<P> With the war over, there were four teams competing to be the first non-stop across the Atlantic . They were Australian pilot Harry Hawker with observer Kenneth Mackenzie - Grieve in a single engine Sopwith Atlantic; Frederick Raynham and C.W.F. Morgan in a Martinsyde; the Handley Page Group, led by Mark Kerr; and the Vickers entry John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown . Each group had to ship its aircraft to Newfoundland and make a rough field for the takeoff . </P> <P> Hawker and Mackenzie - Grieve made the first attempt on 18 May, but engine failure brought them down in the ocean where they were rescued . Raynham and Morgan also made an attempt on 18 May but crashed on take off due to the high fuel load . The Handley Page team was in the final stages of testing its aircraft for the flight in June, but the Vickers group was ready earlier . </P> <P> During 14--15 June 1919, the British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight . During the War, Alcock resolved to fly the Atlantic, and after the war he approached the Vickers engineering and aviation firm at Weybridge, which had considered entering its Vickers Vimy IV twin - engined bomber in the competition but had not yet found a pilot . Alcock's enthusiasm impressed Vickers's team, and he was appointed as its pilot . Work began on converting the Vimy for the long flight, replacing its bomb racks with extra petrol tanks . Shortly afterwards Brown, who was unemployed, approached Vickers seeking a post and his knowledge of long distance navigation convinced them to take him on as Alcock's navigator . </P> <P> Vickers's team quickly assembled its plane and at around 1: 45 p.m. on 14 June, while the Handley Page team was conducting yet another test, the Vickers plane took off from Lester's Field, in St. John's, Newfoundland . </P>

Who first crossed the atlantic ocean in an airplane