WRIGHT
BROTHERS Aeroplane Company
| In
October 1910, publisher William Randolph Hearst, seeking to further the
cause of aviation and boost the circulation of his newspapers (not
necessarily in that order), offered a prize of $50,000 to the first
aviator to cross the United States in an airplane in under 30 days.
Experts had warned him that because aviation was in its infancy and the
airplanes fragile and unreliable, this was an absurd notion that would
bring nothing but ridicule. Hearst ignored them and went forward with the
offer. He was lauded for his vision and genius, and was awarded a medal
from the Aeronautical Society of America.
Several aviators announced their intentions to try for the prize, but only three made it to the starting line � Robert Fowler, Jimmy Ward, and Calbraith Perry Rodgers. Of these, Cal Rodgers was the last off the mark, leaving Sheepshead Bay on Long Island, New York late in the afternoon of on September 17, 191, just a few weeks before the Hearst offer was due to expire. Cal had secured financial backing from the Armour Meat-Packing Company who wanted to use the publicity that the transcontinental flight attracted to promote a new grape-flavored soft drink, "Vin Fiz." Consequently, Cal's aircraft was christened the Vin Fiz and a bottle of the drink was lashed to a front strut. Privately, he called the airplane "Betsy" and regarded the bottle as a powerful totem. The aircraft was a Wright Model EX, purchased from the Wright Company of Dayton, Ohio, the aircraft manufacturing firm that had been founded by the Wright brothers just two years earlier. At the time, it was one of the sturdiest, fastest, and most advanced airplanes made, capable of flying for over two hours at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. Wilbur and Orville Wright had designed it specifically for exhibition flying (hence the designation "EX"), where they knew the pilots were likely to push the limits of their airplane. And this is precisely what Cal Rodgers did, pushing the Vin Fiz to an endurance record far beyond anything she had been designed to take. |
Click on a
photo to enlarge it. Publisher William Randolph Hearst takes flight at the San Diego Air Meet in 1910 after pilot Louis Paulhan invited him to "buss the clouds."
|
 A Vin Fiz bottle. One newspaper along the route that reviewed the drink pronounced it "a fine blend of river water and horse slop." |
 Although his crew agreed "you had to sneak up on the stuff to get it down," Cal Rodgers flew with a bottle of Vin Fiz (circled) strapped to the airplane. He came to regard it as a good luck charm. |
 As he flew, Cal Rodgers would dutifully scatter these 3" by 4" bright yellow leaflets to the crowds that gathered to watch him. |
 The Armour Meat-Packing Company and its subsidiary Vin Fiz Bottling Company, capitalized on the publicity surrounding the transcontinental flight by printing posters and booklets. |
