Aviation
The Azores’ location in the middle of the Atlantic was, in several ways, a boon for world progress. Here, the history of intercontinental aviation found an excellent stopover point, especially in Horta Bay, due to these facts: its geographical location, being sheltered, and having access to communications via the submarine cables.
The 1st aerial crossing of the North Atlantic with a stopover in Horta took place on May 17, 1919, by the grounding of the fragile NC4 Seaplane of the US Navy, commanded by Captain Albert C. Read.
These attempts to cross the Atlantic continued throughout the 20s and 30s, some turning out to be unsuccessful, others becoming famous in the history of “the conquest of the air”, such as the flight of the well-known Dornier DO-X, with 12 engines and weighing 30 tons, passing through Horta in May 1932.
On the 8th of August 1933, nine planes from the Italian Italo Balbo’s squadron landed in Horta Bay, where they were received by the locals with pomp and circumstance. They had never witnessed anything like it.
On November 21, 1933, Charles Lindbergh and his wife landed in Horta in the Lockheed Sirius seaplane, built expressly for a trip with the purpose of studying potential new airline routes, in the service of Pan America. Consequently, Horta became part of the intercontinental route between America and Europe. At first, this route was only used for mail transport, but on November 28, 1939, the first scheduled transatlantic passenger flight was registered, marking the beginning of commercial aviation in the North Atlantic.
In the following years up until the end of World War II, in 1945, Horta Bay grew into a busy airport, with the presence of clippers from Pan America, Lufthansa, Air France, and Imperial Airways (later becoming British Airways).
The provided comfort and safety led to an increase in the demand of commercial aviation. Famous politicians and artists have stopped by Horta, being welcomed by the community of Faial, which rejoiced in greeting them. Additionally, commercial aviation granted the people from Faial the opportunity to travel considerably faster to both continents.
The Airport of Faial would be inaugurated twenty-six years later, on August 24, 1971.