Galin Hernandez, LtCol, USAFR (ret)

Puerto Rico 1911 - 1929

The Beginning of Aviation in

Updated: 01/22/2016

The first documented flight of an airplane in Puerto Rico, "Baldwin Red Devil aircraft", occurred in the area known as Miramar with

George Schmitt at the controls .* It was part of an exhibition tour that included Tod Schriver, JC “Bud” Mars and Peter McLaughlin. It is not

certain which flight that day the photo on the postcard shows.

December 1, 1911 1st Flight

* “Conquistadors of the Sky”: Dan Hagedorn

http://sfpr.freeforums.eu/t73-inicios-del-correo-aereo-en-el-caribe-y-puerto-rico

• http://sfpr.freeforums.eu/t73-inicios-del-correo-aereo-en-el-caribe-y-puerto-rico

Translation: This is the field of aviation, it was

taken while the airship was operating. 12-1-11.

Sent by “Zoilo” to Ms.

Gertrudis Murias Castropal

of Asturias, Spain

December 1, 1911 Reverse side of the post card

Post Cards December, 1911

Dated Decemebr 22, 1911.

On the back was written: "Dear Father,

this is the machine that flew over the San

Juan fair."

www.archivofotograficodepuertorico.com

Undated Postcard

George Schmitt 1890 - 1913

George Schmitt was born in Rutland Vermont in 1890 and learned to fly gliders by himself in 1909, by launching them from the roof of his house. While working

with Glen Curtis in 1910 he met Schriver and Mars and decided to tour the world giving flight exhibitions.

http://earlyaviators.com/eschmitt.htm

Baldwin Red Devil

Jane's All The World Aircraft 1913 /Jane's/ http://www.pioneeraeroplanes.com/3bald.html

A "Baldwin Red Devil" which is part of the aircraft on display at the National Air & Space Museum,

the "Smithsonian". This plane is currently in the Dulles Airport terminal (KIAD).

Tod Shriver 1873 - 1911

Photo of Shriver taken in August 1911 in the Baldwin Red Devil

Shriver and Schmitt as they debarked from the boat that brought them

to San Juan during November 1911.

http://www.earlyaviators.com/eshrive5.htm

After the first flights in San Juan, they took the airplane to

Ponce, Puerto Rico by boat to participate in the Ponce Fair.

Tod Shriver, together with his

companions, visiting the

workshops of the "Puerto

Rico Illustrator”

newspaper, before heading

out to Ponce.

Photo of Tod Shriver flying over the Ponce P.R. race track moments before

crashing and dying. This was the first plane crash and death in Puerto Rico.

Ponce, Puerto Rico December 3, 1911

http://www.earlyaviators.com/eshrive5.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=sQRVSVR1fLsC&pg=PR19&lpg=PR19&dq=tod+schriver&source=bl&ots=YI9cAswPUl&sig=rHj6LYv4dGKphWjfkJTcPg7DWgA&hl=en&ei=C1O7TvP2O4i42QXgwqCeBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA YEAR-BOOK: 1913

Pittsburgh Post Gazette December 4, 1911

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1126&dat19111204&id=tTkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W2YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3642,2596809

Other Flights After 1911

George Schmitt and Peter McLaughlin returned to Puerto Rico in the

spring of 1912 with another Red Devil airplane but with a more

powerful engine. After Puerto Rico they toured the West Indies and

South America giving more flight exhibitions. After this, there isn’t much

documented air activity within Puerto Rico until January 1914 when the

newly formed U.S. Marine Corps aviation unit arrived into Culebra P.R.

A Stevens-Brown Airship about to land at San

Juan Fair – Postcard mailed Mar 5, 1913

View of San Juan Fair Grounds & Airplane in

Flight – Postcard mailed May 2, 1914.

Culebra, P.R. 1914

Photo of the U.S. Marine Corps aviation unit during January and

February1914 with a Curtiss C-3 flying boat in Culebra P.R. These

maneuvers are considered one of the most historic and critical ones

demonstrating the utility of Naval aviation in war.

Naval Aviation News, May-June, 1985

Felix Rigau Carrera The “Eagle from Sabana Grande”

1884 - 1954

1st Puerto Rican Parachutist (1914) 1st Puerto Rican Pilot

Father of Puerto Rican Aviation (1919)

http://nbclatino.com/2012/07/04/celebrating-our-heroes-felix-rigau-carrera-the-first-puerto-rican-fighter-pilot/

First metal hull flying boat (Morro Castle II). The

initial test flight was from New York to Puerto

Rico between January and February 1924.

Aeromarine Service. In January 1923 the

airplane "Morro Castle" was sent

to Puerto Rico, to explore routes for

flights there and in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Aeromarine Service sought to expand

in the Caribbean and set up routes as

Pan American Airlines did several

years later.

1st International Flights 1923 - 1924

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aerompha.htm#morro

Airmail 1925

In 1925 the U.S. Navy dirigible ”Los Angeles” flew

from Lakehurst, New Jersey to Puerto Rico. This is

considered the first airmail into Puerto Rico. The

airship arrived on May 3rd to the town of

Mayagüez where it docked with the mother ship "Patoka".

http://sfpr.freeforums.eu/t73-inicios-del-correo-aereo-en-el-caribe-y-puerto-rico

December 13, 1927 1st regularly scheduled

international airline service

While Pan American was getting under

way in the United States, a small company

in the Dominican Republic, West Indian

Aerial Express (W.I.A.X.) opened its first

service from Santo Domingo-San Juan,

and San Juan-Port-au-Prince, on

December 13, 1927. Pan American

purchased W.I.A.X. on October 16, 1928

Waco 9S Fairchild FC2 “La Nina”

Keystone Pathfinder “Santa Maria”

Letter flown

by Capt. B.L. Rowe on the

inaugural W.I.A.X. flight http://www.dot.state.mn.us/aero/aved/museum/aviation_firsts/puertorico.html

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4431622854_515e87c6b6.jpg

Charles Lindbergh February 2, 1928

Charles Lindbergh arriving in to the ”Escambron”

area of San Juan from St. Thomas U.S.V.I.

flying the Spirit of St. Louis. He was exploring air

routes in the Caribbean and South America for

Pan American Airlines.

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Isla Grande Airport 1929

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The first civilian airport in Puerto Rico, Isla Grande

Airport, was built by Pan American Airlines in 1929. It is

now called Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci airport (TJIG).

Galin Hernandez, LtCol, USAFR (ret)

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned

skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return”

-Leonardo Da Vinci.