1905-1920

Aero Limited arrives in Miami, with pilot Harry Rogers

Miami is provided with first commercial air service

Aero Limited flies south

The first known commercial airline to establish a base in Miami — albeit a seasonal one — was Aero Limited, Inc.

Formed in July 1919 by former World War I Navy aviators, Aero Limited billed itself as the nation’s first passenger airline to operate on a daily schedule. That summer, the company launched regular service between New York and Atlantic City and offered sightseeing flights around the island of Manhattan.

By September, after acquiring five additional surplus HS 2L flying boats from the Navy, Aero Limited announced its plans to relocate to Florida for the winter season, where it would begin serving resort areas.

Biscayne Bay becomes seasonal home

By mid-October, Aero Limited had secured permission from the City of Miami to use 200 feet of space on Biscayne Bay between 6th and 7th Streets as its base of operations. Service was expected to begin in December. The company promised to be a good citizen, saying it would run no motors before 9:00 A.M. or after 5:30 P.M.

At the time, Aero Limited was flying a modified version of the Curtiss HS 2L flying boat, used by the Navy during World War I for coastal patrols. The announcement in the Miami press of Aero Limited’s arrival included the statement that, “All machines flying out of sight of land will be equipped with radio apparatus and will carry homing pigeons only to be released in emergencies.”

Service commences

On December 2, 1919, Aero Limited flew a Mr. T. J. Peters to Bimini in what was described as the first official flight between Miami and Bimini. It is cited by aviation historians as the first flight of an airline flying paying U.S. passengers to a foreign country.

On December 7th, Miami service was inaugurated. Advertisements invited customers looking for “Joy Hops” over Biscayne Bay and the city to head to the base of Elser’s Pier where they would be picked up and taken by barge to one of Aero Limited’s four flying boats.

Drama at sea

Aero Limited had scarcely begun to establish a name for itself locally when, just days after starting Miami service, it was drawn into a dramatic search and rescue effort that captured the attention of the entire nation.

On December 10, 1919, famed Hollywood director D. W. Griffith and 36 members of the cast and crew of The Love Flower, being filmed in Fort Lauderdale and the Bahamas, departed for Nassau aboard the chartered yacht Grey Duck. Their voyage quickly fell apart when a tropical storm forced the vessel to seek shelter out of range of radio communications, turning what should have been a 12‑hour crossing into a three‑day ordeal. When the yacht failed to appear on schedule in Nassau, the U.S. Navy deployed seaplanes and submarine chasers to look for the missing boat. Aero Limited joined the search, maintaining constant scouting patrols despite heavy cloud cover which hindered visibility. The nation anxiously awaited updates, many of which were provided by Aero Limited pilots. Relief finally came on December 15, when word reached Miami that the Grey Duck had arrived safely in Nassau—though only after a harrowing ordeal during which two crewmen were swept overboard before being rescued, and passengers had gone for days without food.

Cuba added to route

By the end of February 1920 Aero Limited advertised daily flights to Bimini and twice weekly flights to Nassau. The airline also announced that it would begin regularly scheduled service between Miami and Havana and had ordered 11 more aircraft to operate the line. That same month it established a base in Palm Beach and began offering flying lessons there.

During its first season in Miami, Aero Limited flew a total of 2200 passengers on forty round trips to Nassau, special charter flights to Havana, and over 100 flights to Bimini. The airline was lauded by local officials for its assistance with rescue efforts at sea and as an aerial police force for the city, helping federal agents to spot smuggling operations.

Enter Harry Rogers

Former Navy pilot Harry Rogers was often at the controls of Aero Limited’s flying boats. It was Rogers’ first stint in Miami but he was to subsequently make a name for himself as a colorful and popular figure in the local aviation community. A former celebrated Navy pilot who had learned to fly in 1917, Rogers had been an aviation instructor on Long Island before joining Aero Limited.

On April 30, 1920, Rogers and Aero Limited again made national headlines with a highly publicized flight from Miami to New York City. Although billed as a non-stop flight, the Miss Miami was obliged to make a stop in North Carolina to refuel. Nevertheless, it made the trip in record time — 14 hours and 59 minutes — garnering high praise. “The Aero Limited has shown the world that regular passenger flights can be made from the greatest city in the world to the most wonderful city in the United States, namely from New York to Miami and vice versa,” gushed The Miami Herald. It was estimated that the publicity generated for Miami by the air trip was worth $2 million and “put the Magic City on map as center of aerial activities.”

At left: Captain Harry Rogers, photo courtesy Miami Herald, October 20, 1929

Busy second season is also last

Back in Miami for the winter season of 1920-1921, an Aero Limited “Moonlight flight” from Bimini to Miami was deemed a great success. Business was so brisk that Aero Limited general manager Robert Dewey announced that the airline would be adding “12 more first class cruisers” to the fleet and would fly to all points around Florida as well as “interesting surrounding islands” and “inviting points of interest.” Rogers’ aerial fishing expeditions in the Keys were particularly popular. The winter season of 1921 was touted as the best in the company’s history.

High expectations for “Maid of Miami”

In fact, business was so good that Aero Limited also briefly flirted with becoming an aircraft manufacturer. In May 1921, a flying boat called the Maid of Miami was completed at Aero Limited’s plant in Coconut Grove. It was powered by a 400-HP Liberty engine and finished in Florida’s orange and black colors. The words “Made in Miami” were also strung along one side and a palm tree was painted on its rudder. On May 29th, several hundred spectators gathered along the bayfront at Royal Palm Park for its christening. Dedicated to the State of Florida, it was christened by the wife of Miami Mayor Everest G. Sewell, who broke a bottle of champagne across the bow. Representatives of the State of Florida formally accepted the aircraft. After an initial attempt to break an altitude record following the christening ceremony was cut short by a fuel line leak, its builders turned their attention to a more ambitious goal: a high-profile non-stop flight from Miami to New York that would showcase the aircraft and the city’s budding aviation industry.

The seaplane finally departed in mid-June 1921, but only after an announcement that several stops along the Atlantic coast would be necessary because special fuel tanks needed for a nonstop flight could not be obtained. Promoters still hoped to attempt a continuous Miami-to-New York flight later that year. But after the June flight, newspaper references to the Maid of Miami and to Aero Limited’s plans to build more aircraft disappeared entirely. Aero Limited itself did not return to Miami in 1922 — leaving behind one of the more intriguing “what-might-have-been” chapters in Miami’s early aviation history.

Despite its pioneering international service, Aero Limited was unable to navigate the challenging transition from a seasonal charter operation to a year-round viable airline capable of regular scheduled service.

Rogers returns, establishes Rogers Air Lines

Aero Limited pilot Harry Rogers, however, did return to Miami. In late 1921, he was back in the area as Chief Pilot for Miami Airways Company, which had acquired the Miss Miami, the former Aero Limited aircraft which made headlines in late April 1920 as the first plane to fly from Miami to New York. Sadly, Miami Airways barely survived its first season. En route to Bimini in March 1922, the Miss Miami suffered a catastrophic failure and was forced down in the Gulf Stream. After 52 hours adrift, pilot Robert Moore — a partner in the airline — was rescued—barely alive—the sole survivor. Five passengers were lost. Though Rogers and his partners announced that business would be resumed in the Fall and lines extended, the service was discontinued.

In 1924, Rogers established his own company, Rogers Air Lines School of Aviation, based in Long Island in the summer and Miami in the winter. Rogers made aviation history when, on January 4, 1928, accompanied by his former pupil and pilot, New York society girl Ruth Nichols, he made the first non-stop flight between New York and Miami in 12 hours.

Rogers Air Lines was a regular on Miami’s seasonal aviation circuit until the end of the decade, when depression-era difficulties resulted in the closure of the business. A collaboration with Pan Am, begun in 1928 when Rogers Air Lines ferried passengers between Pan Am’s Key West airport and other points in Florida, led to employment with Pan Am in 1929, as the senior pilot for Pan Am’s Miami-Nassau route. In March of 1930, however, Rogers became general manager of the new Curtiss Wright Marine Service base established on Biscayne Bay at 8th Street.

Sadly, after a decade of notable contributions to Miami’s aviation achievements, the well-known and popular aviator was killed in a crash in Long Island, in April of 1932. Rogers had moved from Miami with his wife and 13 year old daughter to become general manager of Curtiss-Wright airports in the New York metropolitan area. He was 36 at the time of his death.

At left: Rogers Air Lines brochure, courtesy Michael Hiscano Collection.

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