June 20, 1993

Airboat Was First Plane To Land At Punta Gorda

As the first "airboat" to visit the Charlotte Harbor area swooped low over the water -- its eight-cylinder engine and propeller roaring with a never-before-heard sound -- a crowd of 1,000 people waiting at Punta Gorda's Sullivan Street dock broke into cheers.

The splash-down seconds later startled the crowd which feared the aircraft had foundered.

Historian Byron Rhode, now in retirement at Jacksonville, Fla., was a boy here at the time, but remembers the event well.

"The pilot had called ahead by telephone to make sure there was fuel available for a return flight, so word got around fast. Half the town showed up to see the modern miracle.

"Gulf Oil had a tank at the dock where the Memorial Auditorium is now located. The agent was Jim Cooper. He waved in the plane taxiing across the water to the dock while the crowd applauded."

Another boy then was Henry Farrington, now retired at Rabun Gap, Ga. He recalls how awe-struck he was.

"The two pilots got out and asked Morris Strahn, the liveryman, to watch the plane while they walked up to town on business. Mr. Strahn climbed into the cockpit to keep an eye on things. How I wished I could sit in so wonderous a machine.

"The plane had two wings of canvas, sticks and wire. The body of the plane was actually a small boat. It was a great curiosity to all the fishermen who were used to boats that floated but could not fly."

The plane had received local notice earlier in the Punta Gorda Herald of January 8, 1914:

"AEROPLANE SERVICE FIRST BETWEEN TWO CITIES IN THE SOUTH -- The first daily aeroplane passenger and express service between two cities in the South, possibly in the country, was opened with a successful flight of a hydro-plane from St. Petersburg, Fla., across the bay to Tampa, an air line distance of 18 miles.

"A.C. Pheil, former mayor of St. Petersburg, was the passenger."

"The flight was made in 23 minutes, at an average height of 80 feet above the water. The return flight was made at the same average speed. A fare of $5 each way is charged. A small amount of baggage also is carried at a specified pound rate.

"The only limit fixed in the case of a passenger is that he or she must not weigh over 200 pounds; or if weighing more than that amount, an extra charge of five cents a pound is made."

According to the excellent history Yesterday's St. Petersburg by Hampton Dunn, the pilot was Tony Jannus. His plane was a Benoist air boat. Before coming to St. Petersburg, Jannus had set a world's record by flying 2,000 miles in continuous, but not sustained, flight from Omaha to New Orleans.

Pheil won the privilege of being the first passenger by bidding $400 at auction. A Tampa Times reporter noted that "upon landing, the passenger scampered to a telephone to call home and let the folks know he made the journey safely."

The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line continued on regular schedule. The first parcel flown contained photos from the St. Petersburg Times to the Tri-Color Engraving Co. in Tampa. They were due to be flown back the next day, but Jannus' plane capsized in the bay. The engravings were shipped by train. First express package sent was a Swift & Co. premium ham. The firm took out a full page ad in Colliers, then a popular national magazine, to boast about a "first."

Jannus won the honor of being first commercial airline by just two weeks. The Herald reported somewhat erroneously on January 20:

"The first regular daily mail and passenger service by aeroplane in the world was successfully inaugurated between Pablo Beach and Atlantic Beach by Aviator George A. Gray.

"The mail pouch was dropped from an elevation of about 100 feet directly in front of the main entrance of the Atlantic Beach Hotel by the aviator, who then circled about, landing his passenger at the entrance from the lawn.

"The aviator, Gray, has made more than 1,000 successful flights without a serious accident, and is considered one of the best man birds now operating aeroplanes."

Dunn records that by March 17, 1914, Jannus at St. Petersburg had carried 1,200 passengers without an accident. However, after three months, everyone there had experienced the thrill of flying, and business dropped off.

It is believed that Jannus and his unnamed passenger came to Punta Gorda during the last eight months of 1914 to drum up new business. We cannot be sure of the exact date because issues of the Herald for that period are missing. There is no mention of him in subsequent issues.

As boys, Rhode and Farrington did not fix a precise date or purpose in their minds. Apparently the mission to Punta Gorda was not successful. Jannus suspended his airboat business and later flew for the Russian Aero Service. He was killed there in 1916 when his plane crashed.

There was no more airplane activity in the Charlotte Harbor area until the United States entered World War I in 1917. Two air training fields were hastily constructed on the treeless plains around Arcadia by January of 1918. Carlstrom Field was seven miles south of Arcadia, and Dorr Field was ll miles east.

Esther McCullough, a young woman at the time, remembers the "dashing aviators" who came to the big Hotel Punta Gorda for Saturday night dances. "Then we often saw their Army planes flying around."

Farrington says the first, wheeled plane to land at Punta Gorda was one from Carlstrom Field.

"The plane's engine stopped, and the pilot glided to a landing on a dirt road paralleling the railroad tracks opposite today's Walmart shopping center on U.S. 4l. The Army sent a truck to haul the plane back."

Dorr Field was closed after the war, but Carlstrom Field continued in operation until 1923. One of the most interesting activities at the latter facility was development of a "flying torpedo" by Charles F. Kettering, an inventive genius then president of the General Motors Research Corp.

The torpedo -- dubbed the "Kettering Bug" -- was a small, pilotless plane cheaply constructed of moulded paper. It was propelled by a four-cylinder engine built for the purpose by Henry Ford. The device weighed 300 pounds and carried a gravity bomb of the same weight.

The bug was launched by automatic controls from a rail track aimed at a target. After a pre-set flight time up to 40 miles, the wings dropped off and the bomb fell on its target. The war ended before this earliest guided missile was perfected. Nevertheless, adjustments continued at Carlstrom Field. Final, successful tests were carried out in October 1919. The project then was shelved.

Carlstrom and Dorr fields were re-activated during World War II, principally to train British pilots. After that war, Carlstrom became the G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital; and Dorr was converted to the DeSoto Correctional Institution.

Following World War I, surplus war planes were snapped up by civilian enthusiasts. One of these was Slim Keys a Punta Gorda mechanic who had his garage downtown on Taylor Street near Marion Avenue. His widow, Mabel, says Slim learned to fly from a flying school at Fort Myers.

Keys bought a damaged, two-seat American Eagle plane and put new wings on it. He rented space for a hangar in the old Punta Gorda Steam Laundry building near the present Coca-Cola bottling plant on Cooper Street. He grubbed out palmettos for an air strip behind the building.

Henry Farrington also was fascinated by planes and often went out to Keys' field to help maintain it and start engines by spinning the propellers. In return, Farrington got to ride with Slim in the plane.

"One time I was spinning the prop when the engine back-fired. The blade kicked back and struck me on the arm. I was lucky I didn't lose the arm," says Farrington. "My arm swelled up, and I thought it was broken at first. My mother didn't like me flying so I had to wear long-sleeved shirts for quite awhile so she wouldn't see the awful bruise."

Keys also bought an airboat which he tied up at the municipal dock, now Fishermen's Village. Esther McCullough says Slim gave her a window fan made from an old airboat propeller.

Other flying buffs in the 1920's were the Raymand brothers Wesley and Willis, developers and contractors. At first they used the recently-filled Gilchrist Park for a landing field, taking care to dodge the McAdow home and banyan tree. One day they ran out of gas and just barely made it back to the landing site over the McAdow house. As it was, the plane skidded against the seawall and flipped over.

After this, the Raymands built a two-runway field south of town, now Burnt Store Isles. Historian U.S. Cleveland says the runways were at right angles to each other so planes could always take off and land into the wind. The runways were marked at the corners by orange pyramids. There was no hangar. Planes were simply tied down to ground anchors.

Eventually the city bought the property, improved it and operated it as a municipal airport. During World War II, the Army Air Force built a training field east of town where thousands of pilots learned to fly. After the war, the field was turned over to Charlotte County which has since greatly expanded it -- a fitting tribute to the intrepid aviators who took the first steps of aviation here.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers

cutline l -- parked plane with two men.

Photo from "Yesterday's St. Petersburg"

Airboat pilot Tony Jannus, right, flew his plane to Punta Gorda in mid 1914, probably to drum up new business. His landing, the first in this area, was witnessed by a thousand townspeople. The passenger in this earlier photograph was George S. Gandy, an engineer who completed the first bridge across Tampa Bay.

cutline 2 -- plane in flight.

Photo from "Yesterday's St. Petersburg"

This photograph by a Tampa Times photographer shows Tony Jannus taking off from St. Petersburg on January l, 1914, for the first flight across the bay to Tampa. Jannus' Airboat Company was hailed as the first commercial airline company. Operations were discontinued after three months for insufficient patronage.