Bernard Francis Roehrig

  Bernard Francis Roehrig (July 5, 1880 - March 2, 1947) teamed with Charles F. Walsh in 1909 to build airplanes in San Diego, California.  Early in 1910, Roehrig had the Baker Machine/Boat Works fabricate a copy of the Paulhan Farman airplane, equipping it with a 6-cylinder, 60-hp engine.  Waldo Waterman spent quite a bit of time around the Baker facility watching the Farman's construction.  When it was completed, it had good flying qualities, but Roehrig was not much of a pilot, so he teamed-up with one of Paulhan's Dominguez teammates, Didier Masson.  They first did exhibition flying at Imperial Beach and then, in the fall of 1910, moved up to the Playa del Rey Motordrome, near Venice, just south of Santa Monica.  This was the first of the very popular steep-banked, wooden-planked automobile speedways, and its infield was excellent for exhibition flyers.  Roehrig won the Los Angeles Times’ “Harrison Gray Otis” gold medal for being the first Californian to stay aloft in excess of a minute, and thereafter faded from the scene.  At the second Los Angeles meet, beginning Dec. 24, 1910, Roehrig was an entrant but cracked up his plane the first day.  After its close, he teamed up with Didier Masson, who had come to America with Paulhan, and flights were made at Bisbee and Globe, Ariz. Passenger carrying was a feature but the returns were insufficient and the tour quickly ended.  At the age of sixty-seven, Roehrig wrote a final note: “Can't take it any more ― too much pain. Leaving you tomorrow.  Good luck to all the Early Birds.”  On March 2 Roehrig ended his life when he walked into the Sacramento River at Woodland, Calif., in order to end the long suffering he had endured from muscular and intestinal troubles.