Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Forty-Nine Days It Took to Cross a Continent

On September 17, 1911, Calbraith Perry Rodgers departed Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, in a fabric-and-wire biplane with roughly 60 hours of total flight time, no cockpit instruments, and no weather forecast. 84 days and approximately 4,300 miles later, he rolled the wheels of his aircraft into the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach, California. He did not win the prize that sent him west. He did something no one had ever done before.

What Was the State of Aviation in 1911?

The Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk less than eight years before Rodgers lifted off from Long Island. Eight years. There were perhaps a few hundred qualified pilots in the entire United States, no licensed airports, no organized airways, and no useful weather service. Navigation was performed visually, primarily by following railroad tracks - the tracks went where the trains went, and the trains went where the towns were, and towns meant open fields where an engine failure might not be fatal.

The airplane in 1911 was not a mature technology. It was an ongoing argument between what physics permitted and what men were willing to attempt.

Who Was Cal Rodgers?

Calbraith Perry Rodgers was 32 years old at the time of the crossing, six feet tall, and almost entirely deaf in both ears from childhood scarlet fever. His great-grandfather was Commodore Matthew Perry, the naval officer who opened Japan to Western trade in 1853. Cal came from a family comfortable with audacious undertakings.

He attended an air meet in 1910, caught the flying bug immediately, and went directly to Dayton, Ohio, to enroll at the Wright Brothers’ school at Huffman Prairie. He trained under Orville Wright himself. Total dual instruction before solo: approximately 90 minutes. That figure describes both the era’s standards and something particular about Rodgers.

What Was the Hearst Prize and Why Did Rodgers Enter?

Publisher William Randolph Hearst had announced a prize of $50,000 - roughly $1.5 million in today’s dollars - for the first aviator to cross the United States coast to coast in 30 days or less. The deadline was October 10, 1911. Most serious aviators who examined the proposition quietly declined. Rodgers signed up.

To fund the attempt, he struck a deal with the Armour and Company meatpacking firm of Chicago, which was launching a new grape-flavored soft drink called Vin Fiz. Rodgers would receive $5 per mile flown. In return, the drink’s name would appear on the aircraft. Armour would provide a specially outfitted support train to follow him across the country.

What Was the Vin Fiz Flyer?

The aircraft was a Wright Model EX - a purpose-built exhibition machine stripped for lightness. Its key specifications:

Wingspan: approximately 32 feet
Engine: four-cylinder Wright pusher, approximately 35 horsepower
Propellers: twin pushers, each roughly 8.5 feet in diameter
Top speed: approximately 55 mph - meaning a strong headwind could reduce ground speed to almost nothing
Instruments: a single oil pressure indicator

The pilot’s seat was a padded board bolted to the forward structure. There was no cockpit enclosure. A canard elevator extended in front; roll control came from a hip cradle that warped the wing trailing edges. The fuel tank was close enough to smell.

How Did Rodgers Navigate Across the Country?

Navigation relied on Sanborn railroad maps and reading water towers from the air - many towns had their names painted on the tanks for exactly this purpose. Rodgers carried the train schedule for the line below him, trying to stay close enough to his support train, the Vin Fiz Special, that it could reach him when something broke.

The Vin Fiz Special consisted of three cars: a Pullman sleeper for Rodgers and his wife Mabel, who made the entire crossing with him; a machine shop car where mechanics could rebuild components while the train was moving; and a flatcar loaded with spare parts - extra wings, struts, engines, propellers, and control surfaces. They were, in effect, carrying a second complete aircraft in pieces.

What Happened During the First Weeks of the Flight?

The first leg, from Sheepshead Bay to Middletown, New York, covered approximately 105 miles in roughly two and a half hours. Rodgers was already behind the pace required to win the prize.

Within the first week, the airplane was wrecked on September 19, two days after departure. He followed the wrong railroad and corrected from the air. Headwinds over the Appalachians slowed ground speed to what a fast horse might match. He wrecked the aircraft again near Salamanca, New York, and again outside of Chicago.

A rhythm established itself: fly until terrain or a mechanical failure ended the leg. Signal the Vin Fiz Special. Wait for the train. Let the mechanics work through the night rebuilding the machine by lamplight in coach yards and open fields. Get back in the seat.

Why Did Rodgers Continue After the Prize Deadline Passed?

October 10, 1911 arrived with Rodgers still in Texas. The Hearst prize was forfeit. The $50,000 he had set out to win was gone.

He loaded himself into the Vin Fiz, started the engine, and flew west.

Somewhere in Texas, Rodgers had broken his ankle. He did not mention it until he had no choice. He continued flying. The rational case for stopping was clear: the prize was gone, the machine had crashed more than a dozen times, and he had fractured bones. He flew anyway.

How Bad Was the Imperial Valley Crash?

In Imperial Valley, California, Rodgers came down hard enough to fracture his leg and be hospitalized. The people around the enterprise considered the attempt finished. He had given more than could reasonably be asked.

Three weeks later, he climbed back into the airplane.

How Much of the Original Aircraft Survived?

By the time Rodgers neared California, almost every structural component of the Vin Fiz had been replaced at least once. New wings. Rebuilt landing gear. Swapped engines. What remained of the aircraft that had lifted off from Long Island was, depending on how generously you counted, a few struts and portions of the vertical tail. It was, in some sense, a philosophical question whether this was still the Vin Fiz or an airplane that had simply inherited the name and the mission.

The mechanics called it whatever was still flying.

When Did Rodgers Reach the Pacific?

On November 5, 1911 - 49 days after leaving Long Island - Rodgers touched down in Pasadena, California. A crowd of several thousand watched him climb out of the seat, cigar still clamped in his teeth, walking with a permanent limp.

He was not finished. Pasadena is inland.

On December 10, 1911, Rodgers flew west from Pasadena to the coast. He put the Vin Fiz down on the beach at Long Beach, California. An estimated 50,000 people were waiting. When he rolled to a stop, the crowd rushed the aircraft and people began pulling off pieces for souvenirs.

Rodgers walked to the water and rolled the wheels of the Vin Fiz into the Pacific. The first aerial crossing of the American continent was complete: 84 days, roughly 4,300 miles, coast to coast.

No one had ever done it before. No one ever would for the first time again.

What Happened to Cal Rodgers After the Crossing?

On April 3, 1912 - four months after landing on the beach - Rodgers took the Vin Fiz up for an exhibition flight over Long Beach. The aircraft struck a flock of seagulls over the water. The birds entered the control surfaces. The aircraft went into the ocean.

Calbraith Perry Rodgers was 33 years old.

Where Is the Vin Fiz Flyer Today?

The Vin Fiz Flyer - or what remained of it after the crashes, repairs, and rebuilds - was eventually preserved and acquired by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. It hangs in the Early Flight gallery. Walk past the Wright Flyer. Keep going. Find it.

It is a small, delicate-looking thing. It crossed a continent.

Key Takeaways

Cal Rodgers completed the first transcontinental flight in American history on December 10, 1911, rolling the wheels of the Vin Fiz into the Pacific after 84 days and approximately 4,300 miles
He entered the attempt with roughly 60 hours of total flight time, trained in part under Orville Wright himself, with about 90 minutes of dual instruction before solo
The $50,000 Hearst Prize required a coast-to-coast crossing in 30 days or less; Rodgers forfeited it when he was still in Texas on the October 10, 1911 deadline - and flew on anyway
The Vin Fiz crashed more than a dozen times; nearly every structural component was replaced at least once during the journey
Rodgers was killed on April 3, 1912 - four months after reaching the Pacific - when his aircraft struck seagulls during an exhibition flight over Long Beach; he was 33 years old