Tony Jannus
Project 2014, the 100th Anniversary of the World's First Scheduled Commercial Airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, was hi-lighted in 2014.
Pilot of that airboat line was Tony Jannus and his brother Roger.
After leaving St. Petersburg, Florida, Tony went to work for the Curtiss Aeroplane Co. and became the test pilot for Curtiss seaplanes that were sold to the Russian Government in Sevastopol, Russia during WW 1. During a test flight, in 1916, Tony's plane crashed into the Black Sea and his body was never recovered.
The picture shows two Curtiss F-boats and the Grigorovich M-4 at Sevatopol, Crimea.
Note the roundels on the wings used by Russia in WW 1.
Pilot of that airboat line was Tony Jannus and his brother Roger.
After leaving St. Petersburg, Florida, Tony went to work for the Curtiss Aeroplane Co. and became the test pilot for Curtiss seaplanes that were sold to the Russian Government in Sevastopol, Russia during WW 1. During a test flight, in 1916, Tony's plane crashed into the Black Sea and his body was never recovered.
The picture shows two Curtiss F-boats and the Grigorovich M-4 at Sevatopol, Crimea.
Note the roundels on the wings used by Russia in WW 1.
Picture here on the left is Tom Benoist with Tony Jannus, right.
In St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas Wesley Benoist (1874-1917) energetic manufacturer of sparking batteries and self-starters for autos, had gone into the airplane manufacturing business. His two pilots were Antony Habersack Jannus (1889-1916) and Roger Weightman Jannus (1886-1918); his engineer was James D. Smith (1889-1963), commonly referred to as "Jay Dee." The company's young test pilots, Tony and Roger Jannus were sons of Franklin Jannus, New York and Washington, D.C. patent attorney; their maternal grandfather was General Roger Weightman, former mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1824-1827.
Tony Jannus was born in Washington, D.C. and learned to fly at College Park just across the District line in Maryland.
Roger was a graduate of Lehigh University and learned to fly at the Benoist flying school in St, Louis, in early 1913.
In St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas Wesley Benoist (1874-1917) energetic manufacturer of sparking batteries and self-starters for autos, had gone into the airplane manufacturing business. His two pilots were Antony Habersack Jannus (1889-1916) and Roger Weightman Jannus (1886-1918); his engineer was James D. Smith (1889-1963), commonly referred to as "Jay Dee." The company's young test pilots, Tony and Roger Jannus were sons of Franklin Jannus, New York and Washington, D.C. patent attorney; their maternal grandfather was General Roger Weightman, former mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1824-1827.
Tony Jannus was born in Washington, D.C. and learned to fly at College Park just across the District line in Maryland.
Roger was a graduate of Lehigh University and learned to fly at the Benoist flying school in St, Louis, in early 1913.