Calbraith rodgers biography template
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Learning Center Our Enshrinees
- Enshrined: 1964
- Birth: January 12, 1879
- Death: April 3, 1912
Calbraith “Cal” Rodgers
- Participated in the first aerial photography of industrial plants.
- Won the $11,000 World’s Grand Endurance Aviation Contest in Chicago staying in the air for 27 hours at intervals over a period of nine days in 1911.
- Demonstrated the airplane’s potential for long distance travel and air commerce.
- Established the feasibility of transcontinental airmail service after a 49 day trip across the United States. Though his aircraft, a Wright biplane nicknamed the Vin Fiz after his sponsor’s new soft drink, crashed multiple times, he was dubbed “King of the Air” for his perseverance.
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- Enshrined: 1964
- Birth: January 12, 1879
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On 12th January 1879, American aviation pioneer, Calbraith Perry Rodgers, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Calbraith Perry Rodgers was born into a well-known family of naval commanders. Among his ancestors were Commodore John Rodgers (born 1772, grandfather), Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (great-grandfather) and Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry (great granduncle). His close relatives included Rear Admiral John Rodgers (born 1812), Vice Admiral William Ledyard Rodgers and Commander John Rodgers (born 1881).
Despite having so many senior naval officers among his ancestors, Calbraith Perry Rodgers could not continue the family tradition. At age of six, he contracted a scarlet fever that resulted in partial deafness. Nevertheless, in the coming years Calbraith became a member of the New York Yacht Club and was interested in various motorsports. In 1911, Calbraith followed his cousin John Rodgers (born 1881), who just became the first Navy officer assigned to aviation progr
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Blog
Once called the “King of the Air,” pioneering pilot Cal Rodgers is best known for completing the first 4,000+ mile transcontinental flight across the U.S. in 1911.
Born to a family of distinguished naval heroes, Calbraith (Cal) Perry Rodgers was expected to follow suit. But due to a severe childhood illness that left Rodgers almost entirely deaf, he was prevented from joining the Navy. So, he switched gears and took to the skies instead.
In 1911, Rodgers was introduced to his first aircraft at the Wright Flying School in Dayton, Ohio, where he took flying lessons from Orville Wright. In his early days as a pilot, he participated in the first aerial photography of industrial factories. Then, in August 1911, he won an $11,000 prize for staying airborne for a total of 27 hours over a period of nine days.
At the time, famed publisher William Randolph Hearst offered a $50,000 prize for any pilot who could make a U.S. transcontinental flight in thirty days or less, a feat never