empire class flying boat named Caledonia

August 10, 1938 - first non-stop flight from Berlin to New York. The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 needed 24 hours, 56 minutes and did the return flight three days later in 19 hours, 47 minutes.

Answer 2

You did not specify non-stop. Hopping from Canada to Greenland to Ireland to England with stops could have been done earlier yet, but I don't know who.