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Calbraith Perry Rodgers Jr.
Calbraith Perry Rodgers Jr.
	Rodgers in 1911
Born	January 12, 1879; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	April 3, 1912 (aged 33); Long Beach, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Aircrash
Resting place	Allegheny Cemetery
Occupation	Aviator
Years active	1911-1912
Era	Pioneer Era
Known for	49th licensed aviator in the world, completed the world’s first transcontinental flight
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Spouse	Mabel Avis Graves Rodgers
Parent(s)	Calbraith Perry Rodgers Sr. and Maria Chambers
Relatives	Oliver Hazard Perry ; Matthew Calbraith Perry

Calbraith Perry Rodgers Jr. (January 12, 1879 – April 3, 1912) was an American aviation pioneer. He made the first transcontinental airplane flight across the U.S. from September 17, 1911, to November 5, 1911, with dozens of stops, both intentional and accidental. The feat made him a national celebrity, but he was killed in a crash a few months later at an exhibition in California.

Early life

Rodgers was born on January 12, 1879, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Calbraith Perry Rodgers and Maria Chambers Rodgers. His father, an Army captain, died on August 23, 1878, prior to his birth. Among his ancestors, Rodgers had Commodores John Rodgers, who was his paternal grandfather, Oliver Hazard Perry, his maternal great-grandfather, and Matthew Calbraith Perry, his great-grand uncle.^[1] He was a cousin to John Rodgers, a naval aviation pioneer who would become known for setting the record of longest non-stop flight by seaplane of 1992 miles (3206 km) on an attempt to fly from San Francisco to Honolulu in 1925.

In 1885, Rodgers contracted scarlet fever, which left him deaf in one ear and hearing impaired in the other,^[2] which effectively barred him from following the family tradition of naval service. He received his education first at home and then at the Mercersburg Academy. In 1902, Rodgers joined his mother and sister in New York City. He became a member of the New York Yacht Club, and besides boating he rode motorcycles and drove cars. In 1906 he married Mabel Avis Graves; they had no children. The Rodgers resided in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Aviation

In June 1911, Rodgers visited his cousin John, a naval aviator, who since March was studying at the Wright Company factory and attending flying school in Dayton, Ohio.^[3] Rodgers became interested in aviation. He received 90 minutes of flying lessons from Orville Wright, and purchased a Wright Flyer with John.^[4] On August 7, 1911, he took his official flying examination at Huffman Prairie and became the 49th aviator licensed to fly by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.^[5] He was one of the first civilians to purchase an airplane.

Instead of flying home, Rodgers entered the 1911 Chicago International Aviation Meet, where he competed with the leading aviators of the time. He set several records, including the duration record, and won $11,285 in prize money.^[4] At over 200 pounds and at a height of 6 ft, 4 inches, Rodgers also was considered the world's "largest" aviator at the time.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Cross-country flight

On October 10, 1910, publisher William Randolph Hearst offered the Hearst prize, US$50,000 to the first aviator to fly coast to coast, in either direction, in less than 30 days from start to finish. Rodgers persuaded J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Company, to sponsor the flight, and in return he named the plane, a Wright Model EX, after Armour's grape soft drink Vin Fiz.^[5] A special train of three cars, including sleeper, diner, and shop-on-wheels full of spare parts, was assembled to follow Rodgers, who planned to fly above the railroad tracks.^[4] A competitor, James J. Ward, was also departing from New York in a Curtiss Pusher. He crashed and dropped out before he left New York state.

Rodgers left from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911, at 4:30 pm. He reached Chicago, the only required stop, on October 8, 1911. His arrival to Chicago attracted national attention.^[4]

To avoid the Rocky Mountains, he took a southerly route, flying through the Midwest until reaching Texas. He turned west after passing San Antonio. On November 5, 1911, he landed at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, at 4:04 pm in front of 20,000 people, missing the prize deadline by 19 days.^[3] He left Pasadena on November 12, but crashed at Compton. After the Vin Fiz was repaired, on December 10, 1911, he reached Long Beach, California, flew some time above the Pacific Ocean, landed on a beach and taxied the plane into the ocean. About 50,000 people came to witness the completion of the first transcontinental east–west flight.^[4]

Rodgers had carried the first transcontinental U.S. Mail pouch. The trip required 70 stops and endured countless crashes and aircraft malfunctions. Rodgers paid $70 a week to the Wright brothers' technician, Charlie Taylor, who followed the Vin Fiz by train and performed necessary maintenance or repairs.^[9]^[10] The next transcontinental flight was made by Robert G. Fowler.^{[citation needed]}

Death

On April 3, 1912, while making an exhibition flight over Long Beach, California, he flew into a flock of birds, causing the plane to crash into the ocean. His neck was broken and his thorax damaged by the engine of the airplane. He died a few moments later, a few hundred feet from where the Vin Fiz ended its transcontinental flight.^[11] The aircraft in this last flight was the spare Model B he had carried in the special train during the transcontinental flight, rather than the Vin Fiz. The Vin Fiz itself was later given to the Smithsonian Institution by Calbraith's widow, Mabel Rodgers, and is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum.^[12] According to contemporary records, his was the 127th airplane fatality since aviation began, and he was the 22nd American aviator to die in an accident.^[13] He was also the first pilot who fatally crashed as a result of a bird strike.^[14]

Rodgers was interred at Allegheny Cemetery in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

Rodgers was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1964.^[15]

References

^ Patrick Clark Rodgers, Calbraith Perry ^{[dead link‍]}, Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Pennsylvania State University, Spring 2010.
^ About DPA Archived November 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Deaf Pilots Association. Retrieved November 13, 2016
^ ^a ^b "Pittsburgh Aviator Calbraith Perry Rodgers". Heinz History Center. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Charlie Wentz. Who Was Calbraith P. Rodgers? Archived December 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, American Philatelist, November 2011.
^ ^a ^b Eckland, K. O. "The Epic Flight of the Vin Fiz Flyer". Aerofiles. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
^ "He Was the First to Fly Across America. But Crashed 8 Times Along the Way". HistoryNet. November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
^ "Eastern Aviator Largest Known". Newspapers.com. Springfield News-Sun. July 3, 1911. Retrieved November 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ The billboard (July 1911). Cincinnati: The Billboard Publishing Co. July 1911.
^ Strother, French (January 1912). "Flying Across The Continent: C. P. Rodgers And The First Aerial Trans-Continental Trip". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XXIII: 339–345. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
^ Strother, French (February 1912). "Flying Across The Continent: C. P. Rodgers And The First Aerial Trans-Continental Trip: Rodger's Trip From Kansas City To Pasadena". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XXIII: 399–408. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
^ "C. P. Rodgers' Aero Plunges Into Surf at Long Beach. Hundreds See Tragedy. Hero of First Transcontinental Flight Victim of His Own Daring. When Lifted From Wrecked Machine His Neck Is Found to Be Broken. Birdman's Home in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Cousin of Lieut. Rodgers in Navy's Aerial Corps. Victim Author of Theory of 'Etherial Asphyxia.'". The Washington Post. April 4, 1912. Calbraith P. Rodgers, the first man to cross the American continent in an aeroplane, was killed here instantly late today, when his biplane, in which he had been soaring over the ocean, fell from a height of 200 feet and buried him in the wreck. His neck was broken and his body mangled by the engine of his machine.
^ Vin Fiz at NASM https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/wright-ex-vin-fiz Archived December 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Aviator C.P. Rodgers Almost Instantly Killed. His Biplane Falls Distance of 200 Feet", Daily Times, Chattanooga, Tennessee, April 4, 1912
^ Thorpe, John (2003). "Fatalities and destroyed civil aircraft due to bird strikes, 1912-2002" (PDF). International Bird Strike Committee, IBSC 26 Warsaw. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
^ "Enshrinee Cal Rodgers". nationalaviation.org. National Aviation Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 28, 2023.