Jetrader - Winter 2014 - 44

aviation history

The pineapple derby
By Jack Feir, Administrative Director, ISTAT Appraisers' Program

The Stage is Set
It was the summer of 1927. In May,
Charles Lindbergh had won the Orteig
Prize for being the first to fly nonstop from
New York to Paris, and the world became
crazy in love with aviators and their flying
machines. A few days later, James D. Dole,
of Hawaiian pineapple plantation fame,
hatched a publicity campaign to offer
a prize for the first flight from the U.S.
mainland to Hawaii. It would be good for
business. What could possibly go wrong?
A lot, as it happened.
As plans evolved, and to avoid a pellmell rush to be first, the prize of $25,000
would be for the fastest flight from Oakland,
California, to Honolulu, a distance of about
2,400 miles, and the flights must take place
on the official race day, set for 12 August
(later changed to 16 August). Second place
would win $10,000. Since no aircraft had yet
flown from the mainland to Hawaii, there
was also the promise of fame and glory
to the first aircraft to make the crossing,
but the cash prizes would go to the two with
the shortest times on race day. Technically,

the event was the Dole Air Derby, but the
press called it the Pineapple Derby.

second to successfully fly from the mainland to Hawaii.

Jumping the Gun

Back to the Main Event

It always seems that someone jumps the
gun. In fact, between Dole's announcement
of the competition and the planned official
start in August, two aircraft crossed the
Pacific to Hawaii, thus being first and second, and stealing the "fame and glory" part
of the Dole prize. Army Lieutenants Lester
Maitland and Albert Heggenberger crossed
first with a modified Army Fokker Trimotor
named Bird of Paradise, departing Oakland
on 28 June and arriving the next day at
Wheeler Army Airfield on Oahu.
Ten days later, civilians Ernie Smith and
Emory Bronte departed from Oakland in
a single-engine Beech Travel Air named
City of Oakland. Nearly out of fuel, they
crash-landed on Molokai island. It wasn't
Honolulu, but at least it was Hawaii.
Neither Bird of Paradise nor City of
Oakland qualified for the Dole prize because
they had departed before the official race
day. Nevertheless, they were the first and

Plans for the Dole Air Derby went forward, with 15 competitors expected, but
this was whittled down to 13 when two
pilots were unable to get their airplanes
ready in time. Then the carnage began.
Maybe the number 13 really does foretell bad luck. Two Navy lieutenants had
drawn race position 13 for their Tremaine
Humming Bird monoplane named The Spirit
of John Rodgers. They took off on 10 August
from the North Island Navy Base near San
Diego to ferry the aircraft to Oakland.
The aircraft barely staggered into the air
after a takeoff run of more than a mile.
Seemingly unable to climb, it flew into a
fog bank and soon plowed into the face of
a vertical cliff near Point Loma. The wreckage tumbled to the bottom of the cliff, and
the two men were consumed in the fire
that followed.
The next day, a Bryant monoplane Angel
of Los Angeles took off from Montebello,
California, for a test flight before a planned
departure for Oakland. As it returned to
land, the aircraft suddenly dove into the
ground. The pilot bailed out, but there was
no time for his parachute to open. His wife
watched him fall to his death.
That same day, a large, ungainly, twinengine Catron & Fisk triplane named Pride
of Los Angeles left Long Beach but crashed
into San Francisco Bay while attempting
to land at Oakland. The three men aboard
survived and swam ashore.
Although the race had not even started
yet, three aircraft had already crashed and
three men had lost their lives. It was an
inauspicious beginning.

U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker C-2 Trimotor Bird of Paradise, the first aircraft to fly from the U.S.
mainland to Hawaii, shown arriving at Wheeler Field near Honolulu on 29 June 1927, after a flight
of 25 hours and 50 minutes, from Oakland, California, about six weeks before the Dole Air Derby.
Public domain image from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
44 The official publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

And They're Off!
By the scheduled race day on 16 August,
the field had narrowed down to eight

Jetrader - Winter 2014

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