First Flight from Chicago to Springfield, IL
On September 29, 1910, Walter R. Brookins piloted the first airplane flight from Chicago, IL, to Springfield, IL. From what is written on one of the slides, it appears the trip covered 187 miles in 7.09 hours, of which 5 hours and 55 minutes was actual flight time. It also appears that the photographer was able to keep up with him, which in itself would have been a feat in 1910.
The slide with the close up image of the pilot says, “Aviator who made famous Chicago – Springfield flight.” How famous it was over the next couple of years, I don’t know, but these slides are my only source of knowledge of the flight.
The exact location of the Washington Park referred to on these slides is not known. It might have been a part of what is Washington Park today. There was once a Washington Park airstrip in Homewood, IL, which would have been close, but would not have been Chicago. This flight took place 13 years before the beginning of Chicago’s Midway airport.
Until a very short time ago, these slides were my only source of information about either Walter Brookins or this flight. From what I can gather on line is that the flight made two stops. Both Gilman and Mt. Pleasant are villages served by the Illinois Central railroad, which likely served as Brookins’ navigation guide. It would appear that Gilman and Mt. Pleasant were those two stops. I suspect that the crowd taking him through the fence at Gilman was an unwelcome distraction.
Examining the two slides with the airplane in the air led me to notice that the shape and attitude of the plane is almost identical in both shots. When I scaled and superimposed the image from one slide over the other I found that while the size and contrast/brightness are different and the alignment is between 1 and 2 degrees different, the actual shape and orientation of the plane with respect to the camera are exactly the same. Even the rudder is in exactly the same position. This fact leads me to suspect that one or both of these images have been “doctored”, with the image of the airplane superimposed on the image of the landscape. I figure that a photographer who has the ability to make these slides would also have the ability to doctor them.
I’ve also learned that Brookins was the Wright brothers’ first graduate and the leader of their publicity team. At the time of this flight he had been flying for about 6 months and was but 22 years old. Because of his contract with the Wright brothers, his prize money went to the Wright Brothers company. In June, 1910, Brookins had become the first pilot to fly higher than one mile. The flight from Chicago to Springfield was on September 29, 1910, a long distance record. Some sources say it was 192 miles, but these slides say it was 187 miles.
The airplane is a Wright Model B. Since this model was produced from “late 1910 to 1914”, it’s possible that this flight from Chicago to Springfield was among the first accomplished by that model, if not the first.