More about transatlantic cats

In 2010 (PJ, 23 October 2010, p490) I wrote about Kiddo, the intrepid cat that attempted to cross the Atlantic by airship a century ago. But Kiddo was not the only feline to feature among the pioneers of transatlantic flight.

A few years later, on 14–15 June 1919, two cats took part in the first ever non-stop transatlantic crossing in a heavier-than-air machine, accompanying Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown on their 17-hour journey from Newfoundland to Ireland. The flight covered 1,880 miles, which at that time was the longest distance ever flown by a plane.

Alcock, the pilot, was an Englishman who had recently left the Royal Air Force to become a test pilot for Vickers. Brown, the navigator, was a Scottish-born American citizen who had enlisted in the RAF during the 1914–18 war and was still a serving officer.

The two black cats they took with them were identical cuddly toys, given to them as mascots by Brown’s fiancée. Alcock named his cat Lucky Jim and Brown called his Twinkletoes (or maybe Twinkletoe or Twinkle Toes — sources differ).

The cats were not the only lucky charms carried on the flight. Brown’s wallet contained a tiny silk US flag, also a gift from his fiancée, and Alcock took a piece of “British bunting”, which he knotted about Lucky Jim’s neck. Under Alcock’s seat was a horseshoe and in his pocket was another lucky charm, a tiny silver kewpie doll. And hung in his cockpit were little rag dolls named Ran-Tan-Tan and Olivette.

Oddly, although most of the aviators’ lucky mascots had names, the Vickers Vimy biplane on which they all depended was not given a name and did not even bear identification marks.

Happily, Lucky Jim and Twinkletoes survived the plane’s ignominious landing in an Irish bog. Both are now living out their retirement in England. Lucky Jim is in the Museum of Science & Industry in Alcock’s home town of Manchester, while Twinkletoes is at the RAF Museum, Cosford.