Yesterday marked 100 years since British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown completed the world's first transatlantic flight - but the anniversary passed with little notice in Britain.
The two airmen battled heavy snow, blinding fog and mechanical failures to make the trip from Canada to Ireland, landing in a bog on June 15, 1919 and collecting a £10,000 Daily Mail aviation prize from Winston Churchill.
To mark the anniversary in Canada, two pilots took to the skies in St John's, where Alcock and Brown took off a century ago, for a commemorative flight boarded by 50 guests including politicians and historians.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Irish Air Corps carried out a flypast while a street parade took place in Clifden close to where the two pilots crash landed.
But in Britain, celebrations were limited to a special postbox near Heathrow Airport, a small RAF exhibition in Swansea and a handful of local events.
Yesterday marked 100 years since British aviators John Alcock (right) and Arthur Whitten Brown (left) completed the world's first transatlantic flight
The Vickers Vimy plane in which which Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown made the world's first direct, non-stop transatlantic crossing
Last month Alcock's nephew Tony Alcock, himself a former RAF pilot, said it was 'so disappointing' that more was not being done.
'We have been trying, but we can't get people interested,' he said.
The achievement of Alcock and Brown in 1919 has been compared to mankind's first landing on the Moon in 1969, an anniversary which also passes this year.
There is a UK Government-backed project to share memories of Apollo 11 - an American achievement - but no sign of a similar effort for Alcock and Brown.
Earlier commemorations were more substantial.
The 50th anniversary in 1969 saw a commemorative set of stamps and a replica air race, while 10 years later an RAF plane made the crossing in less than six hours to mark the occasion.
Captain Alcock, then aged 26, and navigator Brown, 32, took off in the early afternoon of June 14 that year from St John's, one of the easternmost points of North America.
In Britain, 100th anniversary celebrations have been limited to a special postbox installed near Heathrow Airport (pictured) and a handful of small exhibitions and events
Actors recreate the Alcock and Brown flight Derrygimlagh, Ireland, yesterday as part of the Irish 100th anniversary celebrations which included a military flypast
Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown are pictured taking a meal in Newfoundland a few minutes before
