A train full of mechanics, tools and spare parts followed Cal Rodgers across the United States in 1911. The airplane carried the name of a grape drink; the journey carried the hopes of a new industry.
These period photographs and one contemporary advertisement put the railway carriage and repair work beside the famous arrival at Pasadena. November 5 marks that arrival. Rodgers reached the Pacific at Long Beach on December 10.
Topic: Aviation History
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A soft drink pays for the flight
This 1912 advertisement celebrates a journey financed by the Armour Company. The name of its grape drink appeared on the aircraft and the support train. Published after the flight, the poster turns months of mechanical trouble into a compact commercial triumph.
Public domain in the United States: published before 1931. Creator and publication information retained from the archival record. Original scan, without restoration or colorization.
Unknown artist; published by Armour and Company / Armour and Company advertisement, 1912 · Public domain
02 / 06
Leaving New York
The small aircraft is barely more than a mark above the city in this photograph published in The World’s Work. Rodgers departed from Sheepshead Bay on September 17, 1911. At that stage the thirty-day prize deadline still seemed achievable.
Public domain in the United States: published before 1931. Creator and publication information retained from the archival record. Original scan, without restoration or colorization.
Unknown photographer / The World’s Work, volume 23, 1911–1912 · Public domain
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The workshop on rails
The Vin Fiz Special carried the repair equipment, parts and people that kept the expedition moving. This carriage could serve as a workshop and transport for the airplane. Its advertising makes the sponsor as visible on the ground as it was in the sky.
Public domain in the United States: published before 1931. Creator and publication information retained from the archival record. Original scan, without restoration or colorization.
Unknown photographer / The World’s Work, volume 23, 1911–1912 · Public domain
04 / 06
Damage at Spofford
A crowd gathers beside the damaged airplane at Spofford, Texas. The photograph makes the fragility of the Wright EX difficult to miss. Rodgers survived repeated accidents because a support crew could repair or replace what broke; each recovery also consumed time.
Public domain in the United States: published before 1931. Creator and publication information retained from the archival record. Original scan, without restoration or colorization.
Unknown photographer / The World’s Work, volume 23, 1911–1912 · Public domain
05 / 06
An engine in the desert
Men work around the engine in an open landscape. The original published caption identifies the activity as rebuilding in the desert but gives no precise location or day. These improvised working conditions were part of the crossing, not an interruption outside its history.
Public domain in the United States: published before 1931. Creator and publication information retained from the archival record. Original scan, without restoration or colorization.
Unknown photographer / The World’s Work, volume 23, 1911–1912 · Public domain
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A drink after Pasadena
Rodgers, still wearing his flying goggles, accepts a drink after reaching Pasadena. The photograph was published with a caption identifying the arrival. His exhausted-looking face belongs to a man who had missed the prize deadline and nonetheless completed a flight no one had made before.
Public domain in the United States: published before 1931. Creator and publication information retained from the archival record. Original scan, without restoration or colorization.
