Transcontinental flight across the United States
In the United States the term Transcontinental flight is travelling by air coast-to-coast over the continental United States.
History
The first transcontinental flight across the United States was made by Calbraith Perry Rodgers to win the Hearst prize offered by publisher William Randolph Hearst. He offered a $US 50,000 prize to the first aviator to fly coast to coast, in either direction, in less than 30 days from start to finish. Rodgers persuaded J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Company, to sponsor the flight, and in return he named the plane after Armour's grape soft drink "Vin Fiz".
Previous attempts was made by Henry Atwood and by James J. Ward. Rodgers left from Sheepshead Bay, New York on September 17, 1911 at 4:30 pm. He crossed the Rocky Mountains on November 5, 1911 and landed at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California at 4:04, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people. He had missed the prize deadline by 19 days. On December 10, 1911 he landed at Long Beach, California and symbolically taxied his plane into the Pacific Ocean. He had carried the first transcontinental mail pouch and was accompanied on the ground by a support crew that repaired and rebuilt the plane after each crash landing. The trip required 70 stops. His flight was followed by Robert George Fowler
Timeline
- 1911 James J. Ward, failed attempt [1]
- 1911 Henry Atwood, failed attempt
- 1911 Calbraith Perry Rodgers start: September 17, 1911 at 4:30 pm; finish: December 10, 1911 [2]
- 1912 (circa) Robert George Fowler
- 1930 Frank Hawks in April
- 1933 First through airline flights for passengers (i.e. no overnight stops, no change of plane)
- 1934 First three-stop airline flights (TWA DC-2s)
- 1946 First one-stop airline flights (United DC-4s, TWA Constellations)
- 1953 First sustained nonstop airline flights (TWA may have flown some LA-NY nonstops in 1947)
- 1957 then-Major John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC, on 16 July
See also
References
- ^ "Flier, Seeking to Reach San Francisco, Lands at Calicoon Late in the Afternoon". New York Times. September 15, 1911. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10C1FFA3A5517738DDDAC0994D1405B818DF1D3. Retrieved 2010-11-25. "James J. Ward, who left New York for San Francisco Wednesday, flying for the W.R. Hearst $50,000 prize for a transcontinental flight, reached Callicoon, N.Y., a few miles from here, at 4:35 o'clock this afternoon. He covered 59 1-10 miles in 57 minutes, having left Middletown, N.Y., at 3:38 o'clock."
- ^ "C. P. Rodgers' Aero Plunges Into Surf at Long Beach. Hundreds See Tragedy. Hero of First Transcontinental Flight Victim of His Own Daring. When Lifted From Wrecked Machine His Neck Is Found to Be Broken. Birdman's Home in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Cousin of Lieut. Rodgers in Navy's Aerial Corps. Victim Author of Theory of 'Etherial Asphyxia.'". Washington Post. April 4, 1912. "Long Beach, California, April 3, 1912. Calbraith P. Rodgers, the first man to cross the American continent in an aeroplane, was killed here almost instantly late today, when his biplane, in which he had been soaring over the ocean, fell from a height of 200 feet and buried him in the wreck. His neck was broken and his body mangled by the engine of his machine."