Typical. You wait nearly a century and then two come along. Ailerons from the Vickers Vimy bomber flown by Alcock and Brown in the first non-stop transatlantic flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara in 1919 are rare. One turned up at Whyte’s in 2018. Now a different one has surfaced and will be auctioned by Purcell Auctioneers in Birr on August 18. At Whyte’s the aileron made €8,500 at hammer. Lot 205 at Purcell’s sale of collectibles and rarities is estimated at €6,000-€8,000. This piece was retrieved by noted local photographer R W Simmons, one of the first on the scene to take photographs for the national newspapers. Purcell’s say it is thence: by descent and gift to the current owner in the early 2000’s. Three hand written descriptions thereon, one of which includes the name of R W Simons (Simmons – renowned Galway based photographer). A paper cutting on the other side reads “£50 for £1. The owner of a Treasury Pound Note carried across the Atlantic by Sir John Alcock on the 1st non-stop flight, has refused £50 for it”.
The plane landed in a bog that appeared from the air to be a suitable green field after less than 16 hours flying time and was damaged after going nose over. Neither of the airmen was hurt. An Alcock and Brown photo/scrapbook made €2,600 over a top estimate of €1,800.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 8, 2018).