Film celebrates historic flight

Terence Potter's recreated flight took just under nine hours

A film celebrating the Welsh links of the first transatlantic aviator Arthur Brown has successfully recreated the epic flight exactly 90 years ago.

Pilot Terence Potter, from Swansea, flew a two-seater plane along the route taken by Brown and Jack Alcock from Canada to Europe on 14 June, 1919.

The journey, like the original not without its hazards, is at the heart of Yesterday We Were in America.

After his record breaking feat Brown lived until 1948 in Sketty, Swansea.

The flying pioneer worked as a manager in a light bulb factory in the city's Wind Street and also taught aviations students at Swansea airfield.

Alcock and Brown's 16 hour transatlantic flight in a much larger bomber plane than the one used by Potter earned them knighthoods, a £10,000 prize and enduring fame.

We need to celebrate our heroes in Wales and mark their achievements, and this is one reason we have made this film Terence Potter

The pair had survived the deadly skies of World War I and met just six weeks before their epic journey, forming a friendship which was to be severely tested during the perilous trip.

They endured fog, an engine caught fire, and at one stage Brown was forced to walk onto the wings to clear ice.

The rough weather almost caused them to ditch into the sea which would have meant certain death.

Potter, a former accountant, in recreating their journey for the documentary had a "fantastic" flight until he tried to land in fog at Swansea and was forced to divert to Cardiff airport.

He said before Alcock and Brown's 1919 achievement, flying was seen as being a "gimmick".

Winston Churchill presenting a cheque to aviators Alcock and Brown

"Alcock and Brown were the pioneers of long distance travel by aeroplane," he said.

"Before they did the first transatlantic flight quite frankly, in Britain at least, aviation was a bit of a gimmick and they really opened up the world to people travelling around in 747s as we see today.

"As a Welsh film maker, we are delighted to highlight the fact that Brown had strong connections with Wales, and in particular Swansea," he said.

"We need to celebrate our heroes in Wales and mark their achievements, and this is one reason we have made this film.

"As an avid flyer myself, I have huge admiration for their achievement - even more now that I have done it myself.

"Of course it was a lot easier for me, and the experience showed me that Brown was a fantastic navigator, in an age when there were no sophisticated instruments to assist him."

Potter's flight earlier this year took under nine hours and used just a fraction of the 860 gallons of fuel that the flying pioneers used to cross from Newfoundland to Ireland.

"I really wanted to show what's different and what's the same about aviation and how it's improved, how it has stayed the same over 90 years," he said.