by Joseph F. Alcock

A British pilot, Captain Jack Alcock, while a prisoner of war in WWI, conceived a plan to fly across the Atlantic non-stop to win the Daily Mail prize of $50,000.  He and his navigator, Lt. Arthur Brown, made the attempt in June 1919 after several other aviators had failed. 

Tomorrow Has Wings condenses early British aviation history into an interesting story of these two men who were the first to fly across the Atlantic non-stop–eight years before Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight across. 

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Excerpt from the Prologue to Tomorrow Has Wings: The Story of Captain Jack Alcock First to Fly the Atlantic Non-Stop in 1919: 

Although the actual time occupied in my transatlantic flight was under sixteen hours, it may be fairly said that it took ten years to accomplish. It was perhaps owing to the knowledge of this fact that the public appreciation of the feat overwhelmed me in no small degree. To them it was a sudden and perhaps sensational achievement, but it was really the successful outcome of much preparation. There is always satisfaction in being the first to do anything, whatever it may be, and while the lapse of time may intensify that feeling, the flight was nothing more than the execution of a long-conceived plan. 

Ten years of continuous flying undoubtedly stood me in good stead, and had I been less fit or less experienced, the excellent machine produced by Messrs. Vickers and the reliable Rolls-Royce engine might have been sacrificed. My story began many years before I took up flying.   

 — Capt. Jack Alcock