Robert G. Fowler

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Robert G. Fowler (1884 – June 15, 1966) was an early aviation pioneer and was one of the first people to fly transcontinental.

Aero, America's Aviation Weekly wrote on September 16, 1911:

Ocean-to-Ocean Race Begins. San Francisco, California, September 11, 1911 (by telegraph) Robert G. Fowler left the stadium in Golden Gate Park this afternoon on the initial stage of his journey from ocean to ocean for the $50,000 Hearst prize. Word has been received late this evening that he finally came to a stop at Auburn, California, with 128 miles to his credit for his first day's flight, with a total flying time of 2 hours and 41 minutes. Fowler is driving a Wright biplane equipped with a Cole automobile motor. He made his start from here, cheered by a large crowd at 1:35 this afternoon and headed his biplane northeast over Oakland and the Sacramento valley. He reached Sacramento at 3:33, making the trip of 75 miles in 1 hour and 58 minutes. There, after a brief meeting with the governor, Hiram W. Johnson, he mounted to his seat and drove off again toward the distant gap in the snow line of the Sierras through which he hopes to pass. He departed from Sacramento at 5:55, James Rolph, Jr., of the San Francisco Merchants' Exchange; C.C. Moore, president of the Pacific International Exposition, and Frank L. Brown were the official starters at San Francisco. As his provisional schedule reads tonight he will make stops at Elko, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Granger and Cheyenne, Wyoming; North Platte and Omaha, Nebraska; Rock Island, Chicago, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Albany and New York City. He will follow the tracks of the South and Northwestern Railroad into Chicago. He is accompanied by a special train, which carried a full staff of mechanics and extra parts for three machines. As Fowler came into Sacramento and alighted on the fair grounds he was cheered by a crowd larger than had ever gathered in the state capital before. His mechanicians had fairly to fight their way through it to reach the machine for the necessary grooming after the first stage of his journey. When the aviator met the governor he asked him if he had any message for the governor of New York. "You are the best message California can send," replied Johnson.

[edit] External link

• Early Aviators: Robert Fowler

[edit] References

• New York Times; June 16, 1966 Robert G. Fowler, Aviator, 81, Dead; Pilot Flew Biplane From West to East Coast in 1911. San Jose, California, June 15, 1966 (Associated Press) Robert G. Fowler, an aviator who flew a biplane from California to Florida in 1911, collapsed and died, apparently of a heart attack, at his home today. He was 81 years old.