day, too late to be dropped off. R.34 left East Fortune, Scotland, on 2 July 1919 and arrived at Mineola, Long Island, United States, on 6 July after a flight of 108 hours with virtually no fuel left. As the landing party had no experience of handling large rigid airships, Major E. M. Pritchard jumped by parachute and so became the first person to reach American soil by air from Europe. This was the first East-West aerial crossing of the Atlantic and was achieved weeks after the first transatlantic aeroplane flight by British aviators Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown in a modified First World War Vickers Vimy. The return journey to RNAS Pulham took place from 10 to 13 July and took 75 hours. Returned to East Fortune for a refit, R.34 then flew to Howden, East Yorkshire, for crew training. On 27 January 1921 R.34 set off on what should have been a routine exercise. Over the North Sea the weather worsened and a recall signal sent by radio was not received. Following a navigational error the craft flew into a hillside on the North Yorkshire Moors during the night, and the ship lost two propellers. She went back out to sea using the two remaining engines and in daylight followed the Humber Estuary back to Howden. Strong winds made it impossible to get her back into the shed, and she was tied down outside for the night. By the morning further damage had occurred and R.34 was written off and scrapped. Operators Royal Navy (to 1918) Royal Air Force (from 1918) Specifications See also Walter Wellman Notes Bibliography Abbott, Patrick. Airship the Story of R.34 and the First East-West Crossing of the Atlantic By Air. Encore Editions, 1977. . Griehl, Manfred and Dressel, Joachim. Zeppelin! The German Airship Story. London, Arms and Armour Press, 1990. . Higham, Robin. The British Rigid Airship 1908–1931. Henley-on-Thames: Foulis, 1961. Maitland, E.M. The Log of HMA R34 - Journey to America and Back. Centenary Edition, Pennoyer Centre, 2019. . Mowthorpe, Ces. Battlebags: British Airships of the First World War. 1995. . Rosie, George. Flight of the Titan: The Story of the R34. Birlinn Ltd, 2010. . Venty, Arthur Frederick and Eugene M. Kolesnik. Airship Saga: The History of Airships Seen Through the Eyes of the Men Who Designed, Built, and Flew Them. Poole, Dorset, UK: Blandford Press, 1982. .