Hashtag: #AviationHistory
Winston Churchill’s 1942 Flying Bermuda Visit
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s return to the UK from Bermuda aboard Boeing flying boat in January, 1942 — the first transatlantic air trip by a world leader — fired the imaginations not only of his devoted countrymen but of the entire democratic world. People reading of his long flight from Bermuda and safe landing at... Read more of this article
History: The Golden Age Of Bermuda Clippers
It’s been called the Golden Age of aviation, the pre-World War Two period when American vacationers arrived in Bermuda aboard opulently appointed flying boats providing comfort and style which rivalled that of any of the luxury ocean liners of the day. Pan American’s majestic fleet of flying boats — the “Clippers”, named... Read more of this article
History: ‘The Unsinkable’ Edna Watson
She was Bermuda’s answer to the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown — and like that heroine of the “Titanic” sinking, Edna Watson demonstrated gallantry and indefatigable determination when a Bermuda-bound aircraft she was aboard crashed in the chilly North Atlantic in 1939. Born in Montreal but a Bermuda resident for most of... Read more of this article
Airmail Delivery In St. George’s Harbour
It’s perhaps the only bag of airmail ever delivered to the St. George’s Post Office which arrived there by way of the Old Town’s harbour. When the “Graf Zeppelin” passed directly over St. George’s on its first trial transatlantic crossing from Germany to New York in October, 1928, the 776-foot dirigible left more... Read more of this article
Historic Airship Flight Ended Off Bermuda
The centenary of the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by air — a flight in an ungainly hydrogen-filled blimp which ended in near-disaster off Bermuda [pictured at left] — is being commemorated with a new permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The pioneering 1910 flight of the airship “America”,... Read more of this article
History: The First Flight to Bermuda
Although the Atlantic was first crossed by aircraft in 1919, it took another 11 years before the first pilots ventured to Bermuda — a spot deemed too dangerous to fly to by early aviators because of the island’s lack of radio aids to navigation. But the challenge to reach Bermuda eventually proved irresistable to early barnstorming pilots. And aviation... Read more of this article
Lost Female Aviator’s Bermuda Flight Marked
A pioneering female aviator whose plane was lost after departing Bermuda on the first attempt at a commercial transatlantic flight in 1931 is being commemorated in her native Ohio on the 80th anniversary of her disappearance. Beryl Gwyn Hart was a contemporary of Amelia Earhart and at one time almost as well-known as that legendary flier. She and co-pilot... Read more of this article
History: Bermuda’s Greatest Aviation Disaster
Take a look back in history at the single greatest aviation disaster to strike Bermuda, which occurred 58 years ago. On December 6th 1952, 37 people lost their lives when an airplane crashed directly after taking off from Bermuda. The flight, operated by Havana Airlines [a subsidary of Pan Am] was refueling during a stopover en route from Madrid, Spain... Read more of this article
