Successful Rival Flight leads to Speculation
Exactly a month after the Endeavour took off Emilie Hinchliffe felt a brief period of renewed hope when news of the success of the Bremen was wired around the world. The German-Irish flight had crash landed in Labrador leading to speculation that Hinchliffe and Mackay may have suffered the same fate and there may finally be some concrete news. The crew of the Bremen first made an attempt on the east to west crossing in August 1927 when they battled stormy weather for five hours before being forced back to safety. The plane was a Junkers W.331, a remarkably advanced machine compared to others used for Atlantic attempts. All metal in construction its 'skin' was made of corrugated Duralumin. A low-wing plane, it was powered by a single six-cylinder Junkers engine with a top speed of 120 mph. In April 1928 the original crew of Cpatain Koehl and Baron Von Hunefeld was joined by Irish aviator Commandant Fitzmaurice when the first co-pilot quit following an argument. Von Hunefeld h...
