S8 Ep135: Segment 3 — Newfoundland Ordeal: Facing Impossible Weather in the Race Across the Atlantic — David Rooney — Teams faced "suicidal" weather conditions in Newfoundland, the mandatory launch point for transatlantic attempts. In May 1919, the impatient Hawker

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 28 November 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Segment 3 — Newfoundland Ordeal: Facing Impossible Weather in the Race Across the Atlantic — David Rooney— Teams faced "suicidal" weather conditions in Newfoundland, the mandatory launch point for transatlantic attempts. In May 1919, the impatient Hawker and Grieve departed in their small Sopwith aircraft and disappeared, prompting widespread public grief. The Rolls-Royce engines employed by competitors, particularly the Eagle and Falcon models, cemented the company's reputation as the premier aircraft engine manufacturer.
1927

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is CBSI on the world.
0:07.2	I'm John Batchel.
0:08.4	It is the spring of 1919, Newfoundland.
0:12.3	The king is watching very carefully.
0:15.1	All of England is watching very carefully because there's a prize,
0:18.4	10,000 pounds at the end of a challenge that is certain
0:23.6	to leave you lost forever. The aircrafts that fly over oceans are routinely lost and there's
0:30.1	never a sign of what happened to the aviators. It's after the war. The whole of Europe is grieving
0:37.0	and they need inspiration and And Lord Northcliffe,
0:42.3	the publisher of the penny newspaper, even cheaper than a penny at the time, has made this prize,
0:49.9	the centerpiece of showing off the Great Britain, despite the badly damaged generations in the war,
0:56.9	is going to be a leader in the future. David Rooney is the author of The Big Hop,
1:02.7	the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean into the future. Four teams gathering in
1:07.2	Newfoundland. But David, they might have looked up about Newfoundland's weather.
1:11.2	Did they, is there evidence in their notes that they knew how many rainy days there are?
1:16.7	They knew that Newfoundland was the worst place you could possibly imagine to try and fly from.
1:23.2	They'd send scouting missions out in advance to find the best ground to make their aerodromes,
1:29.5	you know, the least boggy, the least snow-covered, the least rocky.
1:35.3	It was the most eastern land of North America.
1:39.2	It was where they had to fly from if they were going to succeed.
1:42.4	They absolutely knew it was the worst place.
1:44.0	And also the worst time to be going out. The first team started going out there in
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