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Historic marker commemorates first transcontinental flight in 1911

| 15 Jul 2013 | 03:03
    Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt recently joined residents and local officials at the unveiling of a historic marker on Dolson Avenue in Middletown to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Vin Fiz Flyer, the first successful transcontinental flight across the United States. The plane departed from Sheepshead Bay on Sept. 17, 1911; later that day a crowd of 9,000 greeted pilot Cal Rogers at the former Pleasure Grounds Race Track in Middletown. Pictured from right to left are: Assemblywoman Rabbitt, event organizers and Warwick residents Linda and Ed Dubin, Warwick Town Justice Peter Barlett and David Hoovler, the Republican candidate for Orange County District Attorney.
    Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt recently joined residents and local officials at the unveiling of a historic marker on Dolson Avenue in Middletown to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Vin Fiz Flyer, the first successful transcontinental flight across the United States. The plane departed from Sheepshead Bay on Sept. 17, 1911; later that day a crowd of 9,000 greeted pilot Cal Rogers at the former Pleasure Grounds Race Track in Middletown. Pictured from right to left are: Assemblywoman Rabbitt, event organizers and Warwick residents Linda and Ed Dubin, Warwick Town Justice Peter Barlett and David Hoovler, the Republican candidate for Orange County District Attorney.
    The Vin Fiz Fyler was an early Wright Brothers Model EX pusher biplane that in 1911 because the first aircrafts to fly across the continental United States. It took 49 days for pilot Cal Rogers to fly from Sheepshead Bay in New York to Pasadena in California.
    The Vin Fiz Fyler was an early Wright Brothers Model EX pusher biplane that in 1911 because the first aircrafts to fly across the continental United States. It took 49 days for pilot Cal Rogers to fly from Sheepshead Bay in New York to Pasadena in California.

MIDDLETOWN — The first place pilot Cal Rogers landed his Vin Fiz Flyer en route to completing the first successful transcontinental flight in 1911 was at the Pleasure Grounds Race Track in Middletown, where Rogers was greeted by a crowd of 9,000.

Thanks to the efforts of Warwick residents Linda and Ed Dubin, a historic marker was recently placed at the site of the former race track on Dolson Avenue in Middletown.

“Linda and Ed Dubin are really the ones to be thanked and commended for documenting this historic event and providing the community with an ever-lasting reminder of this triumphant moment in our local and national history,” Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt said in a press release announcing the marker’s placement. “I am proud to serve our community and am lucky to have the pleasure to get to know citizens like the Dubins and acknowledge their efforts to improve all of our quality of life. Thank you.”

Piloted by daredevil Cal Rogers, the plane departed from Sheepshead Bay on Sept. 17, 1911, and puddle-jumped across the country for 49 days before landing in Pasadena in California on Nov. 5, 1911. Total air time was 82 hours and 4 minutes. The flight was marked by a series of expensive mishaps perhaps due, in part, to Roger’s inexperience (he only had a total of 60 hours of flying experience when he set out on the journey).

By the completion of the journey, Rogers had suffered multiple personal injuries, including a broken leg and being hit by shrapnel from the plane’s motor when it blew a cylinder.

However, with national media and 20,000 people gathered at the flight’s final landing site in California, Rogers was a national celebrity by the time the historic journey concluded.

Celebrations across the nation were held, especially in the towns where he had landed. Despite the cost and hardships of the journey, Rogers’ historic accomplishment was not diminished and he earned a place in Dayton’s Aviation Hall of Fame.

Rogers died just four months later, on April 3, 1912, when a seagull struck the Vin Fiz and caused a fatal crash.