David Rooney

I really enjoyed discussing The Big Hop with Alex and Matt... please take a look... and remember, Christmas is coming, it's the perfect gift for anyone with a taste for adventure...

www.davidrooney.uk/the-big-hop

History at The Hall – The Big Hop: Adventures in the Workshop and the Air — The Goldsmiths' Company On the evening of Monday 8 December 2025, join writer, historian and museum curator David Rooney for History at The Hall – The Big Hop: Adventures in the Workshop and the Air.

I'm talking about The Big Hop - "a true-life thriller" according to The Observer - at the Goldsmiths' Company on Monday, December 8th. It'll be fun! I'll be signing copies afterwards. I'm told only a handful of tickets remain so you might need to hurry. www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/whats-on/his...

History at The Hall – The Big Hop: Adventures in the Workshop and the Air — The Goldsmiths' Company On the evening of Monday 8 December 2025, join writer, historian and museum curator David Rooney for History at The Hall – The Big Hop: Adventures in the Workshop and the Air.

I'm talking about The Big Hop - "a true-life thriller" according to The Observer - at the Goldsmiths' Company on Monday, December 8th. It'll be fun! I'll be signing copies afterwards. I'm told only a handful of tickets remain so you might need to hurry. www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/whats-on/his...

Just finished the fantastic The Big Hop by @rooneyvision.bsky.social about the first flight over the Atlantic. It’s one of those bits of history that I had no idea about. A gripping read. I grew up near to Brooklands and had no idea about the aviation history of the place too.

THE BIG HOP is a Kindle Daily Deal today (at least in the UK). A mere £1.99! Well worth a punt I'd say, but you'll need to act fast...

amazon.co.uk/Big-Hop-Non-...

If you've already read it, would you care to leave an Amazon rating or review? It helps enormously!

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 4/4 Jack Alcock – the Vickers pilot

I've just sent out the final post in this week's aviation series. After flying the Atlantic in 1919, what next for Jack Alcock?

There's often a price to pay for being first. We owe the pioneers a great debt.

I wish you safe travels...

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 3/4 Ted Brown – the Vickers navigator

We're 3/4 through this week's series looking at what happened next for the Big Hop competitors.

Today it's Ted Brown, the Vickers navigator.

If you haven't yet read The Big Hop, you know what to do! One of the most remarkable stories of the modern age.

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 3/4 Ted Brown – the Vickers navigator

We're 3/4 through this week's series looking at what happened next for the Big Hop competitors.

Today it's Ted Brown, the Vickers navigator.

If you haven't yet read The Big Hop, you know what to do! One of the most remarkable stories of the modern age.

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 2/4 Mac Grieve and Harry Hawker – the Sopwith team

The second of this week's 4-part series of aviation posts has just gone out!

Finished The Big Hop and want to know what happened after the contest was over?

Today's post: Harry Hawker and Mac Grieve of Sopwith. Please like & subscribe, and so on.

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 2/4 Mac Grieve and Harry Hawker – the Sopwith team

The second of this week's 4-part series of aviation posts has just gone out!

Finished The Big Hop and want to know what happened after the contest was over?

Today's post: Harry Hawker and Mac Grieve of Sopwith. Please like & subscribe, and so on.

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 1/4 Charles Morgan, Conrad Biddlecombe, and Fred Raynham – the Martinsyde team

It's a bumper week of aviation content on the newsletter this week!

If you completed The Big Hop and wanted to know what happened to the competitors after the contest was over, read on.

Today's post: the Martinsyde men.

Please like & subscribe, etc etc

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

After the Big Hop was over – what next? 1/4 Charles Morgan, Conrad Biddlecombe, and Fred Raynham – the Martinsyde team

It's a bumper week of aviation content on the newsletter this week!

If you completed The Big Hop and wanted to know what happened to the competitors after the contest was over, read on.

Today's post: the Martinsyde men.

Please like & subscribe, etc etc

rooneyvision.substack.com/p/after-the-...

Thanks so much for your kind comments, Pete.

Single engined military biplane of WW1 vintage. Seen from 9 o'clock low. Mustard yellow fuselage, wings have camouflage patterns on undersides. German markings on wings, fuselage & rudder.

A few pics from NASMs recently reopened WW1 gallery. 1st up the Albatros D.Va, displayed outside the gallery entrance. This mid-war pursuit saw combat - bullet holes were found in it. 1/6

Thanks so much, Frank. I'm really pleased. If you make it over to see the Vimy, let me know -- I'd love to show you it!

Shoutout to @rooneyvision.bsky.social whose great history of the 1919 Alcock/Brown crossing, The Big Hop, I've now finished. David, you tell this story so well; many thanks for casting your net to take in the roles of those on the Sopwith, Martinsyde & HP teams. You broadened my take on the events!

And thank you!

I can't wait. It will be superb!

Great! I'm envious. I visited in 2018 but much (all?) has changed since then.... many congratulations on all the recent developments!

Book cover of "The Big Hop" by David Rooney. Subtitle: The First Nonstop Flight Across thee Atlantic Ocean and Into the Future. Image shows painting of 2 chaps peering out from the cockpit of a tan'ish biplane. Coaming hides their lower faces, headgear covers foreheads. Really just eyes seen.

Ahoy, @rooneyvision.bsky.social, look what my terrific county librarian has lent to me (after a bit of a wait; folks have queued for it). Will get into it tonight, much looking fwd to it. Will check back in a couple of days.

Terrific! I hope you enjoy it. Do let me know. Are you at NASM? Wonderful museum!

Concrete chess piece

Concrete chess pieces on a chess board in a suburban estate

Brutalist chess piece

Two concrete chess pieces outside a 1960s house

Stopped to take some pics of these beauties. Lad cycling by shouts ‘They’re chess pieces!’ ‘They’re lovely,’ I say. ‘Yeah,’ he agrees, speeding off to deliver some drive by art knowledge in another part of town. William Mitchell, Basildon, 1966.

Cockpit of the Vickers Vimy flown across the Atlantic in 1919 by Jack Alcock and Ted Brown. Image courtesy of the Science Museum.

This is the cockpit of the Vickers Vimy flown by Jack Alcock and Ted Brown over the Atlantic in 1919. Open top. Canvas skin. The tightest squeeze!

Pilots flying Boeings and Airbuses on the transatlantic routes today: how does this make you feel?!

Hats off to the lot of yers!

It's lovely isn't it! I think he was pretty far outside his comfort zone once he left the cockpit.....

YouTube video by British Pathé London From Above (1919)

Do you fancy seeing Jack Alcock on film, flying a Pathé cameraman named Jones over London in 1919? Course you do. Here he is. What an absolute belter.

Read his story in The Big Hop. And if you liked it, care to leave a rating or comment on Amazon?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTa0...

Do you fancy seeing Jack Alcock on film, flying a Pathé cameraman named Jones over London in 1919? Course you do. Here he is. What an absolute belter.

Read his story in The Big Hop! And if you liked it, care to leave a rating or comment on Amazon?

www.britishpathe.com/asset/58976/

I love bookstore staff picks. When it's THE BIG HOP it's even nicer. Unabridged Bookstore, Chicago:

"A harrowing story of bravery, adventure, the pioneering spirit, and triumph over adversity. Great for Erik Larson fans, Owen recommends!"

Thanks Owen 🙏

www.unabridgedbookstore.com/book/9781324...

A little roundup of today.

Don’t think I’ve ever walked anything like the Waskerley Way - barren and ominous, but my god is it absolutely stunning. If you have even a fleeting interest in railways and love walking/cycling, get over and do the 12 miles. You will not regret

The Big Hop: The First Nonstop Flight Across the Atlantic Ocean and Into the Future | Bookreporter.com In 1919, in Newfoundland, four teams of aviators came from Britain to compete in “the Big Hop”: an audacious race to be the first to fly, nonstop, across the Atlantic Ocean. One pair of competitors wa...

I'm so sorry to be spamming you with all this, but another review just came in for The Big Hop, and it made me blush...

"The Big Hop may be the finest aviation history you ever get to read"

It's a really lovely review...

www.bookreporter.com/reviews/the-...

Fred Raynham, a Suffolk farmers' boy, escaped the agricultural depression, moved to Brooklands, and learned to fly at 17. He became one of Britain's most accomplished aviators. Hear his story—and many others—in THE BIG HOP.

davidrooney.uk/the-big-hop

Image: Library of Congress