The third contender to be eliminated before even getting to the start was the Bolton Paul Atlantic which crashed taking off on a test flight when one of the two 480hp Napier Lion engines cut out. The only other Napier Lion powered contender was the single-engine Alliance Seabird which was test flying from Napier’s Acton airfield in London. The Seabird pilot and navigator were housed in a roomy enclosed cabin in the rear fuselage but the pilot was only able to see directly forward by putting his head out of the triangular side windows.
    A surprise on the 15th of May was the arrival at St John's cricket field of the US Navy airship C5 after a record 25 hour 50 minutes 1,177 mile non-stop flight from New York. It was tied down with earth anchors satisfactory for 20 mile an hour winds and the crew went off for a rest whilst the ground party organised refuelling the 192 ft long, twin-engine machine with a 55 miles per hour cruising speed. Unfortunately, the wind picked up and 100 sailors struggled to control the swaying airship. When gusts reached 60 miles per hour the rip panel cord was pulled to deflate the ship. The cord broke as did the mooring cables so C5 was wildly blown away. Two ground crew jumped out before the airship slammed back down and the control car broke away. Now much lighter the envelope disappeared out to sea in the gusting winds. Harry Hawker quipped that they had “flown it all the way from New York and it is now dipsy doodling on its way to Ireland without a soul on board“.
    That same day, further south in Trepassey Bay, NC1 and NC3 made unsuccessful take-off attempts in high winds and heavy seas which threatened to damage the aircraft. When NC4 appeared overhead the planned departure was abandoned in the hope of better weather the next day. On 16th of May the three NC flying boats were provisioned but NC1 and NC3 refused to the choppy water. NC4 landed back whilst equipment, spare fuel, water and floor planks were unloaded from the other aircraft, together with an engine mechanic. By 5.36pm all three were on their way to the Azores but in the dark they broke formation letting the faster NC4 go ahead.
    The US Navy support ships were already strung out across the Atlantic at 50 mile intervals, in radio contact to aid navigation, for local weather reports and to provide an emergency response if needed.  After 15 hours NC3 was completely lost. The crew, believing they were near the Azores and not wanting to the hit a mountain in the thickening fog, alighted to use their radio compass direction finder, not realising until the last moment that the apparently flat sea had 12-ft waves. NC3 plunged into a wave, soared up and crashed down suffering considerable damage and severely injuring three of the crew. From the surface their SOS messages did not reach the rescue ships. The crew’s extreme ordeal went on throughout the night and the next day as they struggled to taxi towards the Azores on one engine. NC1 did a similar thing; badly battered, with one wing dragging in the water and just one engine running, the aircraft taxied along with soaking-wet crewmen out on the other wing for balance. Luckily after 5 hours all six of the crew were rescued in the heavy seas by a small Greek tramp ship. In contrast, NC4 averaging 90 knots, contacted each destroyer in turn before the crew became disoriented in fog and the aircraft entered a spiral dive. Recovering, shallow water was seen through a gap in the fog and a descent made to 50ft below the fog when the islands of Flores and then Faial were spotted. NC4 alighted in Horta harbour, 180miles short of their Ponta Delgrado target, but safely in the Azores after 15 hours in the air.
    Having patiently waited so long, Hawker’s and Raynham’s teams were determined not to let the Americans be first across. On 18th May, two days since the NCs left, they studied the weather forecasts and prepared their aircraft even more carefully than usual. By noon the weather in Newfoundland was good and both teams decided to make their attempt despite the Atlantic weather forecast of “not yet favourable but possible”. In everyday suits and ties but with extra jerseys and then their immersion suits Hawker and Mckenzie Grieve climbed into their open cockpit with mail bags, maps and navigation equipment, flares and smoke bombs, and sufficient sandwiches, hot drink flasks, chocolates and brandy for 3 days. At 3:15 Hawker lined up diagonally across the field, to compensate for the wind direction, and waved away the chocks. The undercarriage spread to its extreme with the weight of fuel. The Atlantic lifted off just clear of the fence at the far lower end of the field and after a 3 minute steady climb crossed over St John's. Hawker and McKenzie Grieve could see Raynham’s aircraft at the water’s edge surrounded by a large crowd and were delighted to have got away before him - although Raynham believed he could give Harry a three hour start and still win. At 1,500 feet Harry jettisonned the undercarriage, reducing wind resistance and the weight by 450 pounds. In another 5 minutes they were at 4,000ft and still climbing to get above a fog bank.
    Back at Quidi Vidi the crowd were pushed back as the Raymor’s engine was warmed up. Fred Raynham and Fax Morgan climbed aboard and started a take-off run down the narrow strip, despite a partial tailwind.  After 300 yards the Raymor, still on the ground, hit a bump, rose steeply and plummeted 100 ft to earth, buckling the undercarriage, then skidded on, to nose abruptly into soft ground at the end of the field. Raynham climbed out but Morgan, with his artificial leg, had to be extricated and had face injuries. Before any second attempt the aircraft would need significant repairs, a replacement engine and a new undercarriage.
    For the first 4 ½ hours in the Sopwith Atlantic Kenneth McKenzie Grieve took sextant readings to check his dead-reckoning navigation before heavy cloud banks and rain squalls reduced visibility. It was bitterly cold in the dark at 10,000 feet, Mackenzie Grieve getting frostbite in his fingers with his gloves off to use the sextant and to free the collar of Hawker’s immersion suit which was rising up and strangling him. After 5 hours the temperature of the radiator water was rising rapidly, remaining constantly high for another 2 hours. Hawker concluded that some foreign matter must have been clogging the filter in the engine water cooling system so he switched off the engine and dived steeply to clear it - that seemed to work. When Mackenzie Grieve finally got a gap in the cloud to measure their drift against the waves he realised that unexpectedly strong northerly winds must have taken them 150 miles south of their planned course, which Hawker corrected.
To be continued.