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The Benoist XIV flying boats became famous for their role in flying the first-ever heavier-than-air scheduled airline service anywhere in the world. For more information on the airline's establishment and operation, refer to St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line. In addition, some Benoist XIV flying boats were privately owned and toured America, putting on exhibitions and/or carrying passengers for joyrides.
Design and development The aircraft was a conventional biplane with equal-span unstaggered wings with small pontoons at their tips. The engine was mounted on a pedestal aft of the cockpit and drove a two-blade pusher propeller. Various Benoist XIV models supported from one person to three people, sitting side by side in an open cockpit.
The Original The Lark of Duluth The Lark of Duluth was a privately owned Benoist The Lark of Duluth was a privately owned Benoist XIII aircraft. . In 1943, Julius H. Barnes wrote that he was the original owner, but because he was the world’s largest wheat exporter, the local bank advised him in no uncertain terms not to fly. The ownership was thus quickly transferred, on an unknown date, to his friend William D. Jones, both men being from Duluth, Minnesota.
The Lark of Duluth arrived in Duluth on June 24, 1913, along with Benoist pilot Hugh Robinson. She had a sea-green hull and 35-foot white wings painted with the plane’s name. She was scheduled to fly during Duluth's Lark o' the Lake festival, before leaving for Chicago to participate in the 900-mile Great Lakes Reliability Cruise, which started on July 8, 1913. The Great Lakes Reliability Cruise entry list appears to reflect she had a 75-horsepower Roberts motor and would be flown by Hugh Robinson.
But on her maiden flight on July 5, 1913, with Hugh Robinson at the controls, she "was caught by a gust of wind and turned turtle plunging into the lake with Aviator Hugh Robinson and his mechanician, before a gallery of nearly 1,000 persons gathered at the Duluth Boat Club to watch the maneuvers." The St. Louis Benoist factory quickly shipped another flying boat to continue the Duluth Boat Club exhibition flights. The replacement plane arrived on July 8, 1913, and The Lark of Duluth was sent to the Benoist factory for repairs. (Although the news article does not mention the Benoist Number of the replacement plane, tracking her activity over the next few months, leads to the conclusion that she was Benoist Number 44. In addition, no primary sources were located for The Lark of Duluth’s Benoist Number, though it does stand to reason that she could have been 43, given that her construction was completed 10 days before Number 44. This also highlights that Number 43 and 44 existed at the same time, but were not the same airboat.)
The Rebuilt The Lark of Duluth As previously mentioned, the original The Lark of Duluth crashed on July 5, 1913 and was sent to the Benoist St. Louis factory for repairs. The exact extent of her repairs, her new specifications, and her arrival date back to her owner, William D. Jones, remain unclear, but she is reported flying on July 24, 1913 in Duluth.
On year later, June 1914 Aero and Hydro publications report "she is a 1913 Benoist Airboat with a six-cylinder Sturtevant, 70-80-horsepower motor and is the property of W. D. Jones of this city. After nearly a week's work by Jones and [Roger] Jannus the boat is in pink of condition and looks as fresh in her new coats of paint as the day she left the Benoist shops nearly one year ago. The Sturtevant motor ran faultlessly all last summer.... The Lark will be handled during the entire summer by Roger Jannus in the city of Duluth, where he will do a passenger-carrying business, and in the surrounding territory, where he will conduct a general exhibition and passenger service." "The Sturtevant motor worked right on schedule and the hull was still watertight after its long term in the boathouse. The radiator has recently been placed between the front struts of the center section instead of between the rear ones, as before. This gives it a perfectly cool, fresh air, besides improving the balance of the machine, which is now perfect, and eliminating the air disturbance immediately in front of the propeller, which was slightly noticeable last year."
The August 8, 1914 Aero and Hydro publication reports The Lark of Duluth was sold to Roger W. Jannus, who expects to take her to Ohio for exhibitions. By February 1915, Roger Jannus' airboat was flying passengers across the San Diego Bay. On February 19, 1915, the Jannus-owned airboat, while under the control of aviator C. W. Webster crashed into the San Diego Bay. The impact broke several struts and hurled the passenger and pilot, but neither were seriously hurt. "The crew of the Annie Larsen lowered a boat and went to their rescue. They took the aviators ashore and hoisted the machine about the ship and are now holding it for salvage. Roger Jannus, owner of the hydro-aeroplane, tried to obtain a warrant for the arrest of the captain of the schooner. He was unsuccessful, on the ground that the case was under the jurisdiction of the admiralty courts." That's appears to be the end of the rebuilt version of The Lark of Duluth.
Benoist Number 44 As previously mentioned, on July 5, 1913, Benoist employee Hugh Robinson crashed the privately owned The Lark of Duluth during a Duluth exhibition. The Benoist Company quickly shipped from their St. Louis factory a company-owned airboat to fulfil the exhibition obligations, while The Lark of Duluth was sent to the factory for repairs. The replacement plane [Benoist Number 44] arrived on July 8, 1913. Later reports claim Benoist Number 44 was built in 3 days, which has some merit based on her rush from the factory to Duluth. However, the only way an airboat could be constructed that quickly was by assembling it from an existing hull, wings, and tail assembly. (Although the news article does not mention the Benoist Number of the replacement plane, tracking her activity over the next few months, leads to the conclusion that she was Benoist Number 44. In addition, no primary sources were located for The Lark of Duluth’s Benoist Number, though it does stand to reason that she could have been 43, given that her construction was completed 10 days before Number 44. This also highlights that Number 43 and 44 existed at the same time, but were not the same airboat.)
After having arrived in Duluth, Minnesota on July 8, 1913, she spent the rest of the year in various towns across the country, ending up in Paducah, Kentucky in December 1913, where she was described as having a 75hp, 6-cylinder aluminum 2-cycle engine weighing 290 pounds, 60-foot wings at the present time (rather than the normal 50-foot wings) & 5-feet wider than necessary to support the load of people and baggage, a price tag of $5,000, an engine costing $1,500, a weight of 1,175 pounds, and durable vulcanized rubber silk material (versus the delicate material typically used) covered wings with the names of 3,700 people who had seen her across the county. She was said to have an 80mph capability with a 70mph average. On December 22, 1913, the green-hulled Benoist flying boat was crated along the Paducah, Kentucky, river front for shipment via rail to St. Petersburg, Florida where she was to open a daily scheduled flight across Tampa Bay.
The St. Petersburg, Florida news article on January 7, 1914 states, "...Benoist Number 44, which is the one in use here ... has already run over 7,000 miles and is now doing another hundred miles a day."
In May 1914, after the contractual obligations for the St. Petersburg–Tampa route were satisfied with no significant mishaps, Mr. L. E. McLain, of St. Petersburg, "bought Benoist Airboat No. 44 from the Benoist Aircraft company of St. Louis. This boat is the one that opened the airboat line for Tampa...." At the same time, Mr. McLain signed a contract with the Conneaut Lake (PA) Exposition Park owners to run flights between the park and the borough from June through August.
On Sunday, June 28, 1914, Benoist Number 44 crashed into Conneaut Lake. Aviator Bird M. Latham and his passenger were not injured, but the plane was damaged beyond repair. "The only thing saved was the engine," and work began on building another airboat (this one was christened Florida).
Benoist Number 43 and 44 Conflation Confusion Benoist Number 43 and 44 are often conflated. (As previously mentioned, no primary sources were located for The Lark of Duluth’s Benoist Number, though it does stand to reason that she could have been 43, given that her construction was completed 10 days before Number 44.)
Nearly sixteen years after Benoist Number 44 made her historic first-ever heavier-than-air daily scheduled flights over Tampa Bay, Percival Fansler (1881–1937), a promoter of the St. Petersburg–Tampa route, wrote an article about his memories for Aero Digest. For the most part, his memories were accurate, but some details were off by one day (the airboat’s arrival date in Florida) and by one number (the airboat’s number). His inaccurate statement that the St. Petersburg–Tampa route flying boat was Benoist Number 43 is still being repeated in twenty-first-century articles, books, and in museums across the country.
In addition, at least one book when quoting newspaper articles, such as, "We'll be taking No. 44 to Conneaut Lake..." changed the text to "We'll be taking No. 43 to Conneaut Lake," without a [sic] or [recte] notation, and then throughout the book retained the 43 number. These changes of Benoist Numbers have most likely been carried forward into additional twenty and twenty-first century publications, unless it was fact-checked against a primary source.
Thomas Reilly in his book Jannus, An American Flyer highlights "over the years, many conflicting accounts have arisen in regard to the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line.... Many individuals involved with the airline, even though only on a peripheral basis, attempted to claim credit for themselves.... Ownership of the airline and the flying boats used by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line has also been disputed...." He then goes on to state, "The flying boat, Benoist Number 43, was owned by Julius H. Barnes of Duluth, Minnesota." However, as mentioned earlier, in 1943, Julius H. Barnes wrote that he was the original owner, but because he was the world’s largest wheat exporter, the local bank advised him in no uncertain terms not to fly. And then Mr. Barnes continued with, "As fall approached that year , the Jannus brothers came to me with a proposition. They would like to take the 'Lark' down to Florida and set up a flying service." Although Mr. Reilly disputed countless other claims, this time, for unstated reasons, he appeared to accept Barnes' claim. But, with the benefit of numerous 1913–1914 newspaper articles and Aero and Hydro publications, we can now see flaws with Barnes' claim, provided he really did mean to imply the privately owned The Lark of Duluth opened the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airline route. These flaws include: (1) Per a June 1914 Aero and Hydro publication, The Lark of Duluth spent her 1913-1914 winter in her Duluth boathouse. The article states in June 1914, after "its long [winter] term in the boathouse," The Lark of Duluth's "Sturtevant motor worked right on schedule and the hull was still watertight." So The Lark of Duluth did not spent January-March 1914 flying in Florida. (2) The June 1914 Aero and Hydro article also states The Lark of Duluth had a Sturtevant motor. The Benoist airboats running the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airline route had Roberts motors. (3) The airboats that flew the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airline route were Benoist Company owned, not privately owned. And their numbers were No. 44 and No. 45, not 43, as The Lark of Duluth was said to be.