Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Within a decade after the famous Wright Brothers' 1903 flight, aviation history was being made in Florida. The first transcontinental flight landed at Jacksonville in 1912, a naval air training center opened at Pensacola in 1913, and the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, the world's first regularly scheduled commercial airline, began service in 1914. Tom Benoist, a pioneer airboat (seaplane) manufacturer from St. Louis, started this cargo and passenger airline as well as a flying school on Tampa Bay. Backed by members of the St. Petersburg Board of Trade, he built hangars on the north edge of the yacht basin. Anthony "Tony" Jannus, Benoist's head pilot, took the airline's first passenger, former mayor A. C. Pheil, across the bay in a biplane on January 1, 1914. Pheil's high bid of $400 at an auction held before the flight brought him this honor. The twenty mile maiden flight of the new service took twenty-three minutes to complete. A few days later, a light cargo was for the first time flown across the bay. The activities of this airline demonstrated that air travel was practical although services were discontinued after only a few months due to financial and technical difficulties.