ALBERT WHITTED AIRPORT HISTORY | |||
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January 1, 1914, The first regularly scheduled aircraft flight in history | |||
In 2003 Albert Whitted Airport celebrated its 75th anniversary, although the field has actually been around much longer. Albert Whitted Airport is nationally recognized as the birthplace of scheduled airline flight. On January 1, 1914, a small airboat took off near this airport, on the first regularly scheduled aircraft flight in history. |
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National Airlines | |||
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World War II | |||
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Picture Perfect | |||
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"Remember Whitted When..."
featured articles from various issues of The Flyer newsletter |
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Remember Whitted When... Today, EAA Chapter 47 offers two great programs where first flights are absolutely free! Young Eagles is for children ages 8-17, Flying Start is for 18 and up; both programs are offered by our local volunteer pilots who give their time, planes and fuel to provide this fun and exciting service to our community. By Glenn Anderson |
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Remember Whitted When... To visualize how the downtown waterfront once looked, you have only to visit Lassing Park on Tampa Bay in the Old Southeast Neighborhood. This park shows today how different the downtown waterfront was a century ago. William "Bill" Straub moved to the City in 1901 and championed the cause for public ownership and multiple uses of the downtown waterfront. The project was to take until the mid 1920s with much politicking to get the waterfront project completed. The airport, the Coast Guard station, the Municipal Marina, the Port, the parks, and later, Al Lang Field, the Bayfront Center/Mahaffey Theatre, the University of South Florida campus and even the public parking lots all nicely fit that vision of public owned and used lands. By Glenn Anderson |
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Remember Whitted When... In 1926, pioneer entrepreneur Walter Fuller built a private airport, the Piper-Fuller Airport, in the Jungle area; it was St. Petersburg's first airport. Larger than Albert Whitted and designed as an amenity to tourist-oriented projects Fuller was involved in, it was later given up to development. During WWII, it was reactivated for use by primary trainer planes. Despite interest in developing it further after the war, the Jungle Property Owners Association defeated the proposal. By Glenn Anderson |
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Remember Whitted When... Even at its beginning in 1928, Albert Whitted Airport was a modest facility, with only one short runway. Of the three existing St. Petersburg airports at that time, it was the smallest but it was the only one publicly owned. Politicians were keen on attracting more tourists, and developers looked for ways to lure more Northerners to buy into their developments. The City's publicity agent at the time, John Lodwick, decided it needed to be a more exciting place. So, shortly after the airport's opening, he convinced the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, to bring one of its blimps to the Airport as its home base. In September 1929, city council appropriated $33,062 for a municipal blimp hangar to house the airships he envisioned coming and going. It was completed and the blimp "Goodyear" flew into the city in December 1929. Unfortunately, the stock market had crashed three months earlier and this aviation venture was doomed for failure. As money dried up for almost every American and the Great Depression cut all activities to the bare minimum, so went the airship enterprise. By April of 1930, every bank in the city was forced to close. By Glenn Anderson |
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Remember Whitted When... Though I have been around the airport since the mid-70's, it wasn't until recently that I found out there are remnants of the old blimp facility still remaining. Along the west fence line of the airport, north of the blast fence, just past the "picnic nook" are what remains of the old blimp tie downs. My guess is that these concrete tie downs have such a massive "root" that they have never been removed. That, plus the fact they are out of the way of any airport activity except grass mowing, has allowed them to stand as monuments to lighter-than-air activity on the field. I hope that as the airport is developed, these concrete pylons will be marked as such and some public access to them provided By Glenn Anderson |