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Airport's history, from blimps to bat planes
By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL ST. PETERSBURG -- While touring the nation in 1930, a flying grocery store taxied into Albert Whitted Airport. "The tri-motored Ford Independence . . . was viewed by thousands," the St. Petersburg Times wrote on March 11 of that year. "A special runway was constructed, making it possible for spectators to see the interior of the pilot's cockpit as well as the food display." Since 1928, Albert Whitted has launched aviation highlights. It was National Airlines' first home. It has housed Naval aviators, Goodyear blimps and a plane that resembled a bat. Today, the facility quarters nearly 250 aircraft and handles thousands of operations annually. "Albert Whitted has such a personality," said Sheri Weaver, the airport's operation supervisor. "There's something about it. Maybe it's the white and blue lights at night." More recently, developers and city officials have questioned its waterfront value. In October 2002, Mayor Rick Baker proposed shrinking the airport from two runways to one and selling the extra land for redevelopment. Earlier this month, activists hoping to create a waterfront park announced plans to pursue enough signatures to warrant a November referendum. "Many people who know the airport's history see its struggle as a David and Goliath thing," said Weaver, 56. In 1911, the city purchased waterfront lot No. 9 for $5,000. A hangar was built there. On New Year's Day 1914, Tony Jannus piloted former Mayor A.C. Pheil across Tampa Bay. "This was the first scheduled commercial flight in the world," said Bill Buston, 76, a Florida Aviation Historical Society board member. After a $15,000 land acquisition from Marguerite Cook in 1917, officials envisioned a city airport. Mayor John Brown empowered an aviation committee in 1928 and on Oct. 12, the city declared the former Cook-Springstead tracts Albert Whitted Airport. "He probably would have taken the naming with a grain of salt," said Dr. Eric Whitted, 77, of his uncle, Lt. James Albert Whitted, who perished with four others in an air crash Aug. 19, 1923, near Pensacola. In summer 1929, a 1,800-foot, east-west runway emerged at Whitted. "St. Petersburg, a future world airport," the Times wrote. That September, city promotional director John Lodwick wrestled $33,062 from the City Council for a blimp hangar. He convinced the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. to house airships there three months later. Accompanied by a 10-plane escort Dec. 10, the Vigilant arrived. "There was a representative there from every (local) family," the Times reported. The Mayflower, Puritan and Resolute followed. After the Depression deflated Lodwick's airship promotion, the hangar housed airplanes and was a storage facility, a maintenance shop, a photography studio and a Florida Power flight headquarters. The hangar was removed in 1999. At 6 a.m. on Oct. 15, 1934, with five employees and two four-passenger planes, National Airlines System launched its inaugural mail flight from Albert Whitted. The plane traveled 110 mph to Daytona, with National's owner George Baker aboard. National's pilots carried guns. "Management called our route the Route of the Buccaneers," said Hank Palmer, 83, a former National mechanic. Baker relocated National to Jacksonville in 1940, and the enterprise became a leading passenger airline. Today, National Airlines Avenue SE borders Albert Whitted. About 1940, a bat-like plane that traveled 110 mph and eased into landings at 20 mph captivated Whitted visitors. Many locals called it the Bat and claimed it looked like a flying saucer. A 4-cylinder, 90-horsepower motor powered the Bat, which had a cotton fabric cover and a 22-foot wingspan. On Jan. 7, 1941, the craft crashed near the airport and killed its pilot. Today's F-100s and space shuttles imitate the Bat's design. From 1941 to 1944, Albert Whitted hosted the War Training Service program for Naval aviation cadets. After the program closed, banker Harry Playford established U.S. Airlines at Albert Whitted. The enterprise carried freight and ran charter flights until it moved in 1948 to the site of today's St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. Bay Air Flying Service Inc. established itself at Whitted in 1946 with just a "couple of planes," said Ron Methot, the company's current owner. Today the concern has 13 planes and 10 instructors and graduates about 50 pilots annually. In 1958, City Manager Ross Windom lobbied for the airport's closure and other development at the site. Pilots formed the St. Petersburg Aviation Association and stifled Windom, only to see another effort surface in 1963 and fail. An effort in 1970 to rename the facility Eisenhower International Airport to honor our 34th president was quickly quashed. "I'm definitely against it," said Horace Williams Jr., a City Council member and great-grandson of founding father J.C. Williams. "Albert Whitted was a (city) pioneer.' In 1984, council overruled its own subcommittee and agreed to preserve Albert Whitted. "Cities need airports like they need streets," said Palmer, 83. -- Information from a story by Carrie Johnson was used in this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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