Naval crew sailed their plane for portion of historic flight

Naval Commander John Rodgers was the first to attempt a nonstop flight from California to Hawaii 86 years ago this week. It was an attempt to show how far naval aviation had come, but things did not go as planned.

The five-man crew left San Francisco in a seaplane on Aug. 31, 1925. Anticipated tradewinds failed to materialize, and they ran out of fuel 450 miles east of Oahu. The seaplane landed in rough waters and waited for prearranged supply ships to find them.

Then they discovered that the radio transmitter needed the propellers to spin to generate electricity. They could receive but not send messages. As a result, the supply ships never found them.

Rodgers and his crew were naval personnel. They realized they could take the fabric off the wings and build a sail between the engines. The rudder of the plane was used to steer toward Hawaii. It worked. The sail billowed and caught the wind.

Then a new problem hit. They had very little food or water. After four days they ran out. On the seventh day they took down the sail in a squall and used it to catch three quarts of water. After sailing the plane for nine days, they were found 15 miles off Nawiliwili, Kauai, by a submarine searching for them.

The fliers were welcomed as heroes. Rodgers handed territorial Gov. Wallace Rider Farrington a letter — the first ever to arrive in Hawaii by air — a bit soggy.

Rodgers was killed in a plane crash in August 1926. Honolulu opened its first full airport in March of 1927 and named it for the man who flew and then sailed his airplane to Hawaii. Twenty years later, in 1947, it was renamed Honolulu International Airport. The John Rodgers Terminal building was dedicated in 1962.

Bob Sigall, author of "The Companies We Keep" books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.