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Beautiful stock certificate from the Benoist Aircraft Company issued
in 1912. This historic document has an
ornate border around it with a vignette of a seated woman. It also has an underprint of an early Benoist Bi Plane This item is hand signed by
Thomas Wesley Benoist and is over 87 years old. The certiifcate has been folded in thirds and has some slight seperation at the seams.
The history of aviation began with the Wright Brothers in December, 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. As aviation progressed, companies pioneered the scheduled transport of passengers by air. On January 1, 1914, the Benoist Company scheduled passenger
service (World's First Airliner - Benoist Type XIV) from Tampa to St. Petersburg with a five dollar fare. The Benoist "Air Boat" made its first flight over Tampa Bay (25 miles at 60 mph) on January 12.
TOM BENOIST
Born Dec 29, 1874, Irondale MO. Died June 14, 1917.
Thomas Wesley Benoist moved with his family to St Louis in 1983,
where he had his first experience with flight on a balloon ride in 1904.
He and his brother, Charles, started in business first in 1907 as an
automobile supply house, but a year later changed their direction as the
Aeronautic Supply Company, the first of its kind in the USA. Aerosco,
as it became popularly known, sold not only raw materials, parts, and
motors, but featured Curtiss and European biplanes in its 52-page
catalog. There Tom developed his newfound interest in designing flying
machines.
By 1909 he had his first airplane, an old Curtiss pusher that he had
rebuilt and modified as a prototype for three others, but he had never
flown any of them. So, his first flight in September 1910 was his solo
flight -- a journey of 600' at an altitude of 50' -- which also made his the
first St Louis resident to fly. With skills evolved from subsequent flights,
Benoist opened a flying school at the city's new Kinloch Field, where by
mid-1911 more than a dozen students from around the world had
learned to fly -- one of them was Tony Jannus, who would become his
chief instructor and collaborator in designing aircraft.
Production was mostly undocumented, and only one report of a total
106 aircraft built by the various Benoist operations was noted, but the
products were well-known and the company was a major manufacturer
of the period. Benoist and Jannus also received US patent #1,053,182
for their invention of a tethered parachute "dispenser," which Bert Berry
used to make the world's first successful jump from a plane on March
1, 1912.
In early 1913, the pair made plans for a mid-year transatlantic flight to
try for the $50,000 prize announced by Lord Northcliffe, in which
Jannus would follow a steamship until 100 miles from the Irish coast,
then fly ahead to land. However, their plans fell through when the
Roberts Co would not to loan them a vital 100hp motor. Things began
looking up when a three-month contract was awarded for a St
Petersburg-Tampa airline to begin New Year's Day 1914, the world's
first scheduled passenger service. Service ended on March 30, and
while losing money in the venture, they proved the feasibility of
commercial air service by carrying 184 passengers safely on 97 trips.
Business went back into a slump, and Jannus left. Without city support,
Kinloch Field became virtually deserted, so in January 1915 Benoist
moved operations to Chicago. There he reached an tentative agreement
with the St Louis Car Co to build 5,000 airplanes to sell at $6,100
each; however, only two prototype Model 15s came of the idea, and
Benoist moved his shrinking business into the Roberts Motor Co
factory at Sandusky OH, where only four aircraft were reported built.
Struggling to pay bills and keep remaining employees from deserting
him, there was a sudden bright ray when in December 1916 he was
approached by the government about an order, and Admiral Peary was
scheduled for a meeting with Benoist and the Roberts people in late
June 1917. Benoist was also negotiating with financial backers about his
eight-passenger, twin-motored Model 17, when he hopped off a
moving trolley one fateful day and struck a light pole. He died within
hours at age 43.
FIRST COMMERCIAL AIRLINES
St. Petersburg, Florida, is not generally considered a city that can boast of an aviation "first." But on January 1, 1914, the St. Petersburg-Tampa
Airboat Line was born there--the world's first scheduled airline using winged aircraft. A plaque on the entrance to St. Petersburg International Airport
proclaims: "The Birthplace of Scheduled Air Transportation."
Traveling in that first passenger airplane made of wood, fabric and wire was a far cry from flying in today's comfortable,
air-conditioned airliner. From all accounts, however, those first airline flights were not so bad, provided you did
not mind sitting out in the breeze with water spraying in your face. Passengers sat on a wooden seat in the hull of a two-place
seaplane that did not have a windshield and rarely flew more than five feet above the water. That is the way it was on that
momentous day in sunny Florida only a decade after Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic first
flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
The aircraft in St. Petersburg was a Benoist (pronounced Ben-wah or Ben-weest) Model 14, built by St. Louis manufacturer Thomas W. Benoist.
Best known for the sparking batteries and automobile self-starters he manufactured, Benoist also built 17 different
models of landplanes and seaplanes between 1910 and 1917. His aircraft advertisement claimed: "My plane is figured down to
the last equation, and improved up to the second. Every nut, bolt, wire, wood member,
and piece of cloth is examined, tried and tested before it goes into our machines.
Some others may be built as good, but none are built better, because we use the best of
everything." An early aviation visionary, he said he often "dreamed of the skies filled with air lanes carrying the world's passenger and freight
traffic."
The pilot on that historic January 1914 flight was Antony H. Jannus, a Benoist test pilot and instructor who had carried
Captain Albert Berry aloft to make the first parachute jump from an airplane on March 1, 1912. Jannus flew a
number of exhibitions demonstrating Benoist planes throughout the Midwest and was a contestant at a Chicago
air meet in September 1912.
Prototype for Model 12
Later that month, he established an American passenger-carrying record by taking
three men with him on a 10-minute flight. On November 6, 1912, flying an early model Benoist on a
single float, Jannus and J.D. Smith, his mechanic, left Omaha for New Orleans in an attempt to
set a distance record for winged aircraft. Although it took six weeks to make the 1,973 mile trip because of stops
for exhibitions, a near-disastrous fire, repairs and a bout with appendicitis, Jannus received wide acclaim in the
newspapers as "the pioneer flying-boat pilot of the world." Shortly thereafter, he was credited
with setting a "continuous flight with passenger" record by flying the 251 miles from Paducah, Ky., to St. Louis in
four hours, 15 minutes.
Jannus, who was born in Washington, D.C., in 1889, had been employed by the Emerson Marine Engine Co. in Alexandria, Va.
He had been sent to the airfield at College Park, Md., in November 1910 to install a marine engine in a modified Curtiss-type airplane with
Farman landing gear, made by Frederick Fox and Rexford Smith, and was instantly obsessed with learning to fly. He
began flying after receiving only cursory instructions and was soon making cross-country flights
at altitudes up to 300 feet. Jannus flew several times from the Polo Grounds in Washington and made some
air-to-ground radio tests for the Signal Corps. In July 1911, he traveled to St. Louis, where he was hired by Benoist
as a flying instructor. Roger, his older brother, a graduate of Lehigh University, also was caught up in the excitement of
flying. He later joined Tony at the Benoist factory and took lessons from him. The driving force behind the St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line was Percival Elliot
Fansler, a Florida sales representative for Kahlenberg Brothers, a Wisconsin manufacturer of diesel engines for fishing boats. He
became fascinated with Benoist's progress in aircraft design and manufacture. He recalled later: "My appetite for speed was
whetted by my experiences in racing boats. Having heard that Tony Jannus had made his famous trip down the Mississippi in a
flying boat, I started correspondence with Tom [Benoist]. After receiving two or
three letters that dealt
with the details and capabilities of
the boat, the idea popped into my
head that instead of
monkeying around with the thing to
give 'jazz' trips, I would start a
real commercial
[air]line from somewhere to somewhere
else. My experience in Florida led me
to conclude that a
line could be operated between
St. Petersburg and Tampa. The
distance was about 23
miles--some 15 of which were
along the shore of Tampa Bay, and the
remainder over open
water. I wrote to Tom about
the scheme and he became immediately
enthusiastic."
Fansler agreed to go to Tampa, select
a suitable seaplane
route and make all the business
arrangements. Benoist promised he
would furnish three
airboats, mechanics and pilots if
Fansler was successful in getting
some financial backing.
Fansler immediately wired Benoist to
come to St.
Petersburg. On December 17, 1913,
Benoist signed the world's first
airline contract for
heavier-than-air planes.
The day after the contract signing,
the St. Petersburg
Times reported that "a fleet of
hydro-aeroplanes" would make regular
trips between St.
Petersburg and Tampa, and
predicted that the service would
"prove to be of great
benefit to the city." When queried
about the safety of the operation,
Fansler said, "there is
no more liability of accident in one
of the boats than in an automobile,
and the airboat will
seldom be more than five feet
above the water."
Fansler, as general manager of the
airline, fixed the
price of a one-way ticket at $5 for the
22-minute trip. Passengers were
allowed a maximum weight
of 200 pounds gross,
including hand baggage. "Excess
weight [was] charged at $5
per hundred pounds,
minimum charge 25 cents," according
to the handbills
distributed throughout the two cities.
Besides operating two scheduled
flights per day, six days
a week, Fansler recalled that
"our agreement with our backers
permitted us to indulge in
special flights at any price we
cared to name, and we made a number
of these trips at $10
to $20 each."
In addition to starting the airline,
Fansler announced
that a training school for pilots would
be established. Three Benoist
airboats were shipped from
the St. Louis factory for both
purposes. One was a Model 13; the
other two were Model
14s. The Model 13 was to
be operated by the school for
instruction, and the 14s
were to be used for passenger
transport. A large, open-ended hangar
was planned.
The first of the two Model 14 Benoist
airboats, No. 43,
arrived by train from Paducah,
Ky., and was promptly assembled. It
weighed 1,250 pounds,
was 26 feet long and had a
wingspan of 44 feet. Although the
plane was built to hold
only a pilot and one passenger
on a single seat, sometimes two small
passengers could be
accommodated. Tony Jannus
gave it two test flights on December
30 and 31, 1913,
accompanied on one of them by
Benoist's chief mechanic, J.D. Smith,
and on the other by
a local man named J.G. Foley.
Smith, whom Jannus called "Smitty,
the Infallible," was
especially adept at maintaining the
Roberts 6-cylinder, in-line,
liquid-cooled, 75-hp engines
that Benoist used in his planes.
Smith had raced motorcycles as a
young man, and when he
read about Benoist in 1912,
he left his home in Jamestown, Pa.,
for the St. Louis
plant. Benoist found him voluntarily
sweeping snow off a plane in
subfreezing weather and hired
him on the spot.
The hull of the Benoist flying boat
was made of three
layers of spruce with fabric between
each layer. The Roberts engine and a
pusher propeller gave
the aircraft a top speed of 64
mph. The wings were of linen
stretched over spruce spars.
It was claimed, though not
accurately, that the Benoist was the
only plane in the
world at the time that had the engine
placed down in the hull. The plane
was touted for
publicity purposes as "a motor boat
with wings and an air propeller." It
was priced at $4,250.
Although this early Benoist had
greater stability than
later models, the low placement of
the engine proved to be a maintenance
headache. The
propeller had to be located high
enough to avoid the water spray, and
the connection
between the engine in the hull and
the pusher propeller required a chain
drive that often
slipped off its track. Later Benoist
models had one or two 100-hp Roberts
direct-drive engines
mounted under the top wing.
By New Year's Day of 1914, the
continual attention the
local paper was giving to the
promised inauguration of scheduled
flights had built up
intense interest in the new venture.
After a parade from downtown St.
Petersburg to the
waterfront, an Italian band from the
Johnny Jones Show played at the
municipal pier as Jannus
readied the airboat for flight. A
crowd of 3,000 looked on while a
ticket for the first
flight round-trip to Tampa on the
airline was auctioned off. Former
Mayor Abraham C. Pheil
won the honor of being the
first airline passenger with a bid of
$400. The airline
donated the money to the city for the
purchase of harbor lights.
Fansler made a short speech as the
airboat was being
placed in the water, "What was
impossible yesterday is an
accomplishment today, while
tomorrow heralds the unbeliev
able," he concluded. At 10 a.m. the
ex-mayor donned a
raincoat, stepped gingerly into
the hull and sat on the small wooden
seat beside the
pilot. Jannus started the two-cycle
engine and tested the controls. He
waved to the crowd,
taxied out and took off into
history. Halfway to Tampa, however,
the engine began
misfiring, and he landed in the bay
briefly to adjust it. He took off
again and, 23 minutes
after the original takeoff, landed at
the entrance to the Hillsborough
River before an excited
crowd of 2,000.
Police held the crowd back as Jannus
and Pheil obliged a
cameraman who asked them to
pose for pictures. A reporter from
the Tampa Tribune asked
Pheil why his hands were
all greasy. He replied that it was
from "assisting Mr.
Jannus to adjust some machinery."
Pheil went to a telephone and called
St. Petersburg to
announce their arrival.
Jannus and Pheil left Tampa for the
return trip at 11 a.m.
and arrived back in St.
Petersburg before another cheering
crowd. Just before the
afternoon flight, a second
auction was held, with Noel A.
Mitchell the successful
bidder for a round-trip flight at
$175. The next day, Mrs. L.A.
Whitney, wife of the
secretary of the Chamber of
Commerce, made the flight to Tampa
and back to become the
first woman passenger to
fly on a fixed-wing scheduled
airline. (Actually, Mae
Peabody of Dubuque, Iowa, was the
first woman to make a local flight
out of St. Petersburg.)
Whitney described the flight as
"the most delightful sensation
imaginable--it is like
being rocked to sleep in your mother's
arms."
The St. Petersburg Times announced
that it had signed a
contract with the airboat line to
fly papers daily to Tampa, which
would make it "the first
newspaper in the world to use
flying machines for delivery
purposes." The announcement
added, "This will be the most
unusual carrier system in all the
world and Tampa readers,
when they receive their copy...
will read a newspaper delivered as no
other."
The Tampa Tribune noted that the
first flight had been
made "without mishap" and gave
the event a banner headline in its
January 2 edition--"The
First Commercial Air Ship Line
Inaugurated." The article stated:
"When the airboat
arrived yesterday morning, a crowd of
2,000 was waiting near the temporary
landing [site],
another 1,000 saw what they could
from the Lafayette Street bridge, and
500 more were across
the river. When the dock
was reached, an enthusiastic cheer
went up, and there was
a clapping and the waving of
hats and handkerchiefs. A moment
later, there was a rush
down the three narrow planks
connecting the platform with the
shore; men, women and
children [were] fighting to get
down to the boat and its two
occupants."
There was amused reaction from other
state newspapers. The
Jacksonville Metropolis
editorialized that "St. Petersburg is
now a city of
pelicans, porpoises & planes." Its rival,
the Jacksonville News, advised: "St.
Petersburg papers
might secure an obituary sketch
of all aeroplane passengers at the
same time they take the
passenger manifests. It might
save time." The Estero Eagle asked,
"Is Tampa such a tough
and wicked old city that its
residents are preparing to fly from
it?"
The Tampa Tribune responded to that
question a few days
later: "All airboat passengers
have been from St. Petersburg and are
apparently eager to
get to Tampa." The St.
Petersburg Independent replied: "It
is noticeable that the
time from Tampa is always
faster than the time to Tampa. Once
having reached Tampa,
no matter how anxious to get
there, the passengers are always in a
hurry to get away."
Jannus' flight records show that an
additional five short
flights of about 10 minutes each
were made that epic day. He noted
that the engine was
burning 13 gallons of fuel and
about a gallon of lubricating oil per
hour of flight.
The airline service had to sort out a
few administrative
problems. The Tampa Port
Inspector required that the airline
get a license for all
its pilots and planes, so Jannus
immediately applied for one, which
was issued on February
17, 1914, by the U.S.
Department of Commerce. Some
historians claim it was the
first airline pilot's license in
the United States. According to
Edward C. Hoffman,
president of the Florida Aviation
Historical Society, the license they
have on hand has the
word "steamboat" crossed out
and "Aeroplane" typed in. (Another
license was granted on
August 10, 1914, at
Cleveland, Ohio, which states that it
is issued for
"Operator Motor" and appears to be for
operation of motorboats.)
Local merchants took advantage of the
airline's sudden
renown to advertise that their
wares were being transported by air.
A Tampa florist
filled orders to St. Petersburg for as
much as $50 worth of cut flowers a
day. The Hefner Grocery
Co. in St. Petersburg ran
an ad touting Swift premium smoked
hams and bacon that had
been delivered by "Airboat
Express." The ad said, "Although they
came high, the price
is low." Some mail was carried
but not on government contract.
The other two airboats, one a Model
13 and the other a 14,
arrived on January 31. Roger
Jannus was to be the backup pilot.
Heinrich Evers, a
German, and Byrd Latham enrolled
as students, and both soloed at St.
Petersburg. Evers
wrecked the Model 13 on its
second flight.
The airline operated successfully for
the three-month
period. A total of 172 regular trips
were made, and 1,205 passengers were
carried (some two at
a time) for an estimated
7,000 air miles. Of the 50 days
scheduled for flying, only
seven days were lost because of
weather or maintenance problems. On
one flight, however,
Jannus had to land in choppy
water when the engine ran rough
because of dirt in the
carburetor. One pontoon and a
portion of one lower wing were
damaged. Fansler reported
that Jannus fixed the
carburetor, "got the boat into the
air again with skill
and flew on in with a portion of the
wing hanging like the broken wing of
a bird."
On another forced landing due to
engine problems, Jannus
hit a submerged object and the
boat hull sprang a leak. As Gay Blair
White notes in The
World's First Airline, "This was
the only case in which a passenger
got his feet wet, and
he would not, if he had stayed on
the machine until a motor boat came
out and took him off.
However, as the boat had four
air-tight compartments and none of
these were punctured,
the damage caused by the
accident was trivial."
According to Fansler, the demand for
reservations remained
high: "We had a waiting list a
yard long, and not once did we have
to fly without a
passenger." In addition to the
scheduled trips, about 100 charter
and sightseeing flights
were reported in the two Model
14 airboats. Repair costs were stated
as less than $100.
An estimated $12,000 in fares
was taken in, but local historians
believe that the
freight cost of getting the planes to
Florida, employee wages and gas and
oil allowed only a
small profit. On March 28, as the
contract expiration date neared,
Benoist said, "We have
not made much money, but I
believe we have proved that the
airplane can be
successfully used as a regular means of
transportation and commercial
carrier."
The airline operated for another five
weeks after the
March 31 contract termination date,
but passenger interest declined
rapidly as the "snow
birds" (winter residents) retreated
northward. On April 27, Tony and
Roger Jannus, apparently
bored between scheduled
runs, raced each other several times
over an eight-mile
course. The last official airline flight
was made on May 5, 1914.
The two Florida cities are proud of
their aviation "first"
and have reminded the aviation
community about it each year since
1964. To celebrate the
50th anniversary of the historic
flight, the St. Petersburg and Tampa
chambers of commerce
established the Tony Jannus
Award. The award is given annually on
Tony Jannus Day to
an individual "who has
contributed to the growth and
improvement of the scheduled
airline industry."
The first recipient was U.S. Senator
A.S. "Mike" Monroney
(D-Okla.), who sponsored
progressive federal aviation
legislation. Other recipients
include Jimmy Doolittle, Juan
Trippe, Eddie Rickenbacker, C.R.
Smith and Donald W.
Douglas. Recent winners were
Herbert D. Kelleher of Southwest
Airlines; Alan Boyd,
former secretary of transportation;
and Martin Schroder, founder of
MartinAir.
A flying replica of the 1914 Model
14, No. 43, was
constructed by George Hayes,
Russell St. Arnold and 28 other
members of the Florida
Aviation Historical Society. The
replica was piloted on its first and
all subsequent
flights by Edward C. Hoffman. The initial
flight was made on October 9, 1983.
About 30 to 40 more
short flights were made to
"work out engine and chain problems,
as well as weight and
balance questions," according
to Hoffman. A flight from Lake Tarpon
to St. Petersburg
was made just before Christmas
1983.
At 10 a.m. on New Year's Day 1984,
Hoffman took to the air
to commemorate the
Jannus flight of 70 years before. The
replica was flown
about seven times more at Tarpon
Springs to make an Imax film that was
then shown at the
National Air & Space Museum
in Washington, D.C. The replica's
total flying time was
six hours, 40 minutes, and it never
flew again. The Chevrolet engine was
later replaced with a
light wooden replica of the
original Roberts for display
purposes.
This replica of the historic Benoist
No. 43, an original
Benoist propeller, a pennant that
had been tied to the plane and a 1914
newspaper carrying
the area's most exciting
aviation story of the time are all on
display in the
Benoist Pavilion at the St. Petersburg
Historical and Flight One Museum. The
birthplace of
scheduled air transportation is
memorialized by a plaque that was
dedicated on October 12,
1957, by Pinellas County
authorities. It reads: "Here, in this
county, Thomas W.
Benoist, pioneer airplane builder,
first proved to the world that the
amazing new invention,
the flying machine, could be put
to work for the benefit of mankind."
Although short-lived, the three-month
scheduled service
did indeed prove that aircraft
with good maintenance and competent
pilots could provide
safe public transportation. *
Contributing editor C.V. Glines is
an award-winning
aviation writer and a frequent
contributor to Aviation History
Magazine. Further
reading: Jannus, an American Flier by Thomas Reilly
Published by the University Press of Florida in 1997.
The World's First Airline,
by Gay Blair White; and World
Encyclopedia of Civil
Aircraft, by Enzo Angelucci.
1908: (Thomas and Charles) Benoist Aircraft Co, aka Aeronautic Supply Co, 6628 Delmar Blvd, St Louis MO. 1911: Benoist Airplanes/Benoist Flying School, Kinloch Field, St Louis. 1912: Benoist Aerial Exhibition Co. Jan 1915: Benoist Aeroplane Co, Chicago IL. 1915: Unresolved merger with St Louis Car Co, to build seaplanes for export. 1917: Benoist Aircraft Co, Sandusky OH (Roberts Motor Co). June 1917: Production ended at Benoist's death, at which time Benoist companies reportedly had produced 106 airplanes. 1910 = 2pOB; 50hp Roberts pusher. Tom Benoist-modified Curtiss headless design. POP: 1. 1912 = 2pOBFb; 100hp Hall-Scott pusher and a chain-driven propeller; span: 45'0" v: 65. $4,250. Design, modified from the previous headless, also featured a small motor in the hull for surface power. POP: 1. 1912 = 1pOB; tractor motor. Tom Benoist, Tony Jannus. POP: 3. Reportedly crude in construction, and with framework fuselage, Jannus used one for exhibition flying. Design likely was prototype for Model 12. Benoist C (Smithsonian) C 1915 = Larger, 6p twin-engine version of Model 14 with two 100hp Roberts pushers. E 1915 = 2pOBFb; 75hp Roberts pusher. Similar to Model 14. Headless 1911 = 2pOB; 75hp Roberts pusher; span: 30'0" length: 22'6" v: 68/x/31 range: 180; ff: Dec 27, 1911 (p: Tony Jannus, who qualified for his pilot's license with that flight). Tom Benoist, Tony Jannus. Wingtip ailerons. $3,950 for land version, $4,150 with floats. Benoist XII with ailerons (Leo J Opdyke coll) Model 12, Land Tractor, Type XII 1913 = 2pOB. Advertised as an "exhibition machine." First with interplane ailerons, then refitted with trailing-edge ailerons. $2,500+. Model 14 1913 = 2pOBFb; 75hp Roberts 6 pusher (later 80hp Sturtevant); span: 45'0" length: 26'0" v: 68/64/31 range: 175. Company's first boat-hull design. $4,250. The first US scheduled air service was inaugurated Jan 1, 1914, as the St Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line (p: Tony Jannus). Its first passenger, St Petersburg's ex-Mayor A C Phell, paid his auction price of $400 for the privilege of an historic 23-minute flight! Service ended on March 30, 1914, at the end of the three-month contract period after losing money in the venture, but it proved the feasibility of commercial air service by safely carrying 184 passengers on 97 trips. Model 15 (St Louis Car Co) 1916 = OBFb. POP: 2. Model 17 1916 = Probably unbuilt even as prototypes, Benoist tried to interest backers in his 2p E-17 and a more ambitious 8p, 100hp, twin-engine K-17 cross-country transporter shortly before his death. Tractor Hydro 1912 = 2pOBF; 75hp Roberts. Single float, interwing ailerons. Used by Tony Jannus for a notable flight from Omaha to New Orleans, down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, from Nov 6-Dec 16, 1912. Stopping at towns along the way for 42 passenger hops and exhibitions, his flight set a new world distance record of 1,973 miles. Flight time: 31h:43m in the same plane and motor -- a exceptional feat in those days!
From AERO Magazine June 22, 1912
NEWEST BENOIST HAS MANY ATTRACTIVE FEATURES
Type 12 -- No. 31
In conformity with the most advanced principles of aero-
dynamics and the result of four years' practical aeroplane
construction, the new 1912 tractor biplane of the Benoist
Aircraft Company has been produced. In the words of some
forgotten philosopher, "experience do teach." Modification
in design made in the Benoist machine, being those found
by every-day flying experience to be the best, has resulted
in the design shown herewith.
In the new model the question of head resistance has
rightly been considered of paramount importance, and has
been obtained by inclosing the seats for the pilot and passenger
within a streamline body of similar shape to the Nieuport
monoplane, which obtained its wonderful speed chiefly by
the lessened resistance in the body used. In addition to the
body inclosing the pilot and passenger, it is also designed
to inclose all control levers and the gasoline tank, so that
the only exposed parts are the planes, struts and landing
gear. The body is made sufficiently wide to accomodate
two passengers side by side on the front seat. This seat is
located approximately over the center of gravity of the ma-
chine, so that there is no change in trim when flying without
passengers.
The chief measurements of the new model are as follows:
Spread of main planes, 35 feet; length over all, 24 feet; chord,
4 feet 9 inches; area of main planes, 240 square feet; area
of rudder, 7.5 square feet; area of elevator, 26.6 square feet;
area of ailerons, each, 20 square feet; weight empty, 925
pounds; useful load, 500 pounds.
The motor, a six-cylinder 75 hp Roberts, is mounted
in front just behind the automobile type of radiator. In the
Gallery 1 rear of the motor the passenger and pilot seats are placed
such a distance apart that the head resistance is at a mini-
mum. The ailerons, elevator and rudder are of the flexing
type developed by the Benoist company, the rudder being
wholly above the elevator. The landing gear is of the well-
known Benoist type, being a combination of wheels and
skids united through the medium of steel springs as the
shock-absorbing medium. That such a system of shock ab-
sorption is satisfactory may be judged by the fact that since
its adoption a year ago, not a breakage has been recorded
against it.
The efficiency of the new model is well attested by its
greatly increased speed over the older models of the same
horsepower and its much flatter gliding angle. This quality
is of greater importance than speed for cross-country flying,
for which this new model is primarily intended. The land-
ing gear design is such that pontoons for hydro work can
be attached without difficulty or other change in the ma-
chine.
The planes are covered with Goodyear fabric, no.10.
The standard size of the gasoline tank has a capacity of 15
gallons, sufficient for two hours' flying. Feed to the car-
bureter is assured by an air pressure of about two pounds,
maintained in the gasoline tank by means of an automobile
air pump. An auxiliary air pump to be worked by hand is
also supplied. The pressure on the tank is indicated by a
guage placed in front of the aviator. The speed of the motor
is indicated by an electric tachometer, placed in full view
of the pilot, so that the flight speed is at all times relatively
known.
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