9:45am | The U.S. Postal Service will issue a special pictorial postmark honoring the 100th anniversary of the first transcontinental flight across America in conjunction the ceremony mentioned below on December 10.
The special postmark, entitled “The First Flight Across America,” debuts at the 1:00pm ceremony to be held this upcoming Saturday at the International Center Theatre at the Long Beach Convention Center. The postmark will be applied free of charge to any item bearing applicable First-Class postage. It will be available to collectors for 30 days at the Long Beach Post Office, 300 Long Beach Boulevard, and also by mail order.
November 23, 2:10pm | The City of Long Beach is poised to keep a promise it made after Calbraith “Cal” Perry Rodgers landed his plane on the beach near Linden Avenue 100 years ago.
Cal Rodgers was the first to fly across the entirety of the United States. His aim was a $50,000 offered by newspaper magnate WIlliam Randolph Hearst — but the catch was that Rodgers had to do it in 30 days or less. Even after he knew he would lose the prize, he continued his effort.
Rodgers took off from Sheepshead Bay, New York on September 17, 1911. After 84 days, 70 landings, and 16 crashes before he completed his journey here in Long Beach on December 10, 1911. on a beach off of Linden Avenue and Seaside Way. Afterwards, about $50 was raised to keep a marker for the sake of history — but one was never made.
On December 10 at 1:00pm., at Long Beach Convention Center’s International Center Theater, city officials and other dignitaries will unveil a plaque and a one-third scale replica of the Wright Brothers’ EX-1 airplane Rodgers flew on that historic journey. The replica will proudly hang from the ceiling of the lobby of the Long Beach Arena, less than 900 yards from where Rogers landed.
The unveiling of the replica and plaque will feature a number of speakers, including the Regional Administrator of the FAA and Jim Lloyd, who built a replica of the “Vin Fiz” — the name provided to Rodgers’s plane — and re-enacted the journey for the 75th Anniversary of the First Transcontinental Flight, in 1986. Lloyd will talk about what he experienced flying the same route.
The public is invited to attend the event.