Félix Rigau Carrera
| Félix Rigau Carrera | |
|---|---|
First Puerto Rican to become a pilot
|
|
| Nickname(s) | "El Águila de Sabana Grande" (The Eagle from Sabana Grande) |
| Born | August 30, 1894 Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico |
| Died | October 13, 1954 Gloucester, Virginia |
| Buried at | Abingdon Episcopal Church Cemetery in White Marsh, Virginia |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy Reserve
|
| Rank |
 Lieutenant (junior grade)
|
| Other work | Rigau Carrera was the first pilot to fly on air mail carrying duties in Puerto Rico. |
Félix Rigau Carrera (August 30, 1894 – October 13, 1954), known as "El Águila de Sabana Grande" (The Eagle from Sabana Grande), was the first Puerto Rican pilot and the first Puerto Rican pilot to fly on air mail carrying duties in Puerto Rico.
Rigau Carrera was one of nine siblings born to Felip Rigau Balbàs, a Spanish Navy sailor from Catalonia, and Carmen Carrera de Rigau, a Puerto Rican homemaker, in the town of Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico. There he received his primary and secondary education. As a child he showed an interest in mechanics and would often model aircraft, using the local cathedral as a launching pad for his small fixed-wing aircraft replicas.
After he graduated from high school, he enrolled at the Colegio de Agricultura y Artes Mecanicas (CAAM) (now the University of Puerto Rico) at Mayagüez and studied electronics and mechanical engineering. During his years at college he continued with his hobby of building and designing airplane models.
After he earned his college degree in mechanical engineering, he joined the United States Navy Reserves After serving in the Navy Reserves, he traveled to Long Island where he finished his flying training
In July 1919, he went to Texas. Rigau Carrera met Bertha Dunston (1900–1989), who became his wife in 1919 and with whom he was to have three children, Félix (1921–1995), Carmen (1923–2016), and Jaime (1925–1970) Rigau Carrera returned to Puerto Rico and made it clear to everyone that knew him that his main objective was to be able to someday own his own and fly his own aircraft. Consequently, his four brothers helped him financially to buy his first aircraft, a Curtiss JN-4, $2,250 in 1919. The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" was one of a series of "JN" biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company.
Rigau Carrera piloted his first flight in Puerto Rico, flying out of Camp Las Casas, the exact area where Residencial Las Casas is currently located, becoming the first Puerto Rican pilot to do so. At the time, the area was used by the military as an air base and it was also Puerto Rico's first commercial airport, and Rigau Carrera was allowed to perform his historic flight from the air field. Rigau Carrera then started using the air base frequently, for exhibition flights and to carry paying passengers on sightseeing trips. He became a national hero in Puerto Rico during the 1920s, traveling to many Puerto Rican cities by air. The local town people celebrated his landings with live music and fireworks and he became known as "The Eagle of Sabana Grande".
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Wikipedia