I very much regret not being able to get to any of
the Alcock and Brown centenary events as pushing forward aviation was
a big part of my childhood but
a family event got in the way on Sunday and an appointment with a GP in East Ham
wrecked yesterday. (I arrived in good time but he had forgotten all about it.)
I’m sure Councillor Craske is right when he says “a huge amount of work and planning went into today’s
events marking 100 years since the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic in a plane built in Crayford”.
Congratulations must be due to everyone who had the foresight to dream up the
event and then set about ensuring it was a success.
Councillor Craske is entitled to bask in the reflected glory although his claim (see Tweet below)
that without the Vimy designed by Vickers in Crayford we would still be crossing
the Atlantic in steam ships may be a little far fetched. I suspect someone else
would have tried their luck in another string and plywood contraption sooner or
later. But Alcock and Brown did it first, that is a fact even if they did crash land it in an Irish bog.
If I may be permitted to wipe just a little of the grin from St. Peter’s visage; I am
distantly related to the Duke of Kent who planted the commemorative tree in Hall
Place yesterday but I do acknowledge I have to go back nine generations to prove it. His
wife’s sister-in-law tracked me down in 2010 and we corresponded occasionally by email until 2013.
It’s not much of a claim to fame but it is better than being associated with my
Nth cousin who tried to assassinate the original J.P. Morgan in New York. His bullet
missed and killed his personal physician instead. He was certified insane and escaped the electric chair.
