Clifden welcomes a new role model in the history of flying

For the second time in a century, the bogs around Clifden, Co Galway, have found themselves on the receiving end of a piece of aviation history.

There was nobody on board the plane this time and the landing was a lot smoother. But, like Alcock and Brown's famous flight in 1919, the latest arrival in Clifden's airspace has won a place in the record books.

It started last Saturday in St John's, Newfoundland, when model aircraft enthusiast Maynard Hill (77) oversaw the launch of his 5kg aeroplane, the Spirit of Butts Farm.

Guided over the horizon by radio, it was then switched to auto-pilot. After that, it was up to satellite guidance, tail winds, and 108 fluid ounces of fuel to get it to Europe. Several previous attempts have failed.

Unlike Alcock and Brown, Hill and his team were aiming for Clifden, and had even chosen a landing site half a mile from where the 1919 plane crash-landed.

A reception team led by Hill's friend, Dave Brown, was in north Connemara on Monday afternoon to "pilot" the model in.

The plane had enough fuel for 37 hours of flight. But it had been in the air for 38.5 when it finally appeared over the horizon and an excited Brown took over the controls. Four minutes later, Brown's wife, Sally, delivered live commentary by satellite phone to Hill that the Spirit of Butts Farm was down in one piece.

As well as a transatlantic first, the flight smashed the world model plane records for both flight distance and duration.