The Big Hop: The First Non-Stop Flight Across The Atlantic And Into The Future

A non-stop flight across the Atlantic might seem routine today. But it is only possible because of those who went first.

'Capturing not only the perils faced by the intrepid airmen who attempted the flight, but also their humanity' JOHN LANCASTER, author of The Great Air Race

Newfoundland, 1919. Buffeted by winds, an unwieldy aircraft struggled to take to the air. Cramped side by side in its open cockpit were two men, freezing cold, but resolute. They had a dream: to be the first in human history to fly, non-stop, across the Atlantic Ocean. But there were three other teams competing against them . . .

The young aviators who would get off the ground had already defied death many times during World War One. David Rooney’s evocative and deeply researched account shows how it was their thrilling wartime experiences that ultimately led them to the ‘Big Hop’, and brought old friends together for one more daring adventure.

These Atlantic pioneers weren’t scientists or upper-class officers. They were ordinary men, risking their lives in the name of progress, who ultimately ushered in the age of global connection in which we live now.

'Fabulous ... Works on every level, balancing technological know-how with superb characterisation’ JACKY HYAMS, author of Hurricane: The Plane that Won the War

David Rooney is a historian and museum curator. Born in north-east England, he moved to London in 1995 to take a traineeship at the Science Museum, where he first encountered the aeroplane that completed the Big Hop in 1919. Over an almost thirty-year career, David has curated timekeeping, transport and engineering collections at institutions from the National Maritime Museum to the Science Museum, bringing historical stories vividly alive. He is the author of About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks (2021), which has been translated into eleven languages.

About The Big Hop, David says: ‘It is 30 years since I first walked beneath the canvas wings of an ungainly biplane and wondered what must have possessed two young men to fly it across the Atlantic. Writing this book is my way of paying tribute to the pioneers of aviation – men and women from all walks of life – who risked everything: for freedom, for progress, and for us.’