Historic Flight Commemorated

Posted 11 July 2010
Photo by Peter Simmons

The village of Ainsdale, Merseyside, England, recently installed a large metal sculpture of a Lockheed Electra flying over the New York City skyline in one of the city’s traffic roundabouts to commemorate the 13 May 1937 transatlantic flight from Ainsdale to New York City carrying news photos of the coronation of King George VI for the Hearst newspaper chain. The flight, known as the Coronation Flight and flown by American pilots Dick Merrill and Jack Lambie in a Model 10E Electra, took off from the Ainsdale beach. The two pilots arrived in New York nearly twenty-four hours later. The artwork was officially named Ocean Pioneer in ceremonies on 11 July 2010.

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