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It was a madcap barn-storming adventure – designed to commemorate one of the greatest aviation feats of derring-do - that not only captured the heart and imagination of a nation but created headlines around the world at the end of the Swinging Sixties.

It even played a pivotal role in Britain’s vital export drive –by helping sell the then revolutionary Harrier jump jet to the Americans.

Exactly fifty years ago in May 1969 the Daily Mail launched ‘The Great Transatlantic Air Race’ to commemorate the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic – that took place fifty years before that - by pilots Cpt John Alcock and Lt Arthur Whitten Brown in a modified First World War open-cockpit Vickers Vimy bi-plane bomber.

And this Tuesday, surviving winners, participants, and even aircraft of that fun-filled 1969 transatlantic air race – both military and civilian - will be meeting up at Brooklands Museum in Surrey, which has close ties to both events, to celebrate the historic achievements from 50 and 100 years ago.

Exactly 50 years ago in May 1969, the Daily Mail launched the Great Transatlantic Air Race to commemorate the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic – that took place 50 years before that - by pilots Cpt John Alcock (left) and Lt Arthur Whitten Brown (right) in a modified First World War open-cockpit Vickers-Vimy biplane bomber

Australian brothers Captain Ross Smith and Lieutenant Keith Smith, along with Sergeants Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, won the first transatlantic air race - from Great Britain to Australia - in 1919. The victors are pictured in their winning aircraft - a Vickers-Vimy biplane

When the Daily Mail launched the 1969 air race, it invited the world to participate. As air-challenge fever gripped the nation and dominated the front pages of the paper for days, entrants dashed through the city streets in cars and on the back of motorcycles to waiting helicopters and aircraft. Above, crowds gather at the Royal Air Force Space at St Pancras in London

RAF pilot, Squadron leader Tom Lecky-Thompson achieved the fastest westbound flight in his then cutting-edge Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jet – which the UK government was seeking to sell to the US Marines - in just five hours and 57 minutes, following its dramatic vertical take-off, billowing dust, from a coal yard near St Pancras station (above)

Mr Lecky-Thompson (pictured), who was waved off from Britain by his wife Judy, and landed in New York on a special waterside pier setup by the US Marines before being whisked to the Empire State Building on the back of a police motorbike said: ‘It was incredible coming up the East River with Manhattan in the background, then seeing your landing spot amid the big line of piers'

Modest Mr Lecky-Thompson, recovering from a recent stroke and heart attack, told the ‘Henley Standard’: ’For me, the proudest aspect of the Daily Mail Race is the fact that it was a marvellous team effort. From the ground crew to the designers, air traffic control and tanker pilots, everyone made a sterling effort. It wasn’t just about one man and his aircraft by any means’

The BBC broadcast details of the 1969 race ‘in colour’ at a time when most TVs were still black-and-white, as did ITV, and veteran BBC journalist Cliff Michelmore produced a nightly round-up of the highlights from the top of the Post Office Tower. (Above, a Harrier jump jet at St Pancras in the year of the race)

Squadron leader Lecky-Thompson, above in his Harrier during the event. The 81-year-old from Goring in Berkshire said recently: ‘I took with me a small snack lunch of a chicken leg and a bottled drink, possibly ginger beer, which I consumed halfway across'

It all began when the Daily Mail, a proud supporter of pioneering and record-breaking achievements from the earliest days of aviation, in April 1913 put up a £10,000 prize for ‘the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the United States of America, Canada or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland in 72 continuous hours.’ 

The competition was suspended after the outbreak of war in 1914 but resumed after the Armistice in November 1918.

Wartime pilots Alcock (who died tragically in an air crash within six months of his feat) and Brown, both of whom had been prisoners during the war – took up the challenge and over June 14-15 1919 made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in their modified Vickers Vimy bomber from St John’s Newfoundland to Clifden, Conemara in County Galway in 16 hours and 27 minutes. 

They were presented with their £10,000 Daily Mail prize by the then Secretary of State for Air Winston Churchill and became the first people ever to be able to say’Yesterday we were in America.’

Fifty years later, to commemorate their pioneering heroism, the Daily Mail launched ‘The Great Transatlantic Air Race’ and invited the world to participate. And they did. With gusto.

As air-challenge fever gripped the nation and dominated the front pages of the Daily Mail for days, entrants dashed through the city streets in cars and on the back of motorcycles to waiting helicopters and aircraft.

Participants included: racing driver Stirling Moss who travelled by chartered VC10 jet, motorcycles, helicopter and even a speed boat; early TV chef and raconteur Clement Freud; Prince Michael of Kent; holiday camp entrepreneur Billy Butlin; and athlete Mary Rand, the first British female athlete to win Olympic gold in track and field events.

The BBC broadcast details of it ‘in colour’ at a time when most TVs were still black-and-white, as did ITV, and veteran BBC journalist Cliff Michelmore produced a nightly round-up of the highlights from the top of the Post Office Tower.

Alcock and Brown take a meal in Newfoundland a few minutes before the start of their non-stop Transatlantic crossing

The Daily Mail Great Transatlantic Air Race race began and ended at official ‘check-in stations’ on the the 33rd floor public viewing platform of London’s Post Office Tower and the 86th floor of New York’s Empire State Building

The Daily Mail's 1969 Transatlantic Air Race gripped the heart of the nation and featured on the front page of the newspaper (right). Posters of the Britain to Australia Ross Smith Flight were also created (left)

 To capture the imagination and engagement of readers – and to put some fun and excitement back into flying - the 1969 challenge was open to both professionals and enthusiasts. Organisers realised that a military aircraft was almost certain to record the fastest time, so eighteen different categories of prizes were offered including one for the ‘most meritorious and ingenious’ non-winning entry

One of the youngest participants was Anne Alcock - an 18-year-old art student from Westcott in Surrey and niece of the pioneering transatlantic aviator Lt John Alcock - who also intends to be at Tuesday’s Brooklands reunion.

Kicking off the 1969 air race at 8am, she took a greetings letter from Postmaster General John Stonehouse (later to find infamy as a disgraced Labour MP who faked his own death) to his counterpart in New York.

But her attempt ended in heartache at Kennedy Airport, just 30 minutes from the finish line, which meant she missed her connecting helicopter. She said: ‘Everything went wrong. I could not find my passport and my immigration forms and I got held up at customs.’

There was drama when a 1,000mph Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Phantom jet carrying observer Lt Paul Waterhouse, then 32 and planning to attend the reunion, from New York to Wisley Airfield in Surrey blew a tyre on landing after a five-hour flight before he scrambled into a waiting helicopter to take him into central London for the final check-in logged at 5 hours 30 minutes and 24.4 seconds.

RAF pilot, Squadron leader Tom Lecky-Thompson, also aiming to attend the reunion, achieved the fastest westbound flight in his then cutting-edge Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jet – which the UK government was seeking to sell to the US Marines - in just five hours and 57 minutes, following its dramatic vertical take-off, billowing dust, from a coal yard near St Pancras station. 

The total time between check-ins was six hours, 11 minutes and 57 seconds.

The 81-year-old from Goring in Berkshire said recently: ‘I took with me a small snack lunch of a chicken leg and a bottled drink, possibly ginger beer, which I consumed halfway across.

This Tuesday, surviving winners, participants, and even aircraft of that fun-filled 1969 transatlantic air race – both military and civilian - will be meeting up at Brooklands Museum in Surrey, which has close ties to both events, to celebrate the historic achievements from 50 and 100 years ago. Above, the winning air race Harrier at the museum

‘I was very busy throughout the flight and there wasn’t a single second where I could sit back and do nothing.’

The plane was refuelled ten times in flight using 13 tanker planes and flew at around 683 miles per hour, just under the speed of sound.

Mr Lecky-Thompson, who was waved off from Britain by his wife Judy, and landed in New York on a special waterside pier setup by the US Marines before being whisked to the Empire State Building on the back of a police motorbike said: ‘It was incredible coming up the East River with Manhattan in the background, then seeing your landing spot amid the big line of piers.

‘There were numerous light aircraft whizzing around to get photographs of me but I had to ignore them and concentrate on flying.

‘Everything went according to plan. It was like magic.’

Of the air race’s part in boosting the UK export drive - by helping sell the revolutionary vertical take-off and landing Harrier jump-jet to the Americans - Mr Lecky-Thompson said: ‘We all got praise for it and it reaped enormous rewards for the country in terms of money, which was the best thing of all’

Modest Mr Lecky-Thompson, recovering from a recent stroke and heart attack, told the ‘Henley Standard’: ’For me, the proudest aspect of the Daily Mail Race is the fact that it was a marvellous team effort. From the ground crew to the designers, air traffic control and tanker pilots, everyone made a sterling effort. It wasn’t just about one man and his aircraft by any means.’

And of the air race’s part in boosting the UK export drive by helping sell the revolutionary vertical take-off and landing Harrier jump-jet to the American, he said: ‘We all got praise for it and it reaped enormous rewards for the country in terms of money, which was the best thing of all.’

The fastest eastward transatlantic crossing (and fastest overall) - from New York to the UK – was achieved by Lt Cdr Peter Goddard, an observer in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in 5hrs 11mins. He was presented with a certificate for this by clerk of the course for the Great Air Race, former Navy pilot Simon Ames, and both will be reunited at Brooklands at the event on Tuesday.

Mr Ames, now 82, said: ’It gripped the nation. It felt very exciting. Hundreds of people took part. The most dynamic part was with Royal Navy and the RAF – doing what they do best.’

Paul Stewart of Brooklands Museum in Surrey which is hosting the anniversary reunion on Tuesday said: ‘Both races were launched by the Daily Mail who put up the prize money but in ’69, the rules were even more ambitious.’

The Daily Mail Great Transatlantic Air Race race began and ended at official ‘check-in stations’ on the the 33rd floor public viewing platform of London’s Post Office Tower and the 86th floor of New York’s Empire State Building.

Putting the events into historical context Mr Stewart said: ‘Alcock and Brown’s non-stop crossing (their plane, above) of the Atlantic in a Brooklands-built Vickers Vimy in June 1919 was a significant moment in aviation history. ‘Just sixteen years earlier the first ever powered flight was made by the Wright Brothers in 1903, followed by the flight trials of A.V. Roe at Brooklands in 1907

Journeys had to be made on any of the eight days from 4th to 11th May and could be attempted more than once - though only in the same direction and with the same modes of transport.

To capture the imagination and engagement of readers – and to put some fun and excitement back into flying - the challenge was open to both professionals and enthusiasts. Organisers realised that a military aircraft was almost certain to record the fastest time, so eighteen different categories of prizes were offered including one for the ‘most meritorious and ingenious’ non-winning entry.

The Daily Mail front page coverage of May 05, 1969 reported: ’The race captured the imagination of the world.

‘Millions saw reports on TV in Britain and radio bulletins filled the air in many countries.

‘American newspapers from coast to coast gave conspicuous display to stories of the the start of the race.’

The top-selling New York Daily News called it ‘a mad-cap Odyssey’.

The Mail reported: ’New York has gone air crazy. Not since 1927 when Charles Lindbergh returned in triumph from his solo transatlantic flight has the city got so excited.

‘Crowds lined the street outside the 1,472ft Empire State building, the New York check-point, to cheer contestants as they rushed in and out.’

New York haulier Ben Garcia, 32, described as ‘the zaniest competitor’ set off in the smallest plane plane – a single-engined Piper Colt, supplied with ‘emergency rations’ comprising 7lb of peanut butter, a bottle of brandy, another of champagne, and 500 biscuits.

A watch commemorating the Great Transatlantic Air Race. The event also grabbed headlines across Europe, particularly in France, Italy and Belgium with their strong aviation history

The race also grabbed headlines across Europe, particularly in France, Italy and Belgium with their strong aviation history.

Brooklands Museum spokesman Paul Stewart said: 'The Daily Mail were great advocates of flying and put up substantial amounts of prize fund money to inspire ordinary people to push limits and compete for world’s first titles.

'This will be the last chance ever to get to meet such names from aviation history, together in one room and celebrating what they achieved’

Former participants and guests at the private function will assemble in front of the Museum’s own Vickers Vimy - the type to first cross the Atlantic in 1919 - and the actual Harrier GR1 XV741 aircraft flown by Mr. Lecky-Thompson which achieved the fastest westbound time.

Brooklands’ Mr Stewart added: ‘It is also important that in today’s world, we look back and understand how much has changed in aviation over the last 100 years; that we remember the pioneering and sense of adventure. ‘

Putting the events into historical context Mr Stewart said: ‘Alcock and Brown’s non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in a Brooklands-built Vickers Vimy in June 1919 was a significant moment in aviation history. 

‘Just sixteen years earlier the first ever powered flight was made by the Wright Brothers in 1903, followed by the flight trials of A.V. Roe at Brooklands in 1907. 

‘Fifty years later, in 1969, Atlantic flights had become routine but to celebrate that great endeavour and spirit of Alcock and Brown’s ground-breaking crossing, a new air race was staged. It showcased how far and fast aviation had changed with innovation at the heart of the race.’

Specialist watch-makers Avi-8 are using the event to launch a limited edition time-piece called ‘Blue Nylon’ – after the RAF’s operational code-name for their part in the Daily Mail challenge – which features genuine pieces from Squadron Leader Lecky-Thompson’s aircraft.

• The Daily Mail also put up the £1,000 prize, claimed on July 25, 1909 by French aviator Louis Bleriot, for the first flight across the English Channel. Fifty years later in July 1959, it put up £10,000 of prizes for competitors who travelled from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to Marble Arch in London, or vice versa, in the fastest time.