Félix Rigau Carrera

United States Marine Corps officer and pilot (1894–1954)

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 serving in the Army, he traveled to Long Island where he finished his flying training

After he earned his college degree in mechanical engineering, he joined the U. S. Army and was assigned to the Aviation Section, U. S. Signal Corps (the military aviation service of the U. S. Army from 1914 to 1918 and a direct ancestor of the U. S. Air Force). While in the Army, he traveled extensively around the world and became acquainted with many of the world's famous pilots of the era. He became the first Puerto Rican parachutist as a member of the Aviation Section of the US Signal Corps, whose members were among the Army's first parachutists. His stint in the Aviation Section, US Signal Corps inspired him to go and attend various aviation schools upon his release from the military. Enlisted in the United States Marine Corps upon the outbreak of World War I. After receiving additional aviation training, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the First Marine Air Squadron which deployed to France as the newly renamed 1st Marine Aviation Force in July 1918. There Rigau Carrera and his unit provided bomber and fighter support to the Navy's Day Wing, Northern Bombing Group. While serving in the First Marine Air Squadron, Rigau Carrera became the first Puerto Rican to pilot a fixed wing aircraft and the first Hispanic fighter pilot in the Marines.

In July 1919, Rigau Carrera went to Texas, where he met Bertha Dunston (1900–1989). They married in 1919 and had three children, Félix (1921–1995), Carmen (1923–2016), and Jaime (1925–1970) Rigau Carrera then returned to Puerto Rico and set about owning and flying his own aircraft. His four brothers helped him buy 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, and later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. His native hometown, Sabana Grande, named a street Calle Félix Rigau Carrera in his honor. On September 14, 2011, he was honored posthumously during the Hispanic Heritage Awards at Cleveland International Airport in Cleveland, Ohio. The American Legion Post 36 in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, was named in honor of LTJG Félix Rigau Carrera. In 2020 Félix Rigau Carrera was posthumously inducted to the Puerto Rico Veterans Hall of Fame.