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( Transatlantic)
The term transatlantic refers to something occurring all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Most often, this refers to the exchange of passengers, cargo, information, or communication between North America and Europe. Transatlantic flight would eventually surpass ocean liners as the predominant mode of crossing the Atlantic by the late 20th century. In 1919, the American NC-4 became the first airplane to cross the Atlantic (but in multiple stages). Later that year, a British Vickers Vimy piloted by Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland. In 1921, the British were the first to cross the Atlantic in an airship. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight in an airplane (between New York City and Paris). The second solo piloting, and the first to carry a passenger, was Clarence Duncan Chamberlin on June 6, 1927. Edward R. Armstrong proposed a string of anchored "seadromes" to refuel planes in a crossing. The first serious attempt to take a share of the transatlantic passenger market away from the ocean liners was undertaken by Germany. In the 1930s, Germany crossed the Atlantic with Zeppelins that could carry about 60 passengers in relatively the same luxurious style as the ocean liners. However, the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 put an end to transatlantic Zeppelin flights. Beginning in the 1950s, the glory and predominance of ocean liners began to wane when larger and larger passenger airplanes began whisking passengers across the ocean in less and less time. The speed of crossing the ocean became more popular than the style of crossing it. By the 1970s, supersonic Concorde airplanes could cross the Atlantic in under four hours and only one ocean liner remained on the transatlantic route for those who favored the slower style of travel. Marconi initiated the first commercial shortwave transatlantic radio communication between the UK to Canada using his "Beam Wireless Service" which into commercial operation on 25 October, 1926. Shortwave radio vastly increased the speed and capacity of transatlantic communications at dramatically reduced cost compared to telegraph cable and long wave radio.
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