Sopwith Atlantic

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• The first flight in Newfoundland was made by Harry George Hawker and Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve in a Sopwith Atlantic on the occassion of its first Newfoundland test flight on 10 April, 1919. Subsequently, on 18 May,1919, the first attempt at a direct trans-Atlantic flight by a heavier-than-air machine was made by these same men in the same Aircraft from St. John's, Newfoundland, only to see them forced down in the ocean and rescued.

  Sopwith designed this machine for commercial transport, especially the trans-Atlantic type, and named it the "Sopwith Transport (Trans-Atlantic Type)". It was a two seater with a cargo capacity (including 330 gallons of fuel) of about 3,000 pounds, and an in-flight endurance of 22 hours at 100 mph, quite a distinct departure from the single seat fighter type Aircraft with which the firm had hitherto been concerned.

  CF Photo