Benoist XIV

Last updated
XIV
Benoist xiv.jpg
A Benoist XIV over Tampa Bay in Florida in 1914.
General information
TypeAirliner
Manufacturer Benoist
Designer
Primary user St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line
Number built2
History
Introduction date 1914
First flight 1913
Retired 1914

The Benoist XIV, also called The Lark of Duluth, was a small biplane flying boat built in the United States in 1913 in the hope of using it to carry paying passengers. The two examples built were used to provide the first heavier-than-air airline service anywhere in the world,[ citation needed ] and the first airline service of any kind at all in the United States.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The first fixed-wing scheduled airline was started on January 1, 1914. The flight was piloted by Tony Jannus [1] and flew from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, operated by the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line. [2]

Design and development

The aircraft was a conventional biplane with equal-span unstaggered wings with small pontoons at their tips. The engine was mounted on a pedestal aft of the cockpit and drove a two-blade pusher propeller. Accommodation for the pilot and single passenger was side by side in an open cockpit.

Operational history

The first example, given Benoist construction number 43 and named Lark of Duluth, carried joyriders over the harbour at Duluth, Minnesota through the Summer of 1913, but the endeavor was not a commercial success. The aircraft was wrecked once by Hugh Roberts, designer of the engine that powered the aircraft prior to competing in the Great Lakes Reliability Tour.[ clarification needed ] The repairs and paint job left the aircraft with the partial name, "of Du". [3] Later that year, Percival Fansler, a business associate of designer Thomas W. Benoist, convinced Benoist to join him in establishing a scheduled air service between the Florida cities of St Petersburg and Tampa. Their newly formed company, the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line purchased the Lark of Duluth and another Benoist XIV to inaugurate operations. The first scheduled flight between the two cities departed shortly before 10:00 a.m. on January 1, 1914, piloted by Tony Jannus and carried former St Petersburg mayor Abram C. Pheil as its passenger for the 22-mile (35 km), 23-minute flight. Regular tickets were priced at $5.00 (equivalent to $152.09 in 2023), but Pheil had paid $400.00 ($12,000 in 2023) at auction for the ticket for the first crossing.

Over the next three months of the airline's short lifetime, the Lark of Duluth and her near-sister Florida (construction number 45) carried 1,205 passengers over Tampa Bay. At the end of March, however, the city subsidy ran out, and it proved no longer profitable to continue the service. The Lark of Duluth spent the remainder of 1914 carrying joyriders in several locations around the United States, including Duluth, Conneaut Lake, and San Diego. The aircraft was damaged in a hard landing in San Diego and pronounced unsalvageable.

Replicas

Operators

Flag of the United States.svg United States

Specifications

General characteristics

Performance

See also

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References

Notes
  1. Airways (2023-08-13). "The History of Commercial Flight: How Global Travel Took off". Airways. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  2. "World's First Commercial Airline | The Greatest Moments in Flight". Space.com. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  3. Thomas Reilly. Jannus, an American flier. p. 102.
  4. Thomas Reilly. Jannus, an American flier.
  5. "First Airliner Certified Airworthy". 28 June 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  6. "Airplane Buff Revs Up for Tony Jannus Re-Enactment Flight" . Retrieved 12 December 2013.
Bibliography