STEVE FOSSETT, the American adventurer, has completed his journey across the Atlantic in a replica of a First World War Vickers Vimy biplane — a shorter trip than his usual round-the-world exploits.

With Mark Rebholz, his co-pilot and a captain with United Airlines, Mr Fossett was recreating the first non-stop Atlantic flight that took place in 1919. They took off at 10.52pm on Saturday and completed the journey to land at on a golf course at Clifden, Co Galway, Ireland, in under 19 hours, one hour less than the original. The organisers said that the wood and canvas biplane landed ”without a wobble” on the 8th fairway of the Connemara Championship Golf Links at 5.04pm yesterday. The two were recreating the feat of John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, two British pilots.

Escorted by the Irish Air Corps, Mr Fossett and his co-pilot circled the golf course in Co Galway for nearly half an hour before landing to cheers from hundreds of spectators. They had navigated their way across the Atlantic using only a sextant and compass, the instruments available to Alcock and Brown.Last March MrFossett made the first solo non-stop round-the-world aircraft flight; in 2002 he made the first solo round-the-world balloon flight.

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