Wilbur and Orville Wright took flight in a plane at Kitty Hawk for the 1st flight in history in 1903. At the time, a young man, Domingo Rosillo del Toro, was 25 years of age. Little could he imagine at the time that he would be a record-setting pilot in the years ahead.
Over the next few decades, pilots would set records that people had never thought possible. Today, of course, we take for granted that planes can fly long distances, they can refuel in the air, they can travel faster than the speed of sound, they can carry vast amounts of cargo, and drop that cargo with precision in places that are in inaccessible by plane. Back in 1903, that wasn’t the case, and in the decades following, many aviators set records for the firsts in aviation history.
The first flights were flown overland. While this was dangerous in the event of a crash, more treacherous still was to travel over water.
It was Frenchman Louis Bleriot who would make one of the first trips over water. His adventure would-be a record-setting flight. The water he would cross? The 21 miles over the English Channel. He succeeded in doing this in 1909, just six years after the first man flew for 120 feet at Kitty Hawk.
But as with most adventurers, they’re always looking for something else to do; another record they can break. One the next challengers afforded to them was the opportunity to cross the Florida Straits. Now the Florida Straits is the water that runs between Key West and Cuba for a distance of 90 miles. In 1911, the city of Havana and a Havana newspaper decided to sponsor the first Cuban air meet, offering $8000 to the first man to cross the treacherous Florida Straits.
Canadian Captian James Mccurdy was one of the first to attempt the flight. With US Navy destroyers Rose, Drayton, Reed, and Terry stationed at 20-mile intervals to guide his way by their smoke, he took off from Key West. He flew over two destroyers before being forced to make an emergency landing in the choppy waters just 10 miles short of Havana.
While this was a sad loss for him, his failure left the Florida Straits open for other pilots to make their name in history. The next two adventuresome pilots who would try were two men of Cuban descent. As an added incentive, the prize had been boosted to $10,000.
The two men with viable chances of success were Domingo Rosillo del Toro, who was born in 1878 to Cuban parents, and Augustin Parla, born in 1887 in Key West.
While both men did succeed in making the voyage, though separated by two days, we will focus on Rosillo.
Both men prepared to fly across the Florida straits in May 1913. The starting point is Key West, FL. Parla had bought a Curtiss seaplane, while Rosillo reportedly purchased a MORANE-SULNIER monoplane though some reports say it was a different plane Rosillo purchased, a Bleriot XI.
Rosillo chose May 17th as the day for his flight. Learning of this, his opponent, Parla, decided to try on that day too. However, Parla wasn’t able to take off. The men took off from opposite sides of the island. Unfortunately, high winds caused Parla’s float to rupture and snap the wires secured their wings, and so he was delayed by two days.
Rosillo’s plane had an open cockpit and weighed less than 1000 pounds. He had only a small compass for directions and no flotation device to protect him in case of a water landing. Before taking off for Cuba, the mayor of Key West gave him letters to take to Havana. So he technically set two records; that of making the longest flight across the water, and that of the longest mail delivery service over water.
Rosillo finished the flight in over 2 hours (2 hours 4) minutes to be exact). The same flight would take a jet plane about 20 minutes to complete today. However, Rosillo was only traveling at about 40 mph through turbulent conditions. Flying over the outskirts of Havana, Rosillo’s fuel was gone, the engine overheated, and some people say that he had a monkey on board. There is no conclusive evidence of this, but it is a popular rumor. Upon arriving, Rosillo was met by a military gun salute at the nearby Havana fortress.
Rosillo’s pioneering spirit is what America is made of. He showed that spirit by risking his life to span the gulf between his new homeland and that of his ancestors. His name should be remembered in both American and Cuban history.
Ant on the Move 