Uni: The Navy-Curtiss NC-4 Trans-Atlantic Commemorative Flight, Plymouth Sound - 31st May 1986

A pair of Consolidated PBY-6A "Catalina" flying boats - including C-FOWE, registered to Robert Franks - land in Plymouth Sound to celebrate the anniversay of the Curtiss NC-4 transatlantic flight in 1917 - the first trans-atlantic flight (although not the first non-stop). The original NC-4 flight plan called for a first leg of 864km (540 miles) from the U.S. Naval Air Station at Rockaway Beach, New York, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then 736km (460 miles) to Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland. The third (long) leg of the flight, from Newfoundland to the Azores, was 2,080km (1,300 miles). The fourth leg, 1,280 km (800 miles) to Lisbon, and the last, 1,240 km (775 miles) to Plymouth, brought the total distance to 6,200 km (3,875 miles) [source: National Air and Space Museum]. The plane suffered some damage when it collided with some buoys in the Sound, but was repaired and flown back to Canada. See here for more photos. This set also includes photos of a Plymouth Sound Radio outside broadcast near the Armada Centre - possibly as part of an opening ceremony for that building (a small shopping mall).

next album: Network Day with Hamish, The South East - 21st June 1986
previous album: Uni: Gill Leaves the James Street Vaults, Plymouth - 30th May 1986