Signal Tribune Newspaper

From left, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, LGB Director Mario Rodriguez and 5th District Councilmember Gerrie Schipske with a replica of the Vin Fiz

Stephanie Raygoza
Staff Writer

Eighty-four days, 70 landings, 16 crashes, and 4,321 miles in the Wright Model EX-1 airplane are what it took for Calbraith “Cal” Perry Rodgers to complete the first US transcontinental flight from Sheepshead Bay, New York to its final landing on the beach here near Linden Avenue.
The story of Rodgers and the Vin Fiz has been circulating throughout Long Beach and the aviation industry since 1911. As retold by 5th District Councilmember Gerrie Schipske, after Rodgers’s historic landing that day, city residents promised to raise funds to pay for a plaque and marker to commemorate the event.
One-hundred years later and under the guidance of Schipske, the City of Long Beach is finally fulfilling its promise and is set to unveil a plaque and plane replica on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1pm at the Long Beach Convention Center’s International Center Theater in dedication of the transcontinental centennial.
“This is a real milestone for California and certainly Long Beach,” said Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster. “This is a city that has a rich history in aviation, and we’re going to continue that.”
A private preview event to Saturday’s unveiling was held at the Long Beach Airport (LGB) on Dec. 6 with several city leaders and airport executives in attendance including: Schipske, the transcontinental centennial committee chair; Foster; Long Beach Airport Director Mario Rodriguez; Rob Land, JetBlue senior vice president and associate general counsel; and Steve Goodling, CEO and president of the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tuesday’s showcase included a viewing of the Cal Rodgers decal emblazoned on the side of a JetBlue airliner, a sneak-peek look at the one-third scale replica of the airplane Rodgers flew on a quest for a $50,000 prize offered by William Randolph Hearst and a brief press conference during which city officials spoke of the flight’s significance and how it has come to shape Long Beach’s many advances in aviation.
“It’s [about] recognizing the connection between the fact that JetBlue flies from New York to Long Beach and back, and what an improvement we have seen in flights since 1911,” Schipske said. She also presented Land with a miniature replica of the Vin Fiz as a thank-you for the airport’s partnership with the yearlong commemoration.
Rodgers embarked on his journey on Sept. 17, 1911 on the now famous plane named after the Armour and Co.’s new grade soda– Vin Fiz. Although he was disqualified from receiving the grand prize because he surpassed the 30-day timeframe, he persevered and finished the journey he started anyway.
After achieving his famed flight, Rodgers returned to Long Beach to start a business that provided rides in his planes to residents and tourists over Long Beach and its beaches. His untimely death came four months after his transcontinental flight when his plane crashed in the same area where he had first eased his plane into the water.
The event on Saturday will continue to celebrate his legacy with a number of scheduled speakers, including William Withycombe, the regional administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and Jim Lloyd, who built the replica of the Vin Fiz and re-enacted the journey for the 75th anniversary of the flight in 1986. The reception and dedication will be open to the public with free admission and prize giveaways. Along with unveiling the replica constructed by Arizona Aircraft Replicas, LLC to be hung from the ceiling of the Long Beach Arena, the program will also present the winners of the “We Can Soar” essay contest.
JetBlue has chosen to continue the celebration with the announcement made Tuesday of its $100 fares each way between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LGB. Flights are available for purchase exclusively on jetblue.com for Tuesday and Wednesday travel between Jan. 10 and Jan. 31, 2012.
“Over the last year JetBlue has been honored to be a partner in this 100-year anniversary celebration,” Land said. “We look at today as much as a celebration of Long Beach’s rich aviation history since that first landing a hundred years ago as it is about any individual aviator or his aircraft.”
Attendees are encouraged to visit vinfizlongbeach.com to RSVP or to obtain additional information on the centennial anniversary.