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    Wings over Florida
    Wings over Florida
    Wings over Florida
    Ebook203 pages1 hour

    Wings over Florida

    By Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly

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    About this ebook

    Florida's contribution to aviation history cannot be underestimated. Wings over Florida chronicles the story of flying in the "Sunshine State," from the early pioneers in gliders and balloons, to the recent developments in the space program. The story of Florida in flight is even older than its statehood, with Colonel John Sherburne planning to use balloons as early as 1840 in the Second Seminole War. Not only was the first scheduled passenger airline (the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line) begun in Florida, but it is also home to the world's oldest international airline. Many heroes and heroines of the air came from Florida. Even those who were not Floridians by birth spent time flying in the ideal conditions that Florida provided. Pioneers, such as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Peter Sones, and Jacqueline Cochran, all took to the air over Florida.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439627013
    Wings over Florida
    Author

    Lynn M. Homan

    As museum exhibit designers and the authors of more than 15 books, Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly enjoy telling the stories behind the pictures. So grab a cool drink and a shady spot under a palm tree, and join the authors as they re-create the experience that is the Florida Keys.

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      Book preview

      Wings over Florida - Lynn M. Homan

      priceless.

      INTRODUCTION

      Florida became the southern Mecca of aviation just a few years after the Wright brothers’ successful flight in a heavier-than-air machine. It’s easy to understand why. The weather was almost perfect, with hundreds of days each year that were suitable for flying. The state also possessed relatively flat land and natural, ready-made runways on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. Following a logical progression, neophyte American aviators started in the North, and slowly made the southward trek.

      Florida’s aviation history is even older than its statehood. The Sunshine State was admitted to the Union on March 3, 1845. In September 1840, Colonel John Sherburne developed a plan to use balloons during the Second Seminole War; his plan was never put into effect, however. Lighter-than-air flight originated in Florida at Jacksonville on January 28, 1878, when a balloon drifted over the city. Other aviation firsts in Florida soon followed. As John A.D. McCurdy piloted his airplane over Palm Beach in February 1911, he transmitted the first air-to-ground wireless message. The first night flight of an airplane took place in Tampa in March 1911. The rickety biplane was piloted by Lincoln Beachey, the fearless Curtiss exhibition flier.

      The world’s first scheduled passenger airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, began operation on January 1, 1914, in St. Petersburg. Using a pair of Benoist flying boats over a 21-mile route between St. Petersburg and Tampa, the airline carried 1,205 passengers and logged over 11,000 air miles. While the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line’s operation lasted only for a three-month period, it was nonetheless, a very important event in the world of aviation. It proved, perhaps for the first time, that the airplane really had a purpose, a use other than as an attraction for audiences morbidly hoping to see an aviator killed in a crash at frivolous county fair air shows. Then, as now, the safety of an airline is of paramount importance. The operators of the airline and the pilot, Tony Jannus, constantly stressed the need for safety.

      Chalk Airways, the world’s oldest international airline, began in Miami in 1919. On June 1, 1926, Florida Airways provided the first daily air-passenger service in the United States to be operated over a federal airmail contract route.

      In the early days of aviation, if there was a record to set, Florida was frequently the place to do it. Not only did the world’s first scheduled airline begin there in 1914, but two years earlier, Robert Fowler concluded the first west-to-east coast flight in Jacksonville. Few aviation records have been longer lasting than that set by Walter Lees and Frederic Brossy. On May 25, 1931, the duo lifted off the sands of Jacksonville Beach at 6:47 a.m., not to return to the ground for three and a half days.

      Florida’s military training bases made many significant contributions to the state’s aviation history. Naval aviation came into being at Pensacola in 1914. After more than 80 years as an active naval yard and depot, the Pensacola Navy Yard closed on October 20, 1911, with only a small group of caretakers remaining. Two years later, a board of officers recommended to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels . . . the establishment of an Aeronautic Center at Pensacola. Over $1 million was requested to establish the program. The navy agreed and ordered an aviation unit to be sent from Annapolis, Maryland, to Pensacola. Nine officers and 23 enlisted men arrived on January 20, 1914, outfitted with seven aircraft and several portable hangars. Lieutenant Commander Henry C. Mustin commanded the air station as well as the battleship Mississippi. Ensign Godfrey de C. Chevalier made the first flight at Pensacola on February 2. The Pensacola Journal reported that . . . the machines in the air looked like giant buzzards.

      Officers and enlisted men based at Pensacola were soon called into action. On April 21, 1914, an aviation detachment departed for Veracruz, Mexico. Lieutenant Patrick N.L. Bellinger commanded a small group consisting of one pilot, three student pilots, and two aircraft to be used for observation and scouting missions. A day earlier, Lieutenant John Towers and a similar detachment left Pensacola aboard the Birmingham headed for Tampico, Mexico.

      Fortunately for the navy, Secretary Daniels strongly believed in the usefulness of Pensacola and naval aviation. By December 1915, the station had grown from a small detachment, to an aviation unit that included 15 aircraft, 121 mechanics, and 19 qualified aviators. By the end of 1916, the table of organization and equipment at Pensacola included 58 officers, 431 enlisted men, 33 seaplanes, and several balloons. The training facility was capable of training 64 aviators and 64 mechanics every six months.

      When, with a stroke of the pen, President Woodrow Wilson declared war against Germany on April 6, 1917, America’s aviation forces were ill-prepared for combat. The navy had fewer than one hundred airplanes in its fleet; the army had less than 250 airplanes. There were only 131 officers and 1,097 enlisted men in the aviation section of the Army’s Signal Corps. In May 1917, the United States ranked 14th among the nations of the world in terms of aviation. That would quickly change.

      After the United States entered the war in 1917, a mad rush began to train aviators for European action against the Germans. Throughout the country, aerial training facilities were quickly designed and built. Because of the ideal weather and relatively flat terrain, Florida was selected for several bases. Civilian flight trainers served at the Glenn Curtiss flight school, teaching army sergeants the art of flying in Miami and the Everglades. Prior to, and during World War I, military flight training took place at Pensacola, Miami, Key West, and Arcadia. Testing of the world’s first guided missile took place in 1919 at Carlstrom Field, Arcadia.

      During World War II, the war effort involved most of Florida, as many new bases were opened to meet the demand for trained military pilots. MacDill Field opened in Tampa in 1939. Lakeland’s Drane Field was home to a fleet of B-24 bombers. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle trained for his famous raid against Tokyo at Eglin Field, Panama City. By the end of World War II, approximately 30,000 naval aviators had earned their wings at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

      Florida has hosted numerous men and women who have been instrumental in furthering aviation. Ruth Elder, Mabel Cody, Jacquelyn Cochran, Juan Trippe, Eddie Rickenbacker, Tony Jannus, Jimmy Doolittle, Laurie Yonge, and Lincoln Beachey; the well known, and hardly known, all made contributions. Several of these men and women have been honored with the prestigious Tony Jannus Award, an

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