CALTECH STUDENT HISTORY NOTES

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TRANSCONTINENTAL FLIGHT

(adapted from Coombs (1984))

Since Theodore von Karman joined the faculty in 1930, Caltech has played a substantial role in advancing our knowledge of aerodynamics and in paving the way for the development of the aircraft industry in the United States and the world. But long before this story began, the Institute had a brief but notable part in the birth of aviation in the country. In 1911 the publisher William Randolph Hearst offered a $50,000 prize to the first aviator who could fly coast to coast (in either direction) in less than 30 days. A young daredevil by the name of Calbraith Perry Rodgers, known as "Cal", persuaded J. Ogden Armour (of Armour and Company) to sponsor his attempt to win the prize (after two earlier attempts had failed); in return he named the plane the "Vin Fiz" after Armour's soft drink.

Cal Rodgers beginning first transcontinental airplane flight in Sep.1911.

Cal Rodgers prepares to take off.

Rodgers took off from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911, after only a few hours instruction in the "Wright Flyer" purchased from the pioneers. He carried the first airborne transcontinental mail pouch. He crossed the Rocky Mountains on November 5, 1911, and landed at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, at 4:04 pm, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people, many of who were presumably students from the nearby Throop Polytechical Institute. Unfortunately Rodgers missed the prize deadline by 19 days, mostly because of 70 stops along the way and because of the many crashes that required repairs to the plane. He had been accompanied by a ground support crew that repaired and rebuilt the plane after each crash landing.

He later headed south to Long Beach and symbolically taxied his plane into the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately he was killed several months later in a crash resulting from a bird strike.

Maybe some of the Caltech students who watched this remarkable accomplishment on Nov.5, 1911, were inspired to contribute to the nations aviation adventure in the years that followed. Certainly photographs of the exploit were found among von Karman's papers.

Cal Rodgers flying over Throop Hall and arriving at Tournament Park.

The "Vin Fiz" arrives at the Pacific Ocean.

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Last updated 4/10/04.

Christopher E. Brennen