Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1911-09-08
NAVYS BIRD MAN
Lieut.. John Rogers U. S. N. Flies
From Naval Academy to Wash
ington Thence Col
lege Park
GREAT FEAT In AVIATION
Has Trouble With Adverse Winds But
Makes Trip Without Mishap
Congratulated By Sec
tretary of Navy

After making a preliminary flight
around Annapolis, from the Naval
Academy, and the trial trip being sue
cessful, and weather conditions ideal,
Lieutenant Rodgers decided to take
the biplane to Washington. In his
flight he circled the State House and
went up the Severn river then crossed
the northern and western boundary of
Annapolis.
Lieut.. John Rodgers, of the Navy.
son of Rear Admiral Rodgers, retired,
of Havre de Grace, Md, yesterday
flew in Wright aeroplane from An
napolis to Washington, paid his re-
spects to naval officials there and sailed
to the Army aviation field at Cole ge
Park, Md, where he housed his ma
chine for the night.
The flight was the most successful
cross-country effort yet made by an
officer of the Navy or Army, and Lieu
tenant Rodgers was congratulated
warmly and is regarded as one of the
most promising aviators in the SER
vice.
Lieutenant Rodgers left Annapolis
at $40 o'clock yesterday afternoon in
a Wright machine and made for Col
lege Park. Between Annapolis and
College Park, while sailing along at
5000 feet in the air, his barogragh
showed he struck severe windstorrn,
and the frail air craft was buffeted
about by the winds for 20 minutes. 1t
was all the officer could do to keep
from being thrown from the seat of
the machine, and had it not been for
the fact that he kept cool head he
would probably have been dashed to
the earth and instantly killed.
AS it was, the machine at times
stood at an angle of nearly 60 de-
grees, and farmers who witnessed the
performance marveled. When the
wind ceased, the machine righted it.
self from what might have been call
ed the trough of the air and then
sped onward. The aviator passed
over College Park and the army men
stationed there were at loss to ex-
plain the strange aeroplane.
The trip to Washington was made
in one hour and twenty minutes and
Lieutenant Rodgers arrived over the
city when the streets were crowded
with shoppers and government clerks,
just released from their offices. All
traffic was stopped as the aviator
sailed overhead. He circled the
downtown section of the city several
times, executing that dangerous de-
scent known as the spiral dip. The
crowd in the streets held its breath
and wondered at the exhibition. FL
nally the sky pilot came down to
about 500 feet above the ground and
then he circled the Washington Monu-
ment, flew out over Pennsylvania ave-
nue. and then back to the Mall, where
he alighted.
Several thousand persons rushed to
the Mall and the police department
was called upon to keep the crowd in
check. After replenishing his supply
of gasoline and oil, the airman climb
ed into his machine and started to go
up. Just then Captain Chambers, in
charge of the aeronautical department
of the Navy, appeared upon the scene
and congratulated Lieutenant Rodg-
ers, who, by the way, was dressed in
an immaculate white suit, a white
golf cap and white shoes and socks.
Captain Chambers received an invi-
tation to go to College Park in the ma
chine, but he declined. Then Lieu
tenant Rodgers left the grounds and
after circling the downtown section,
again struck out across the city and
the country beyond for College Park.
Instead of coming back to Annapo-
lis, however, he went to College Park,
where he put his navy Wright ma
chine up for the night. The craft
will be left there until next week, by
which time the aero station and flying
field at the Experimental Station, just
across the Severn river from the Ma
val Academy, are expected to be
ready.
The flight was the first ever made
from the new school of aviation, to
Washington, and in fact it is the first
fight ever made by naval officer to
amount to anything. He said he flew
over Washington ''just to see what il
looked like from high up in the air."
With characteristic modesty he was
not prone to talk about his achieve
met, but in response to questions he
said he judged his average altitude
was about 1000 feet. After passing
the War College he headed direct fol
the Washington Monument and ap-
peared no larger than a show box to
the spectators below when he flew
over the apex of the great shaft at ar
elevation four times its height.
Then he volplaned down, and after
circling the monument several times
spun over toward the War Department
Building. He was looking for Cap.
tain Chambers, who is in general
charge of aeroRautics and when be
had notified by telephone just prior
to his departure from Annapolis fol
Washington. I.
Lieutenant Ellyson, the Navy:
first aviator, slid down $50 feet on :
wire cable at Hammonds Port, N. Y.
yesterday in his hydroplane from /.
| platform 20 feet high, ssand leaving th,