Although it’s a claim certain to reignite airline history wars, today is, technically, the 100th anniversary of the start of scheduled winged airliner flights. The story of that first flight, between two Florida towns, St Petersburg and Tampa, which were separated by a 32 kilometre stretch of lake, or a 12 hour train trip, is […]

Although it’s a claim certain to reignite airline history wars, today is, technically, the 100th anniversary of the start of scheduled winged airliner flights.

The story of that first flight, between two Florida towns, St Petersburg and Tampa, which were separated by a 32 kilometre stretch of lake, or a 12 hour train trip, is told and commemorated by IATA on its 100 years of Commercial Flight web site.

But without detracting from the romance of the short lived St Peterburg Tampa Airboat Line, what in Himmel would IATA member Lufthansa make of this?

Its forerunner Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft, conveniently known as DELAG, holds a rather convincing claim to being the world’s first revenue collecting and scheduled airline, although it used lighter than air engine powered Graf Zeppelin airships, with superior range /payload and speed and altitude characteristics to the single large or double smaller sized passenger Benoist Airboat Model XIV, no. 43 flown on 1 January 1914 by SPT Airboats.

DELAG had flown over 37,000 passengers by schedule by the time the Benoist air boat had roared across the water on a 23 minute flight interrupted by a brief landing to adjust the chain driven engine turning its propeller, during which the passenger, as mechanical assistant, covered his hands and clothes with oil.

SPT Airboat Line lasted four months and carried just over 1200 passengers. DELAG emerged from the Great War to fly nonstop trans Atlantic Zeppelin services to Lakehurst New Jersey for those who want to fast forward to the Hindenburg disaster, as well as to South America, and although the historical references vary, it appears to have run scheduled flights within and without Germany from no later than September 1912 and possibly soon after it was founded in 1909.

The US built Benoist typically cruised at an altitude of five feet, or 150 centimetres, and could it was said reach a speed of 103 kilometres per hour. The passenger, or two smaller passengers, wore an airline provided rain coat (s) even on those perfectly still and sunny Florida days when the lake was smooth.

Who owns the narratives in history is always an interesting question. But not as exciting as being in a dirigible grinding its way over the chimmneys and castles of the Rhineland, or hurtling chest high over the Everglades in a macintosh and goggles under a tropical sun.

We have no idea how much fun our ancestors had in their early flying machines, and like them, quite possibly no idea as to where and how our descendants will fly in the airliners of the future.

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