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Flight to immortality

Tony Jannus lands among the greats of aviation.

By JON WILSON
Published December 10, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] St. Petersburg-Tampa Air Boat Line general manager P.E. Fansler, St. Petersburg mayor and first passenger Abe Pheil, an pilot Tony Jannus, left to right, pose Jan. 1, 1914, before the historic flight.

Tony Jannus, a history-making pilot and early folk hero in St. Petersburg, will be inducted into an aviation hall of fame that includes such famous fliers as Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager and the first astronauts.

Jannus on Dec. 17 becomes part of the Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine, a portrait gallery at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.

Just more than 10 years after Wilbur and Orville Wright became the first to achieve successful powered flight, Antony Habersack Jannus flew the world's first scheduled commercial flight from the downtown waterfront to Tampa and back.

St. Petersburg Mayor Abe Pheil was the inaugural passenger in the single-engine biplane, called the Benoist airboat.

The Garber shrine has honored pioneering aviators since 1966. Many among them are fliers who achieved significant "firsts," such as Jannus.

"It's certainly a fantastic honor," said Will Michaels, former executive director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History and a current board member.

Joe Bullers, another board member, began the process a couple of years ago when he and his wife took their grandchildren to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial.

"I was looking at oil paintings of different pilots and I asked the curator: 'Where's Tony Jannus?' " Bullers later asked Michaels to send material on Jannus to the curator.

The result is the induction Dec. 17, the 103rd anniversary of the Wrights' historic flight.

Author and aviation expert Tom Reilly is credited with writing the definitive book about the pilot, Jannus, an American Flier, published by the University of Florida Press in 1997.

He, too, is elated Jannus is being honored.

"I think it's unfortunate that he has almost kind of been forgotten in St. Petersburg at this point," Reilly said.

Some elements of recognition remain here and in Tampa.

Jannus Landing, the downtown entertainment venue, is named for the pilot.

A painting at Tampa International Airport depicts Jannus' arrival in Tampa during the famous 1914 flight, and a set of elevators is named for him.

Suspended in a large Museum of History gallery is a full-size, flying replica of the Benoist airboat Jannus flew. There was talk about taking it to the Jannus ceremony.

But despite the best efforts of all involved, "It became mission impossible getting it out of the building," said Dick Newton, co-chair of the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society.

Jannus, who was born in 1889 in Washington, D.C., didn't stay long in St. Petersburg. The airline lasted about three months.

In 1912 during a 1,973-mile trip from Omaha, Neb., to New Orleans over the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, Jannus set a record for over-the-water flight and recorded the first long-distance freight haul. He picked up a case of beer in St. Louis and carried it the rest of the way.

Also in 1912, Jannus was the pilot for the first person to parachute from an airplane.

He went to Russia in 1915 as a test pilot and died at 27 in a 1916 crash into the Black Sea.

His body was never recovered.

[Last modified December 9, 2006, 20:22:41]