Royal Aero Club Gold Medallion awarded to Sir Arthur Whitten Brown

This medallion was awarded to Arthur Brown to commemorate the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic by an aircraft. Brown the navigator and his pilot, John Alcock, flew from Newfoundland to Ireland in a converted Vickers Vimy bomber in a little over 16 hours in June 1919.

The Daily Mail was an early promoter of aviation, offering prizes for feats of aviation. In 1913 they offered £10,000 to the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, which at the time seemed unachievable. The First World War interrupted the competition, however, in 1918 the Daily Mail renewed its offer, this time crossing the Atlantic non-stop was a real possibility. In early 1919 several teams were ready to attempt the crossing, however, Alcock and Brown were the first to succeed following a 16 hour eventful night flight in poor weather, the aircraft crash landed in Ireland early on the morning of the 15th June. Alcock and Brown were treated as heroes.