Benoist XIV

{{Short description|Flying boat built in 1913}} __NOTOC__  {{Infobox aircraft |name=XIV |image=Benoist xiv.jpg |caption=A Benoist XIV over [[Tampa Bay]] in [[Florida]] in 1914. |type=Airliner |manufacturer=[[Benoist Aircraft|Benoist]] |designer=[[Thomas W. Benoist]] |first_flight=[[1913 in aviation|1913]] |introduction=[[1914 in aviation|1914]] |retired=[[1914 in aviation|1914]] |status= |primary_user=[[St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line]] |more_users= |produced= |number_built=2 |variants= }}

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|date=March 2019}} and the first airline service of any kind at all in the United States.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

The first [[fixed-wing]] scheduled airline was started on January 1, 1914. The flight was piloted by Tony Jannus<ref>{{Cite web |last=Airways |date=2023-08-13 |title=The History of Commercial Flight: How Global Travel Took off |url=https://airwaysmag.com/how-global-travel-took-off/ |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=Airways |language=en-US}}</ref> and flew from [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], to [[Tampa, Florida]], operated by the [[St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=World's First Commercial Airline {{!}} The Greatest Moments in Flight |work=Space.com |url=https://www.space.com/16657-worlds-first-commercial-airline-the-greatest-moments-in-flight.html |access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref>

==Design and development== The aircraft was a conventional [[biplane]] with equal-span unstaggered wings with small [[Pontoon (boat)|pontoons]] at their tips. <ref>{{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112045459069&seq=297 |title= Benoist|date=1916-04-01|publisher= Gas review v.9(1916) |access-date=2026-04-05}}</ref> The [[Piston engine|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. {{Clarify|reason=did Roberts wreck the plane prior to the Tour? Or did his engine power the plane before the Tour but not during it?|text=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.|date=March 2019}} The repairs and paint job left the aircraft with the partial name, "of Du".<ref>{{cite book|title=Jannus, an American flier|author=Thomas Reilly|page=102}}</ref> 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, Florida|St Petersburg]] and [[Tampa, Florida|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 in aviation|1914]], piloted by [[Tony Jannus]] and carried former St Petersburg mayor [[Abram C. Pheil]] as its passenger for the {{convert|22|mi|km|adj=on|}}, 23-minute flight. Regular tickets were priced at $5.00 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|5|1914|r=2|fmt=c}} in {{inflation/year|US}}), but Pheil had paid $400.00 (${{inflation|US|400|1914|r=-3|fmt=c}} in {{inflation/year|US}}) 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 in aviation|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== * In [[1984 in aviation|1984]], a full-scale flying replica was constructed by [[Florida Aviation Historical Society]] for the 70th anniversary of the flight. This aircraft is now on loan to the [[St. Petersburg Museum of History]] in St. Petersburg, Florida.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jannus, an American flier|author=Thomas Reilly}}</ref> * A second replica of the 1913 ''Lark of Duluth'' was constructed by the Duluth Aviation Institute and FAA certified to commemorate the 100th anniversary of commercial aviation. It is now on display at the [[EAA Aviation Museum]], [[Oshkosh, Wisconsin]].<ref>{{cite web|title=First Airliner Certified Airworthy|date=28 June 2013 |url=http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/benoist_flying_boat_lark_duluth_centennial_208926-1.html|access-date=2 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=EAA Aviation Museum Adds Historic Lark of Duluth to Comprehensive Collection|date=10 December 2020|url=https://www.eaa.org/eaa/news-and-publications/eaa-news-and-aviation-news/news/12-10-2020-eaa-aviation-museum-adds-historic-lark-of-duluth-to-comprehensive-collection|access-date=27 September 2025}}</ref> * A full-scale replica of the Model XIV was built by [[Kermit Weeks]] at [[Fantasy of Flight]] and was tested at a lake there but never left the water. Vintage and Auto Rebuilds of Chardon, OH were commissioned to reverse engineer an original Roberts engine on loan from the St. Petersburg Museum of History. The aircraft was brought to St. Petersburg to display for the centennial of Tony Jannus' first scheduled commercial flight on January 1, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=Airplane Buff Revs Up for Tony Jannus Re-Enactment Flight|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/airplane-buff-revs-up-for-tony-jannus-re-enactment-flight/2156611/|access-date=12 December 2013}}</ref> Today the replica aircraft resides at Fantasy of Flight.

==Operators== ;{{flagu|United States}} *[[St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line]]

==Specifications== {{Aircraft specs |prime units? = imp

|crew=one pilot |capacity=1 passenger |length m=7.93 |length ft=26 |length in=0 |span m=13.41 |span ft=44 |span in=0 |empty weight kg=567 |empty weight lb=1,250 |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=[[Roberts Motor Company|Roberts]] straight-6 |eng1 kw=56 |eng1 hp=75 |max speed kmh=103 |max speed mph=64 |cruise speed mph= |range km=200 |range miles=125 }}

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Benoist Type XIV first airline takeoff.jpg|{{center|A [[St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line]] Benoist XIV begins its takeoff run on [[Tampa Bay]] for history{{'}}s first scheduled airline flight, January 1, 1914.}} Image:Airboat4.JPG|{{center|A Benoist XIV being launched into Tampa Bay by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line.}} File:Benoist XIV Cedar Point.jpg|{{center|[[Tony Jannus]] taxis a Benoist XIV at [[Cedar Point]], [[Ohio]], in 1914.}} </gallery>

==See also== * [[Pusher aircraft]]

==References== ;Notes {{reflist}} ;Bibliography * {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |pages=152 }} * Michaels, Will. The Making of St. Petersburg. 2012 History Press Charleston pp. 89–99. * {{cite episode |transcript-url=https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2189.htm |series=The Engines of Our Ingenuity |series-link=The Engines of Our Ingenuity |number=2189 |title=Tom Benoist |credits=John H. Lienhard |network=NPR |station=KUHF-FM Houston |airdate=2007 |transcript=Transcript}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070220113744/http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/pimagm6.htm Sport Aviation December 1983] * [https://www.airminded.net/benoist14/benoist14.html airminded.net] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070407034440/http://www.duluthairport.com/airport/history.html Duluth International Airport website] * Servis, Richard. "[https://richardservis.tripod.com/thenonfictionreadermagazine/id5.html Tony Jannus and the World's First Commercial Airline]". ''Non Fiction Reader Magazine'' * [http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/02/Northpinellas/Story_unfair_in_treat.shtml Letter] from St Petersburg Museum of History executive director Will Michaels printed in the ''[[St Petersburg Times]]'' 2 February 2004. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061213192053/http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/bioroger.htm Pioneer Pilot Walter E. Lees]

==External links== {{commons category|Benoist XIV}} * [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/airboat.htm Contemporary postcards] * [http://www.airchive.com/SITE%20PAGES/PLANE-BENOIST.html Photographs of St Petersburg Museum of History display] * [https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1914/1914%20-%200213.html "Some American Flying Boats"], [[Flightglobal|''Flight'']], February 28, 1914.

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[[Category:Single-engined pusher aircraft]] [[Category:Biplanes]] [[Category:Benoist aircraft|14]] [[Category:1910s United States airliners]] [[Category:Flying boats]] [[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1913]]