New commemorative coin launched to mark 100 years since the first non-stop transatlantic flight

• €15 Silver Proof coin marks 100 years since the first non-stop transatlantic flight, which landed in Clifden, Co. Galway.
• Coin launched at the Alcock and Brown 100 festival in Clifden by Derville Rowland, Central Bank of Ireland Director General, Financial Conduct.
• Coin limited to 3,000 pieces. Available to buy for €65 on www.collectorcoins.ie from 10 July 2019 .

The Central Bank of Ireland has launched a silver commemorative coin to mark the 100 year anniversary of the first non-stop transatlantic flight.  The coin was launched at the Alcock and Brown 100 festival in Clifden, which is celebrating the centenary of the flight.

In 1919, Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown landed their Vickers Vimy airplane in a bog in Clifden Co. Galway. In doing so, the pilots achieved the first non-stop transatlantic flight with a duration of 16 hours and 28 minutes, and landing about 40 kilometres north of their target destination. The airplane had taken off from St. Johns in Newfoundland the previous day, and landed in Derrigimlagh, Clifden, County Galway. Derville Rowland Director General, Financial Conduct at the Central Bank presented a silver coin to Group Captain A J H Tony Alcock, nephew of Captain John Alcock at the coin launch today.

Struck in .925 sterling silver to proof quality, the coin was designed by Irish numismatic artist, PJ Lynch. The design celebrates the huge accomplishment of Alcock and Brown, and the fact that this plane landed in Clifden, Ireland. The Vickers Vimy Biplane is in the fore of the design. Behind the plane is a period style map which helps to emphasise the pilots’ peril and demonstrates the sheer scale of their accomplishment in travelling from Newfoundland to Ireland for the very first time without stopping.

Derville Rowland, Director General, Financial Conduct said:

“I am honoured to launch this €15 silver coin on behalf of the Minister for Finance, to mark 100 years of Transatlantic Aviation. In completing this flight Alcock and Brown displayed competence, courage and resilience and did more than merely earn themselves a place in the history books. The two aviators had carried 197 letters across the ocean– effectively giving birth to transatlantic airmail. That in turn would bring both personal and business benefits to people all over the world. Today, we are celebrating an important historic moment that marked the beginning of transatlantic aviation, when new possibilities emerged and new connections were forged.”