Calbraith Perry Rodgers, a pioneering aviator, completed the first transcontinental flight across the United States, flying from Sheepshead Bay, New York, to Long Beach, California, in 1911. The flight took 49 days with numerous stops, crashes, and repairs. His journey was sponsored by the makers of Vin Fiz grape soda, making it one of the first uses of aviation for commercial promotion.

This cross-continental voyage captured the American public's imagination and was widely reported, inspiring many writers and poets to see the airplane as a tool for unifying the vast nation. The epic nature of the journey, filled with crashes and triumphs, was a classic heroic narrative for the new century. It symbolized the spirit of exploration and progress central to American identity in the early 1900s.