Pioneers of Profit Among the Clouds on i-Proclaim i-Proclaim Amazon Kindle Category:  History Publisher: i-Proclaim/CheddarBrau Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 76 Copyright: 2007 This book looks at the early history, early men, and early airlines of commercial aviation. What was the first airline in the world? What problems did this airline face? Which current airline is the world's oldest airline? Why did early airlines use a certain type of plane? These questions--and more--are raised and answered in this book on the earliest airlines in history. The early history of commercial air travel is unknown to most people. Just a mere ten years after the Wright Brothers went airborne at Kitty Hawk--and before Lindbergh dared to cross the ocean alone--groups of men attempted to take paying passengers to the skies. A group in the Tampa Bay area was the first to try scheduled airline service. A flying Benoit airboat was used to ferry passengers--one at a time--across the waters of the bay between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Cargo was even ferried--and what a novelty that was as newspaper ads announced the arrival of said freight! Across the state of Florida not much later Chalk's would start scheduled service. Chalk's still operates--and still with flying boats--to hold the claim to the oldest continuously operating airline in the world. Considering the failure rates of airlines, Chalk's is an amazing story. Also featured are colorful airlines such as Trans World Airlines (TWA) and Pan Am, two airlines with early success. Maurice A. Williams of BookIdeas.com writes: I learned many interesting facts from Hoh's book, among which was what the acronym KLM stood for. Pioneers of Profit Among the Clouds is a well-written and interesting book filled with fascinating historical information about the rapid development of passenger airlines that we all benefit from today.  Excerpt When did airline travel start? When did man, once he (or she) conquered flight, feel it was feasible to carry paying passengers? At what point did the lure of untapped riches hook capitalists ready to exploit a new technology and invite a wondering public? On January 1, 1914, while much of Europe was embroiled in a war (it would be known as the “war to end all wars” but later renamed World War I), a small Benoist (pronounced Ben-wah or Ben-weest) Model 14 seaplane took off from St. Petersburg, Florida, and traveled 20 miles across Tampa Bay to land in Tampa, Florida. The pilot on this maiden airline voyage was Anthony Jannus. His paying passenger was the mayor of St Petersburg, Abraham C. Pheil, who bought the first airline ticket at auction for $400. (The airline donated the money to the city for the purchase of harbor lights.) The featured amenities for Mr. Pheil on that expensive flight? Fresh Florida air, breathtaking scenery, and just a little salt-spray in the face—but no in-flight movies! On the bright side, Mr. Pheil did not have to go through any checkpoints or eat airline food. The regular fare for scheduled flights would be set at $5. Non-scheduled flights were available for $10-$20 and charters were available to Egmont Key, Pass-a-Grille, Clearwater and other nearby waterfront localities. Passengers were limited to 200 gross pounds for the standard fare, but could drag along extra poundage at a price. "Excess weight [was] charged at $5 per hundred pounds, minimum charge 25 cents," stated the handbills distributed throughout St. Petersburg and Tampa. That first flight included a stop in Tampa Bay to repair a drive chain, which would be a recurring problem with the Benoist. The first commercial flight also had the world's first airline delay. The fun was just beginning. 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. Noel A. Mitchell was the successful bidder for a $175 round-trip flight. Jannus' flight records show that an additional five short flights, each about 10 minutes, were flown that day. He noted that the engine burned 13 gallons of fuel and about a gallon of lubricating oil per hour of flight. 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. (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." History is full of uncertainty and competing claims. And in the claim for the first scheduled airline there is also some debate. Aviation historian Roger Bilstein sheds doubt on the certainty of when the first scheduled passenger service in the United States began. Silas Christofferson carried passengers in 1913 by hydroplane between San Francisco and Oakland harbors. But records of Christofferson’s service don’t appear to exist. Delag, a German airline using dirigibles, operated a scheduled route between Freidrichshafen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Potsdam and Dresden from 1910 to 1914 and carried 37,000 passengers without mishap. German historians concede that the schedule was rarely kept.

Kitty Hawk to KLM
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Reviewed by: Maurice Williams

Kitty Hawk to KLM

For many years inventors struggled to construct a contraption heavier than air but able to fly. I remember a documentary showing many of the contraptions being tested and failing miserably. Inventors continued to hope, however, because gliders are heavier than air. All that is needed is a suitable engine and airfoil controls to make a self-propelled heavier-than-air flying machine. Early attempts at propulsion included mechanical wings powered by the pilot, giant vertical fans propelled by a small engine and, sometimes, a primitive form of rocket assist. The documentary highlighted the humorous side of the failures, but inventors were dead serious. Propelling heavier-than-air crafts really seemed doable.

Finally on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers succeeded in self-propelled flight. It was a modest flight, only 120 feet and only a few feet above the ground, but it demonstrated the key requirements to get such a craft to fly. It's amazing how rapidly self-propelled aircraft developed after that ground-breaking discovery. Pioneers of Profit Among the Clouds describes the commercialization of using aircraft as a means for profitable public transportation. This developed rapidly also. It is only 104 years since the first self-propelled flight, and aircraft are flown today at extremely high altitudes faster than the speed of sound. Rockets fly through the Solar System. We all know the speed and comfort of commercial airlines: such amazing progress in such a short time.

John Hoh in Pioneers of Profit Among the Clouds recounts how and when these commercial airlines started. The world's first airline, St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, flew its first commercial flight on January 1, 1914. The twenty mile trip cost the sole passenger $400.00. The ticket was raffled off to the highest bidder, very much like space flights offered to civilians today.

Pioneers of Profit Among the Clouds describes all the early airlines including TWA, some still in operation today. The movie The Aviator brought Howard Hughes and his involvement with TWA back to public attention. Among the many things he was famous for was his attempt to make TWA a major airline with the introduction of the Lockheed Constellation. I remember when the Constellation came out. It was a spectacular airplane. Hoh mentions that TWA flew its last scheduled flight on December 1, 2001, ending a 75-year career as a major airline.

I learned many interesting facts from Hoh's book, among which was what the acronym KLM stood for. Pioneers of Profit Among the Clouds is a well-written and interesting book filled with fascinating historical information about the rapid development of passenger airlines that we all benefit from today.

Maurice A. Williams December 20, 2007