Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the First Flight Across America
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew a grape-soda-sponsored Wright biplane from Brooklyn to Long Beach in 84 days, becoming the first pilot to cross the United States by air.
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Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, Fort Myer, and the September Seventeen Crash That Cost Aviation Its First Life in Powered Flight
On September 17, 1908, Lt. Thomas Selfridge became aviation's first powered-flight fatality - and his role in early aviation was far larger than most history books acknowledge.
TaildraggerCal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Forty-Nine Days It Took to Cross America
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew a 35-horsepower biplane from Brooklyn to California in 49 days, proving a coast-to-coast crossing was possible despite 15 crashes and no navigation aids.
TaildraggerCal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine Days It Took to Fly Across America When Nobody Had Ever Done It
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast to coast in 49 days - the first flight across America - despite dozens of crashes.
TaildraggerOtto Lilienthal, the Glider King of Berlin, and the Man Who Jumped Off a Hill Two Thousand Times So the Wright Brothers Wouldn't Have To
How German engineer Otto Lilienthal proved human flight was possible - and gave his data away so the Wright brothers could finish the job.
TaildraggerCal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Eighty-Four-Day Crawl Across America That Only Counted as a Race Because a Man Refused to Quit
In 1911 Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast to coast in 84 days, becoming the first person to cross America by air despite missing the prize.
TaildraggerCal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, the Grape-Soda Biplane That Crossed America in Eighty-Four Days and Arrived Held Together by Almost Nothing
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz biplane across America in 84 days, crashing dozens of times to become the first to cross the continent by air.
TaildraggerOtto Lilienthal, the Flying Man of Berlin Who Jumped Off a Hill Two Thousand Times to Prove the Air Would Hold You Up
Otto Lilienthal made over 2,000 glider flights in the 1890s, proving human flight was possible and inspiring the Wright brothers.
TaildraggerCal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine-Day Wreck of a Crawl Across America to Win a Prize He Never Collected
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast-to-coast in 49 days - the first flight across America, achieved after the prize was already lost.
TaildraggerThe Fort Myer Trials, the Wright Military Flyer, and the Summer the U.S. Army Finally Bought an Airplane
In August 1909 the U.S. Army bought its first airplane, the Wright Military Flyer, for $30,000 after the deadly Fort Myer trials.
TaildraggerThe Wright Brothers, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, and the Six-Second Grocery-Store Photograph That Almost Never Got Taken
How two Ohio bicycle makers solved control - not power - to achieve the first flight at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903.
TaildraggerFirst Flight Airport at Kitty Hawk and the runway that ends where the Wright Brothers began
First Flight Airport (KFFA) at Kitty Hawk lets pilots land and walk to the exact spot where powered flight began in 1903.
RampWilbur Wright and the day aviation lost its quiet genius on May thirtieth, nineteen twelve
Wilbur Wright, the quiet genius behind powered flight, died of typhoid fever on May 30, 1912, at just forty-five years old.
TaildraggerCharlie Furnas and the first airplane passenger who climbed aboard at Kill Devil Hills on May fourteenth, nineteen oh eight
On May 14, 1908, mechanic Charlie Furnas became the first airplane passenger in America at Kill Devil Hills, NC.
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