%0 Photo %A Independent Newspapers (Firm) %D 1927 %T [Fokker monoplane, the "Princess Xenia" at Baldonnel. Plane on ground, pilot in cockpit.] %U http://www.nli.ie/digital/vtls000249857.jpg %X Captain Robert McIntosh and Irish Air Corps Commandant James Fitzmaurice attempted an east-west crossing of the Atlantic by air in The Princess Xenia (a Fokker Vila monoplane). A big crowd gathered to witness the take off from Baldonnel Aerodrome on 16 September 1927. Because of bad weather, the flight was aborted when the Xenia was about 300 miles out over the Atlantic. The flight lasted five and a half hours.