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| Tony Jannus | tampabay.com |
Yesterday, my friend Sandy and I celebrated the New Year at St. Petersburg's waterfront, where exactly 100 years earlier the commercial airline industry was born.
In 1913, Percival E. Fansler raised money to start the first commercial airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. He hired Tom Benoist to supply the plane and the pilot, a dashing young barnstormer named Tony Jannus.
Tony Jannus was already a pilot of note, having flown the plane from which the first parachute jump was made, by Albert Berry.
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| Abe Pheil and Tony Jannus | tampapix.com |
On New Year's Day, 1914, Tony Jannus made a 23-minute trip from St. Petersburg to Tampa, carrying the first commercial airline passenger, former St. Petersburg mayor Abe Pheil. Mayor Pheil bid $400 for the honor, at that time a very large sum.
3,000 spectators watched the plane depart from St. Petersburg, and 3,500 spectators greeted it in Tampa.
I've made this map to show you why Tony Jannus' flight was of so much interest to the citizens of St. Petersburg and Tampa. A trip that today takes me 20 minutes or less by car, would in those days be like driving hundreds of miles!
So yesterday was a festive occasion, with a credible stand-in for Tony Jannus (historical actor Michael Norton) and a lot of people in period costume.
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| photos: Mark D. Ruffner |
The real star of the day was a replica of the Benoist, reconstructed at great cost for the occasion by Kermit Weeks, a pilot and owner of the Polk County, Florida aviation attraction,
Flight of Fantasy.
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| photos: Mark D. Ruffner |
Kermit Weeks had intended to reenact the flight on the 100th anniversary of Tony Jannus' crossing, but much to his disappointment, some technical difficulties prevented that.
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| Kermit Weeks | photo: Sandy Gonzalez |
Still, his meticulous and authentic reconstruction made for an interesting and impressive display.
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| the Hoffman X-4 mullet skiff | photo: Mark D. Ruffner |
Later in the morning, this plane retraced the Benoist route; it's been used before in Tony Jannus reenactments.
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| photo: Mark D. Ruffner |
In keeping with the day's theme, Sandy and I left the rainy celebration and had breakfast at The Hangar, a fun dining spot at St. Petersburg's local Albert Whitted Airport.
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| photo: Mark D. Ruffner |
Here's a painting of Tony Jannus at the Tampa International Airport. It depicts the end of Jannus' career, when he went to Russia to train Russian pilots during World War I. He was flying a Curtis H-7 plane with a two-man Russian crew when he crashed into the Black Sea on October, 12, 1916. His body was never recovered.
Today the Tony Jannus Award is given once a year "for outstanding individual achievement in the scheduled commercial aviation industry."
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Dear Mark, your post has been passed to me (H) because of my interest in your subject. To see that the world's first commercial flight took place across Tampa Bay exactly 100 years ago reminded us of the three holidays we had on Anna Marie Island and our journeys to & from Tampa Airport across the magnificent bridge. Truly, necessity is the mother of invention! It also made me think of my apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce aero division, which commenced with an account of how Henry Royce (the engineer) joined up with the Hon. C.S.Rolls - aristocrat and aviation pioneer - to establish the company. Sadly Rolls died shortly after in an aviation accident (if my memory is right) but his name lives on. From small beginnings R-R has been involved in a number of innovations including success in the Schneider Trophy competitions in the 1930s which led to the Merlin engine, not to mention its pre-eminence in gas turbine development. It is fascinating to contemplate aviation progress in a mere 100 years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder.
Dear H,
DeleteThanks for your comment! I am a big fan of Rolls-Royce, since one of my father's best friends was connected to the car side of the company over here. Our family friend worked on Rolls-Royce engines and I became familiar with the company and its history through him. In fact I even painted a portrait of Mr. Royce, though that was a long time ago. I've always appreciated that Rolls-Royce stood for the highest quality in every aspect of its design, though I don't know that much about its aero division.
Are you familiar with Breguet planes? Those were made by one branch of my mother's family.
Anna Maria Island is a couple of hours from my house, and I've enjoyed staying there, too.
Sorry Mark - unfortunately H is not familiar with the Brequet planes.
DeleteDear Mark - I really like the painting and frame of Tony Jannus in Russia. The frame showing a typically Art Deco design and surrounding the distinctive Art Deco painting.
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary,
DeleteThe painting of Tony Jannus in Russia is part of a series of paintings of historic moments in aviation, painted by a local artist through the WPA program, during the Depression. The paintings were rolled up and forgotten for decades. Then about eight years ago, they were rediscovered, repaired at considerable cost, and hung in those great Art Deco frames. They are a wonderful addition to our airport.
Hello Mark, How I admire these adventuresome, heroic people like Tony Jannus. I think that he was fueled not only by personal bravery, but also by the excitement of being a pioneer in a new field that he foresaw as the wave of the future. In that sense, his name seems somewhat ironic.
ReplyDeleteHello, Jim,
DeleteClearly Tony Jannus was an adventurer and a forward thinking person. There's no doubt in my mind that had he lived, he would have set more records, perhaps even displacing Lindbergh's spot in history — we'll never know. He's well remembered in St. Petersburg; the heart of our downtown area is called Jannus Landing.
Dear Mark, Thank you for another fabulous post. Now I have another piece of history as part of my memory. I can't even imagine the courage of the daredevils who made aviation what it is today. I have difficulty getting on an airplane...I only do it because my wanderlust takes over.
ReplyDeleteDear Gina,
DeleteI can imagine how you might feel, because it does seem illogical for anything that weighs tons to become airborne. Still, it must have been so much more scary to fly in planes that were so open. The closest I've come to that experience was to fly in a glider, which was completely silent, and one time in a hot air balloon.
Dear Mark,
DeleteI have done neither. I might be talked into flying over the Serengeti in a hot air balloon...but probably not.
Wow. Who knew any of this, Mark? I certainly didn't. Never heard of this guy or of this historic flight. Thanks for this post - I'm always learning something new Chez Mark. :)
ReplyDeleteHard to imagine such rickety looking planes flying any great distance and yet they did. Such amazing history.
Dear Yvette,
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Tony Jannus either, until I moved to St. Petersburg, where his name has been kept alive. Clearly, he died much too young, for I think he would have continued to contribute to the advancement of aviation.