__NOTOC__ 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, and the first airline service of any kind at all in the United States.

Design and development

The aircraft was a conventional biplane with equal-span unstaggered wings with small pontoons at their tips. The

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

was mounted on a pedestal aft of the cockpit and drove a two-blade

pusher propeller In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. 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 , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

through the Summer of 1913, but the endeavor was not a commercial success. The repairs and paint job left the aircraft with the partial name, "of Du". 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 and 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 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

, piloted by

Tony Jannus Antony Habersack Jannus, more familiarly known as Tony Jannus (July 22, 1889 – October 12, 1916), was an early American pilot whose aerial exploits were widely publicized in aviation's pre-World War I period. He flew the first airplane from ...

and carried former St Petersburg mayor Abram C. Pheil as its passenger for the , 23-minute flight. Regular tickets were priced at $5.00 (equivalent to $ in ), but Pheil had paid $400.00 ($ in ) 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 Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

. 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

carrying joyriders in several locations around the United States, including Duluth,

Conneaut Lake Conneaut Lake is the largest natural lake in Pennsylvania by surface area. It is located in western Crawford County near a town with the same name. Its has a surface area of approximately 925 acres. The site of the lake is actually in adjace ...

, and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. The aircraft was damaged in a hard landing in San Diego and pronounced unsalvageable.

Replicas

* In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, a full-scale flying replica was constructed by

Florida Aviation Historical Society Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to t ...

for the 70th anniversary of the flight. This aircraft is now on loan to the St. Petersburg Museum of History in St. Petersburg, Florida. * 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. * A full-scale replica of the Model XIV is being built by

Kermit Weeks Kermit Weeks (born July 14, 1953 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American aviation enthusiast, pilot, and aircraft collector. He has competed in aerobatics, designed aircraft, and promoted aviation and vintage aircraft restoration. Oil and ...

Fantasy of Flight Fantasy of Flight is an aviation museum in Polk City, Florida. It opened in November 1995, to house Kermit Weeks' collection of aircraft that, until Hurricane Andrew damaged many in 1992, were housed at the Weeks Air Museum in Tamiami, Florid ...

that they plan on flying on the centennial of Tony Jannus' first scheduled commercial flight on January 1, 2014.

Operators

; * St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line

Specifications

Gallery

File:Benoist Type XIV first airline takeoff.jpg, Image:Airboat4.JPG, A Benoist XIV being launched into Tampa Bay by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. File:Benoist XIV Cedar Point.jpg,

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * Michaels, Will. The Making of St. Petersburg. 2012 History Press Charleston pp. 89–99. *
Sport Aviation December 1983

* Servis, Richard.

. ''Non Fiction Reader Magazine''
Letter
from St Petersburg Museum of History executive director Will Michaels printed in the ''

St Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a singl ...

'' 2 February 2004.
Pioneer Pilot Walter E. Lees

External links

''Flight'', February 28, 1914. {{Benoist aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Biplanes 14 1910s United States airliners Flying boats Aircraft first flown in 1913