100 years later, unpublished photos appear of the world's first transatlantic flight

It's so common nowadays to buy a plane ticket and travel long distances in a short time, that we don't even think about what it was like before this winged invention. After the discussion of when the first flight took place, the fact is that the first major travel between continents took place in 1919 over the Atlantic Ocean.

Credit: Getty Images Hulton Archive

The race to accomplish the feat began in 1913, when the British newspaper The Daily Mail offered £ 10, 000 to anyone who could cross the Atlantic nonstop. The challenge was interrupted by the First World War. The goal was to generate good news, something rare at the time. The US Navy sponsored three Curtiss passenger boats - the NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4 - to try to accomplish the feat.

100 years later, unpublished photos appear of the world's first transatlantic flight

100 years later, unpublished photos appear of the world's first transatlantic flight

100 years later, unpublished photos appear of the world's first transatlantic flight

Credit: Getty Images Hulton Archive

Lieutenant Commander Albert C. Read, at the head of the NC-4, was the only one to succeed in his mission from Canada to Ireland. The images that prove the flight were preserved in the Hulton Archive and tell the story of the pilots, the reward and the excitement of those waiting on land.

Credit: Getty Images Hulton Archive

In the words of Matthew Butson (Getty Images Hulton Archive Vice President): " In June 1919, the world was in a precarious position. After signing the armistice that ended World War I, Europeans were desperate for good news. And what better way to appease the spirits than by sending some Europeans to the heights to cross an ocean?

This is how the British newspaper Daily Mail offered 10, 000 euros to the pilot who could cross the Atlantic Ocean on a nonstop flight. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the first transatlantic flight from Canada to Ireland, we can recall those images that were preserved in the Hulton Archive. These photos tell the full story of the pilots, the reward and excitement of those who waited on land. In the archive, it is imperative that we protect the world's cultural heritage and continue to tell these stories hundreds of years into the future. Four of the original glass-negative images are credited to Topical Press Agency, the first photographic press agency that was founded in 1904 on Fleet Street.

Looking back, this flight - flown by John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown - paved the way for global business travel and began to shrink the world, connecting people in the US and UK. And the two men got ten thousand pounds richer. "

Matthew Butson, Vice President, Getty Images Hulton Archive
Matthew Butson, Vice President, Getty Images Hulton Archive
Matthew Butson, Vice President, Getty Images Hulton Archive