Learning Center Our Enshrinees

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.