King of the Air

The Rollicking True Story of the First Man to fly across the U.S. in an Airplane

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In 1911, only 8 years after the Wright brothers astounded the world by flying 123 feet, Cal Rodgers took up the challenge to fly over 3000 miles - in a contest sponsored by William Randolph Hearst. The Wright brothers, who built his plane, warned him that after about 1000 miles the state-of-the-art wood and linen craft would shake itself apart. But Cal was stubborn, so he got the brothers to loan him their master mechanician, convinced the meat-mogul J. Ogden Armour to sponsor him, and then took off from Long Island, New York in an aeroplane named after a carbonated grape drink that Armour wanted to promote called "Vin Fiz". A custom train accompanied Cal cross-country, equipped with a machine shop (and spare parts), a garage (and Palmer-Singer touring coach), plus sleeping space for Cal, his wife, his mother and a ground crew (Cal couldn't fly at night). 84 days later, Cal was given a hero's welcome by 50,000 people in Long Beach, California - after crashing 15 times (though the exact number is subject to both folklore and the distinction between rough landings and uncontrolled wrecks). The venture today seems comedic given the crass commercialism, the time and expense, the hardship and all the crashes - but in his day Cal was a sensation, the first pioneer aviator, going where no man had gone before.