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On Oct. 25, 1911, Bob Fowler became the first pilot to fly an airplane into Arizona when he landed in Yuma. There had been airplanes in Arizona before, even airshows, but those airplanes had all ridden into Arizona by train. Fowler’s aircraft was the first to be flown into the state. To forewarn citizens of the Arizona Territory of the auspicious occasion, as Fowler flew over the Imperial Junction waterworks all the fire whistles went off at once. Around 2,000 spectators quickly gathered. Soon the airplane was spotted as a small speck over Pilot’s Knob, the speck slowly grew to the size of a bird and then larger as the airplane approached the Yuma ballpark. Madelie Spain who witnessed the event wrote, “We had been waiting for days and the birdman’s arrival was real exciting.” The crowd watched breathlessly as the airplane swept in a wide graceful turn and came to a gentle rolling stop in the outfield grass.
TheYuma Sunmentioned that when Fowler took off the next day his airplane barely cleared the fence at the end of the 400-foot runway. Fowler had flown the first airplane into Arizona as part of an exciting cross continent race. The American newspaper owned by William Randolph Hearst offered $30,000 to any man who could fly coast to coast across the United States within 30 consecutive days. Contestants were allowed to pick their own route. Fowler’s excursion into Arizona was part of this race. Fowler was barely the first. Only six days later, the second airplane to fly into Arizona entered on the New Mexico side before landing in Wilcox.
This second aircraft was piloted by Cal Rodgers and he too was part of Hearst’s transcontinental air race. Rodger’s full name was Calbraith Perry Rodgers. He was the great grandson of Commodore Matthew Perry and his father was Captain C.P. Rodgers who had been killed during Arizona’s Indian wars. Cal had taken up flying earlier in 1911 and after an hour and a half of dual instruction he took his first solo flight at the fabled Wright School of flying. Orville Wright considered him to be an extraordinary pupil. Rodgers had entered the race by taking off from Sheepshead, New York on Sept. 11. The early aviation pioneers often guided themselves by following railroad lines. An earlier contestant had gotten lost in the maze of railroad yards in New York and to prevent this from happening to him Rodgers had placed streamers along the tracks for his airplane to follow. Rodgers had a tremendous first day, covering 104 miles before reaching Middleton, New York. Leaving from Middelton the next morning was a bit tougher. On takeoff he snagged the top of a tree, landed in a chicken yard and accidentally killed six birds. It would take Rodgers three weeks to reach Chicago.
On Halloween, 1911, Cal Rodgers became the second “birdman” to pilot an airplane into the Arizona Territory. In the meantime, people speculated whether Fowler would dare the flight from Yuma to Tucson in one day. Fowler made the attempt and a crowd had gathered at the landing site at the University of Arizona. Fowler had nearly made a successful landing when his tiny airplane was caught up in a dust devil. During a rough landing Bob Fowler ended up slightly impaled on a chicken wire fence with his legs sticking through. Fowler was fine but repairs on the airplane took several days. While he was waiting for his plane to be repaired Fowler was able to greet Rodgers as he flew into Tucson. A huge crowd had gathered at the University and watched Rodgers perform dives, climbs, dips and turns to entertain the crowd. The size of the crowd worried Rodgers who felt he did not have enough room to set down safely. Instead he landed the plane at Ninth and Fairmont. Fowler and Rodgers greeted each other enthusiastically. The two pilots parted ways and resumed their journeys. Both men completed their cross continent journeys (the only pilots in the race who did so) but neither did it in the required 30 days. Hearst’s money was safe. Orville Wright held a press conference and scolded the two pilots for their reckless endeavor. Orville said, “The aeorplane is not yet ready for such an undertaking.”
Aviatrix Katherine Stinson was a national celebrity in her day. A pianist, she had originally undertaken flying hoping to earn enough money to pay for music lessons. She soon discovered that she enjoyed flying so much she abandoned her music career. Petite and young she became known as The Flying Schoolgirl. She became the country’s first sworn female air carrier and in November of 1915 delivered the first airmail to Arizona, dropping mail pouches in a vacant lot across the street from the Tucson post office while crowds cheered.
In September of 1923, Tucson opened the largest municipally owned airport in the United States. It was named Davis – Monthan. Aviation hero Charles Lindbergh agreed to attend the dedication. A large rotating beacon to help guide planes into the airport was named “The Lindy Light” and over 600 medallions were sold to help defray the cost of the opening ceremonies. When Lindbergh’s plane, The Spirit of St. Louis touched down, its celebrity pilot was met by local dignitaries and guided to a life sized cacti replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, built by local florist Hal Burns. The cacti replica had a fuselage and wings built of ocotillo sticks, a nose and engine cylinders made of barrel cactus, and a propeller made of prickly pear. As Lindbergh approached the cactus airplane he is reported to have quipped. “Surely you don’t want me to get into that.”
Originally intended for both civilian and military flights, the large number of military flights caused Davis-Monthan to eventually be designated solely as a military base and a new municipal airport was built.
Gary Every is an award winning author who has won consecutive Arizona Newspaper Awards for best lifestyle feature for pieces “The Apache Naichee Ceremony” and “Losing Geronimo’s Language”. The best of the first decade of his newspaper columns for The Oracle newspaper were compiled by Ellie Mattausch into a book titled Shadow of the OhshaD. Mr. Every has also been a four time finalist for the Rhysling Award for years best science fiction poetry. Mr. Every is the author of ten books and his books such as Shadow of the Ohshad or the steampunk thriller The Saint and The Robot are available either through Amazon or www.garyevery.com.
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