Swatch of original fabric from the transcontinental flight of the Wright Model Ex "Vin Fiz," mounted to a c. 1970s poster from the National Air and Space Museum. Swatch approx. 2 x 2 in., poster approx. 15 x 20 in.

WITH a 3-page document on National Air and Space Museum letterhead detailing the history of the flight.

"The 'Vin Fiz' made the first U.S. transcontinental flight in 1911 taking off from Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, New York on September 17 and landing in Pasadena, California on November 5. Calbraith Perry Rodgers covered the 6958 kilometers (4321 miles) in 82 and 2 minutes flying time at an average speed of 84 kilometers per hour (52 miles per hour) with seventy landings en route. The 'Vin Fiz' is part of the Collection of the National Air and Space Museum."

Named for the Armour Company's grape soda that Rodgers (1879-1912) promoted along the way, the "Vin Fiz" that reached California retained only the vertical rudder and two wing struts from the plane that left NewYork. The Model Ex experienced engine malfunctions, landed 70 times, and, on one occasion, struck an eagle midair. Despite the relatively short amount of time spent airborne, the voyage took nearly three months. Rodgers, a graduate of the Wright Flying School in Dayton, Ohio, was the named the furthest-flown man in the world when the "Vin Fiz" reached Kansas City.

The National Air and Space museum acquired the "Vin Fiz" from the Carnegie museum in 1934. Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the flight in 1960, the museum recovered the plane, and the covering that was on the "Vin Fiz" at the end of the 1911 voyage would be cut into swatches and sold by the museum alongside relic posters of the Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago," the Curtiss NC-4, the Fokker T-2, and the Fokker D-VIII. 

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