One day last week, a sleek, black-and-grey light bomber took off from Alder-grove airbase in Northern Ireland and streaked westward, outrunning the thunder of its twin jets. Soaring to 41,000 ft., the R.A.F.'s Canberra raced the sun above it. Four hours and 40 minutes later, it skimmed down to Newfoundland's Gander field. The sun had made the swing in only 3½ hours. But the Canberra, averaging 445 m.p.h., had made the fastest Atlantic crossing ever, the hard way30 minutes faster than a Mosquito bomber's five hours and ten minutes made from west to...
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