Tag Archives: Flight

St. John’s woman made mailbag that was aboard Alcock and Brown’s historic flight

Sew much history

The Telegram (St. John’s)14 Jun 2019  by ROSIE MULLALEY

 

Photo Credit: The Rooms, St. John’s, NL A47-24 Brown holding the mailbag and Alcock holding a model plane.

She wasn’t on the plane that made the first transatlantic flight 100 years ago, but Mary Jackman’s contribution to that momentous flight is sewn into the fabric of Newfoundland history.

 

In flying the modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from here on June 14, 1919, across the Atlantic Ocean before landing in Clifden, Ireland, 16 hours and 12 minutes later — the first non-stop flight from North American to Europe — British aviators Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten Brown of the Royal Air Force took aboard a bag full of mail.

A skilful seamstress, Jackman was the one who made that bag.

“She was a wizard. She could do anything,” Jackman’s granddaughter, Shirley Birmingham, told The Telegram Thursday. “She was a magnificent seamstress, a magnificent cook, a magnificent housekeeper.

“I found out way too late that I should have appreciated my grandmother.”

Birmingham, 95, was raised by her grandmother and grandfather, Capt. John Jackman, after her mother died in 1930, when Birmingham was just six years old.

Photo Credit: The Rooms. A-46-159 Large crowds gathered at Lesters Field to witness history.

Her grandmother — who was born Mary Ann Deally in 1863 — died in 1946, but Birmingham will always have happy memories of her making clothes for the family in their home at 206 Lemarchant Rd. in St. John’s.

“She made my clothes, my (St. Patrick’s) school uniform and my two older sisters’ clothes, and it was all so marvelous,” said Birmingham, adding that the fabric her grandmother used came from the English merchants back in those days.

“There were many things she made — men’s gloves with stitches made so finely in the back. My daughter even wore a coat that she made.”

Birmingham said her grandmother likely got to make the bag because her brother, Jim, worked at the post office at the time.

She had known for years that her grandmother had made the mailbag that was aboard the flight with Alcock and Brown. She wanted to ensure her grandmother was recognized for it this year during the centennial celebrations.

Photo Credit: The Rooms, St. John’s, NL The Alcock and Brown mailbag is on exhibit T The Rooms – 4th level.

Birmingham mentioned it to several people when she attended the Field of Flights exhibit, held at Admiralty House Communications Museum in Mount Pearl last month to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Alcock and Brown’s transatlantic flight. While sifting through albums with historic photos, one featured a photo of Alcock and Brown with the mailbag.

“I think people would find that of interest,” said Birmingham, who lives in St. John’s with her 86-year-old husband, Gerald. “It’s history. It’s Newfoundland history. Many people will forget it, but not me.”

One of the organizers of the exhibit suggested she call Larry Dohey, Director of Programming and Public Engagement at The Rooms, which houses much of this province’s archives.

Dohey working with Museum curators investigated the claim and checked the bag, which is on display at The Rooms, and found Mary Jackman’s name on the inside seam.

“One of the big reasons for the transatlantic flight was to provide better communication around the world,” Dohey explained. “As a result, mail that took weeks before that took a much shorter period of time. It was a very significant accomplishment for many reasons.”

The mailbag is part  of a self-guided aviation tour of the Rooms that  allows visitors to  see the mail bag in the context  of related aviation photographs.  The Rooms also  opened an aviation exhibit   ‘Second to None: The History of Aviation in Newfoundland and Labrador.  Through documents, images, artifacts and artwork from The Rooms collections, this exhibition features highlights from the storied aviation history of our Province.

The centennial celebrations will also feature several private and public events, including a commemorative flight to Ireland, an aviators’ ball, a garden party, a downtown concert, a commemorative sculpture, a city reception, a historic stage production and a commemorative print.

Flight Across Conception Bay Made in 25 minutes

FLEW HERE DIRECT FROM HR. GRACE CIRCLED THE BAY ON RETURN TRIP HARBOR GRACE.

June 11, 1919

Photo Credit: The Rooms; A10:36 Handley Page “Atlantic” Over Harbour Grace, June 1919.

All eyes on June, 1919, in St. John’s and Harbour Grace were looking towards the skies for an opportunity to see one of the many flying machines and their crews that were in St. John’s and Harbour Grace making preparations to participate in the first non-stop transatlantic crossing of the Atlantic.

Four teams were in the country (now province) to compete for a prize of $10,000 and a place in aviation history. They were the team of the Australian pilot Harry Hawker and Scottish navigator Kenneth F. Mackenzie-Grieve; the British aviators Frederick Raynham (pilot) and C.W.F. Morgan (navigator); the British aviators John Alcock (pilot) and Arthur Whitten Brown (navigator and the Handley Page Company Group, led by British pilot Mark Kerr, Handley Page was a British aircraft manufacturer.

On June 10, 1919 residents of Conception Bay and St. John’s were treated to a test flight by the Handley Page Company Group, led by British pilot Mark Kerr and Major Brackley .

The local newspaper the Daily Star reported:

“The Handley- Page plane made a splendid take off on Tuesday afternoon. The wind was westerly, a moderate breeze, and the machine took the air in less than one hundred yards, having reached the height of 2000 feet, she was headed for St. John’s, across Conception Bay, passing over Bell Island at an altitude of 3000 feet, and reached St. John’s in twenty-five minutes. The distance from here to St. John’s is twenty-five miles in a direct line.”

Having reached St. John’s, the aviators circled over the city for ten minutes, then headed westerly, passed along the south side of Conception Bay for thirty miles, then turning northeasterly, flew along the coast line, passing over the settlements and towns along the north side of the bay from Holyrood to their destination at Harbor Grace.

The weather was ideal for flight, the sky being cloudless, the sun shining warmly and visibility good. The flight was witnessed by the majority of the residents of the Conception Bay towns, and the machine was clearly outlined against the horizon and presented a novel sight to the people of the whole coast, both sides of Conception Bay, many of whom saw a plane in flight for the first time.

The people looking to the skies were fascinated. The St. John’s Daily Star reported:

“The horny handed fishermen-farmers watched with intense interest the huge bird-like machine passing gracefully overhead. Women and children left their dwellings, abandoned their work, and made their way to vantage points and watched the flying machine until lost to sight. “

It seemed as if the crew  desired to give the inhabitants of Conception Bay towns an opportunity to see the huge plane on the wing, as he traversed a course returning to Harbor Grace best calculated to accomplish this object. Whether this deduction is correct or not, it is construed by many; and doubtless the residents along the Conception Bay settlements appreciated the opportunity afforded them to see the biggest plane of its class in the world make its first trial trip this side of the Atlantic.

Photo Credit: The Rooms, B21-101 HandleyPage aircraft at Harbour Grace

The landing was made as gracefully as the ascent, the machine taking the ground at 5.47 p.m., having been an hour and seventeen minutes in the air, and covering approximately. 110 miles, averaging ninety miles an hour.

On the return trip the aviators ascended to about 5000 feet, at which height they found the temperature only slightly cooler than at the surface, and the wind practically in the same direction. The landing was made heading eastward, although the wind was westerly, but not strong.

The local papers noted that  Rear Admiral Kerr and Major Brackley says  were ” well satisfied with the result of their trial flight  ”  but  the reality was that during the first trial flight the crew discovered an overheating problem and realized that new radiators would have to be installed.

Speculation  about which  would be off first, Vickers or Handley-Page to set off  was strong.   It was said that “Competition is growing keen” .

Photo Credit: The Rooms; A-47-15 Arthur Brown and John Alcock

Note:   The dream of Kerr and Brackley to be the first to make the nonstop flight over the Atlantic were dashed just a few days later when on June  14, 1919, Alcock and Brown took off from Lester’s Field , St. John’s at 1:45 p.m. in a Vickers Vimy biplane fitted with two Rolls-Royce engines. The two landed nose down in a bog at to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland16 hours later. They received the Daily Mail prize for completing the world’s first nonstop transatlantic flight and were knighted by King George V.

Source: The St. John’s Daily Star

Recommended: Aviation Tour at The Rooms:  Discover some of the gems in the collections at The Rooms. Take a self guided tour and find the mailbag carried on the flight by Alcock and Brown, the Marquette for the Alcock and Brown  Memorial at the Manchester Airport and the Rooms is home to a large collection of Alcock and Brown related photographs.

New Exhibit Opening:  June 14, 2019  at The Rooms: Second to None: The History of Aviation in Newfoundland and Labrador.  This country (now province) has played a significant part in the history of aviation.  From the transatlantic flights by Alcock and Brown and Amelia Earhart through the Second World War and Operation Yellow Ribbon, the role of Newfoundland and Labrador is second to none. Through documents, images, artifacts and artwork from The Rooms collections, this exhibition features highlights from the storied aviation history of our Province.

Recommended: 2019 Alcock and Brown Celebrating 100 years:  Celebrations Schedule https://aviationhistorynl.com/

Remembrance Day Weekend at the Rooms

VIMY FLIGHT PRESENTATION

A replica of a Nieuport 11 French single seater First World War fighter plane has landed at The Rooms. This plane was part of the “Birth of A Nation” tour, spanning the country from coast to coast, commemorating airplane heroes of the past 100 years.

This bi-plane was one of the aircraft that flew as part of a commemorative flight over the Vimy Memorial on the hundredth anniversary of the battle – April 9th, 2017. This aircraft also flew over Beaumont Hamel Memorial Park.

Join us as at The Rooms  as members of the team that flew the Nieuport 11 talk about their experience at Vimy and Beaumont Hamel and the place of flight in our First World War history.

 

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

1:00pm – 1:30 pm Vimy Flight Presentation

6:30pm – 7:00 pm Vimy Flight Presentation

Friday, Nov 10, 2017

2:30 – 3:30

The plane has landed in The Rooms

Vimy Flight: Premier public showing of the documentary  “Flight Path of Heroes”. 

Flight Path of Heroes: Connecting the Past and Present is the third in a trilogy of documentaries called A Nation Soars: Commemorating Canada’s Great War Flyers.

In this third instalment, narrator Dan Aykroyd tells the incredible story of a present day FWW squadron who travel to Vimy France, during the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, to perform a historic and patriotic flyby over the Vimy Memorial.

 

Friday, Nov 10, 2017 @ 7:30 pm

Songs of the Great War

Level 3 Atrium

Cost: $30.00 (note that this is a ticked event)

At home or at the front, music uplifted spirits, boosted morale, and became an overall important part of life during The Great War. Come join Bill Brennan with vocalists Shelley Neville and Peter Halley as they perform some of the most popular songs that were heard in music halls, pubs, tents, dug outs and trenches.

(Tickets are available on line www.therooms.ca )

 

The Rooms Will Be Closed On Saturday November 11 in observance of Remembrance Day.

 

Join us at The National War Memorial

At 10:55 a.m., His Honour (Honourable Frank F. Fagan and Her Honour Patricia Fagan) will attend the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the National War Memorial where His Honour will lay the first wreath. Her Honour will lay a wreath on behalf of the Women’s Patriotic Association. Following the Service, His Honour will take the Salute in front of the Court House on Water Street. At the conclusion of the parade, Their Honours will host a Reception at Government House for invited guests.

At 2:30 p.m., Their Honours will attend the Annual Service of Remembrance at the Caribou Memorial Veterans Pavilion.

 

 

VIMY FLIGHT PRESENTATION

Landed at The Rooms

A replica of a Nieuport 11 French single seater First World War fighter plane has landed at The Rooms. This plane was part of the “Birth of A Nation” tour, spanning the country from coast to coast, commemorating airplane heroes of the past 100 years.

This bi-plane was one of the aircraft that flew as part of a commemorative flight over the Vimy Memorial on the hundredth anniversary of the battle – April 9th, 2017. This aircraft also flew over Beaumont Hamel Memorial Park.

Join us as at the Rooms as members of the team that flew the Nieuport 11 talk about their experience at Vimy and Beaumont Hamel and the place of flight in our First World War history.

 

Sunday November 12, 2017

1:00pm – 1:30 pm Vimy Flight Presentation

3:00pm – 3:30 pm Vimy Flight Presentation