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August 16, 2019 5 mins

On this day in 1927, an air race sponsored by James D. Dole and marked by tragedy began. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio hi um Eve's Welcome to This Day in
History Class, a show that reveals a little bit more
about history day by day. Today is augusteen. The day

(00:24):
was August six, nineteen, a flying competition organized by James D. Dole,
founder of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, began. Pilots entered the
competition in the hopes of winning the prize money and
a little fame, but the Doll Air Race, as it
was known, began and ended in tragedy. The nineteen twenties

(00:49):
were still the early days of airplane aviation. Navigation was
a rudimentary and safety standards were nowhere near where they
are today. People had already completed non stop cross ocean flights.
In May of ninete, just three months before the Dole
Air Race, Charles Lindbergh took the first solo NonStop transatlantic

(01:13):
flight from New York to Paris. Driven by Limburgh's accomplishment,
James D. Dole set up an air race for pilots
to fly from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. He offered
twenty five thousand dollars to the pilot who made it
Their first and ten thousand dollars to the person who
came in second place. Not long after Dole offered the

(01:36):
prizes for the trip, two Army pilots successfully foot from
Oakland to Oahu, but Dole's prize for making the trip
from Oakland to Honolulu still stood. Thirty three people entered
the competition and fourteen entrants were chosen for starting positions
after inspections. The competition, though, was off to a bad

(01:59):
start even before the air race was scheduled to take place.
Lieutenants George Walter, Daniel Kobo, and Richard Stokely Wagner left
North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego on August
ten headed for Oakland Field. Less than fifteen minutes later,
they ran into heavy fog and crashed into cliffs. Both

(02:22):
of the officers died. British aviator Arthur Vickers was out
for a test fight when his plane crashed not long
after takeoff from Montebello, California. On August eleven, another airplane
called Miss Dorin had to make an emergency landing after
having engine trouble, and the Pride of Los Angeles, on

(02:44):
his way to Oakland, crashed into the San Francisco Bay.
The people and those two airplanes were not hurt. By
August six, eight planes and fifteen competitors were left in
the running. That morning, they all lined up ready for
takeoff in front of a crowd of around a hundred
thousand people. Their starting positions were selected by a random draw.

(03:08):
The Oklahoma was the first plane to take off, but
it soon had engine trouble and its flight had to
be aborted. L in Conto did not even make it
to take off. The PEPCOD Flyer crashed on takeoff after
lifting into the air briefly, only to crash again after
a second attempt. Nobody on board these planes were hurt.

(03:31):
The Golden Eagle took off without issue. The airplane Miss
Dorn took off, returned after engine trouble, and later took
off again successfully. Dallas Spirit, carrying pilot William Portwood Irwin
and navigator Alvin Hanford I Walt took off but returned
to Oakland soon after. The planes Aloha and wool Rock

(03:55):
took off without a hitch. Only two planes made it
to Hawaii, a low haw and will Rock. Wool Rock
arrived after a twenty six hour and seventeen minute flight,
and Aloha made it after twenty eight hours in sixteen minutes.
The other two that took off successfully, Golden Eagle and
MS Dorin, disappeared and their crew were never found. Irwin

(04:19):
and ike Walt repaired their plane, Dallas Spirit, and went
to assist in the search for the disappeared planes. They
also disappeared and were never heard from again. Four competitors
had completed the race, but ten people had died. The
first trans Pacific flight was completed in nineteen and Clyde

(04:41):
Pangborn and Hugh Herndon flew the first NonStop trans specific
flight in nineteen thirty one. I'm Eves Jeffcote and hopefully
you know a little more about history today than you
did yesterday. And if you'd like to follow us on
social media, you can find us at t D I
h C podcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Tune in

(05:04):
tomorrow for Another Day in History. For more podcasts from
My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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