DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how that official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Floyd H. Rodgers — and you'd better call him Slats — was born on March 7, 1889, and from the very start, this was a man who was going to find the sky one way or another.
It started humble enough: a boy with a kite. Just string and paper and wind. But that childhood interest didn't stay a hobby.
No sir, it grew into something that would take Slats places most folks couldn't imagine and a few places most folks wouldn't dare follow. By 1912, he built his first aircraft with his own hands. They called it Old Soggy No. 1, which tells you something right there about how that first flight probably went.
He flew surplus World War I aircraft after that, which gives you a sense of the kind of equipment Slats was willing to trust his life to. And his career — well, let's just say it covered a lot of ground. Barnstorming.
Bootlegging. Arms smuggling. Payroll flying.
Crop dusting. That is a resume that would make most men blush and make a few others very nervous. The Civil Aeronautics Administration got acquainted with Slats more than once, fining him many times over for illegal stunts.
He was refused his pilot's license until he settled those fines, which means somewhere along the way Slats Rodgers had to sit down and reckon with the rules he'd spent a career ignoring. His crop dusting work is what brought him down to the lower Rio Grande Valley in the 1930s, and the valley is where he stayed, making his home there for many years. He died of natural causes in McAllen — natural causes, mind you, which given everything else in that man's story is no small footnote — and he's buried at Laurel Hills Cemetery in Mission.
July 5, 1956. Old Soggy No. 1 to the Rio Grande Valley. Kites to contraband to crop dust.
That was Slats.
What the marker says
(March 7, 1889 - July 5, 1956) Daring stunt pilot "Slats" Rodgers developed a childhood interest in kites into a career in aviation that included barnstorming, bootlegging, arms smuggling, payroll flying and crop dusting. He built his first aircraft, known as "Old Soggy No. 1," in 1912 and later flew surplus World War I aircraft. Never one to abide by the rules, Slats was fined many times by the Civil Aeronautics Administration for illegal stunts and was refused his pilot's license until he settled his fines. His crop dusting business took him to the lower Rio Grande valley in the 1930s, where he made his home for many years. He died of natural causes in McAllen and is buried in Laurel Hills Cemetery in Mission. (2001)