In the summer of 1919, just weeks after the end of the First World War, a handful of airmen who had survived the skies over the Western Front signed up for what many believed was impossible: the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

The challenge came with a £10,000 prize from Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail and one of aviation's earliest and most relentless champions. Four teams of pilots, navigators, and aircraft manufacturers raced to Newfoundland to attempt the 2,000-mile crossing - knowing that failure meant almost certain death in the freezing Atlantic.

Hugh's guest is David Rooney, historian, former curator at the Science Museum in London, and author of The Big Hop: The First Non-Stop Flight Across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Future. David tells the story of the brave pioneers who made the crossing - a ...