Ask Margaret
The stainless steel airplane sculpture
installed at the St. Pete Pier recognizes the
world’s first commercially scheduled flight
of the St. Petersburg-Tampa
Airboat Line. Mark Aeling of
MGA Sculpture Studio in St.
Petersburg created the full-scale
sculpture of the Benoist Model 14
biplane and its occupants, which
weighs about 16,000 pounds and
is positioned on a base that rises
25 feet above ground level.
The memorable first flight of
the fledgling St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line happened about
10 a.m. on New Year’s Day, 1914. Pilot Tony Jannus carried one
passenger, the former Mayor Abe Pheil of St. Petersburg, who
became the world’s first paying airline customer when he won
the airline’s inaugural round trip ticket for $400 at an auction
that was held that morning. The normal price was $5 for a oneway
What can you tell me about the
large-scale metal sculpture at
ticket. The groundbreaking flight witnessed by over 3,000
onlookers took off from a location a little north of the St. Pete Pier
near what is now the Vinoy Basin. The airboat was launched into
Tampa Bay from a ramp, then gained speed on its water “runway”
before it took flight across the bay to the Tampa shoreline, where
it landed on the water’s surface. When the
flight landed in Tampa at the entrance to
the Hillsborough River, the Tampa Tribune
reported that it was met by a 2,000-person
crowd. After photos were taken, the pilot
and mayor returned to St. Petersburg for
the next flight of the day.
St. Louis manufacturer Thomas Benoist,
who was also known for his self-starting
automobiles, built the Benoist Model 14
134 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | MARCH/APRIL 2021
by Margaret Word Burnside
biplane. The plane sold for $4,250, weighed
about 1,250 pounds, was 26 feet long, and
had a wingspan of 44 feet. The two-seater
plane made of wood, fabric
and wire had no windshield.
Its 75-horsepower, 6-cylinder
water-cooled engine enabled
it to travel up to 64 miles per
hour, and to make the 18-mile
cross-bay flights in just a little
more than 20 minutes for each
direction. This was unheard
at a time when it took several
hours by boat or train, and even longer to travel the barely existing
roads through Oldsmar to go between St. Petersburg and Tampa.
Manufacturer Benoist provided the biplane, mechanics and
pilots for the airline. Percival Fansler, general manager of the St.
Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, designed the twice-daily routes
that flew less than 50 feet above the water.
Although Fansler was unable to find financial backers in Tampa,
he was successful in St. Petersburg. On December 17, 1913, on the
10th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ historic flight at Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina, Benoist signed a contract with the City of
St. Petersburg to supply planes and pilots for the two scheduled
flights a day between St. Petersburg and
Tampa, six days a week for three months.
The city put up a $2,400 cash subsidy. The
airline also offered its “flying boat” planes
for charter flights around the area.
The St. Petersburg Times became the
world’s first air cargo customer. It arranged
to have its papers flown to Tampa daily.
It proudly announced that the paper was
now delivered as no other before it. The
the St. Pete Pier?
M.M., St. Petersburg
If you have any questions about the
people, places or things in the Tampa
Bay area, please send them to
“Ask Margaret” at Tampa Bay Magazine,
2531 Landmark Drive, Suite 101,
Clearwater, Florida 33761.
We regret that not all questions
can be answered.
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