Pilots, Planes and Pioneers

Home    History Wing    Adventure Wing    Exhibits & Programs    Company Store    Information Desk



Entrance 

History Wing 

A History    
of the Airplane 

  Up       

The Century    
Before 

  The Decade    
After
 

    Pilots,    
Planes    
and Pioneers 

(You are here.)      

Who Was First? 

Down      

The First    
Airplane    
Passenger  

The Tale of    
The Vin Fiz 

The Wright/     Smithsonian    
Controversy 

               

Need to    

find your    

 bearings?    

Try these    
navigation aids:    

 Site Map 

Museum Index 

Search    
the Museum
 

 If this is your first    
visit, please stop by:     

About    
the Museum
 

Something to share?     
 Please:     

Contact Us 

             

  Available in Française, Español, Português, Deutsch, Россию, 中文, 日本, and others.

hile the Wright brothers may have been the first to make a sustained, controlled flight, they were just two among hundreds of brave men and women who helped to give the world its wings during the earliest days of aviation. Their Flyer was but one of many historically important aircraft. Below are brief descriptions and photos of some of the most important people and planes, and where available resources and links where you can find more information. In some cases, contributors have supplied expanded histories and biographies. Those are listed at the right and linked below.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

 
 
Richard Rathbun of Washington, DC was the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of Office and Exchanges. It was his responsibility to answer correspondence concerning Secretary Samuel Langley's activities in aeronautics, and it was Rathbun who answered Wilbur Wright's request for aeronautical information in 1899. Rathbun sent Wright several pamphlets and reprints from scientific journals, along with a reading list. It was the standard answer for such requests. Rathbun himself was a geologist and paleontologist with an in-depth knowledge of marine invertebrates, both prehistoric and present. He also held an honorary title at the Smithsonian as a curator of the Department of Marine Invertebrates.
 

Richard Rathbun.

Wilbur Wright's letter of 30 May 1899 to the Smithsoniam requesting information on aeronautics.
Calbraith Rodgers learned to fly at the Wright Flying School in 1911 and a few months later flew a Wright Model Ex across the United States for Sheepshead Bay, New York, to Long Beach California in 84 days. Along the way he had many crashes both minor and major. Just ten miles short of his goal of Long Beach, he suffered an accident in which he broke his ankle and had to complete the flight in a cast with his crutches strapped to the airframe. The airplane, named the Vin Fiz for the soft drink company that sponsored his flight, fared no better. By the time Rodgers landed at Long Beach, the only original parts on the airplane was a strut, the rudder, and the oil drip pan. Everything else had been replace at least once. Nonetheless, it was the first transcontinental flight. 

For an expanded biography of Cal Rodgers and the full story of his transcontinental flight, see The Tale of the Vin Fiz.


Calbraith Perry Rodgers

Cal Rodgers with his Wright Model EX, the Vin Fiz, just before starting out to cross the United States.

Back to the top

Home    History Wing    Adventure Wing    Exhibits & Programs    Company Store    Information Desk

"Aviation is proof that – given the will – we can do the impossible."
 Eddie Rickenbacker

 

 

A History of the Airplane/Pilots, Planes and Pioneers R

Biographies of Aviation Pioneers

 

www.wright-brothers.org
Copyright © 1999-2014