Rolls Tribute to Aviators

This is a little confusing, but interesting nonetheless. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which is not the same company as Rolls-Royce plc, as the former is the one owned by BMW and produces, well, motor cars, and the other one is the firm that produces aircraft engines, is celebrating the centenary of the first non-stop transatlantic flight, which was made in June 2019 by Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown.

The trip went from St. John’s Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland. The two flew in a Vickers Vimy bomber aircraft, a bi-plane modified for the trip. It was fitted with twin 20.3-liter, 350-bhp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, which were made by the same company that made the cars back then (and back then Sir Henry Royce was still around).

(Image: Rolls-Royce)

The tribute to the men includes sketches of its latest collection car, the Wraith Eagle VIII, which will go into hand-built production at the Goodwood, West Sussex Rolls manufactory.

As for the trip: it turns out that after taking off, the radio and navigation system quit, which left them flying through the night “through dense cloud and freezing fog for many hours, sometimes upside down.”

The starlight headliner of the car includes halfway point coordinates of the trip as well as the flight path. As one needs to look up to see the headliner, in a sense that’s upside down, too.