louis bleriot made the first airplane trip in 1903.
who made the first airplane trip in 1903?
louis bleriot
prior to 1914, travel from tampa, florida, to st. petersburg, located on a then-isolated peninsula, required a slow steamboat trip across tampa bay or a circuitous, five-hour journey by railroad. a bumpy automobile or horse and buggy ride took many hours over primitive, unpaved roads. the airplane at the time was a rare novelty, lacking any practical application. impressed by the record-setting overwater flight made by jannus in 1912, florida businessman percival fansler approached some st. petersburg businessmen the next year with a proposal to use benoist flying boats for "a real commercial line" over open water between the two cities. convinced by fansler's plan, several st. petersburg community leaders, led by l. a. whitney of the local chamber of commerce and noel mitchell, agreed to provide financial support for the creation of an airline service to connect the two cities. a 90-day contract with benoist was signed on december 17, 1913 (the 10th anniversary of wilbur and orville wright's historic first airplane flight), to provide airplanes and crew for two daily round trips across tampa bay, dubbed the "st. petersburg–tampa airboat line" — the world's first scheduled airline. fansler told the "st. petersburg times": "the st. petersburg waterfront is an ideal place for starting and landing as the trip to and from tampa will be one of the most beautiful in the country. skimming a few feet above the surface of the water... with the purr of a 75 h.p. engine and the whirring of a propeller turning several hundred times a minute, the rush of the cool salt air and the shimmering sunlight on tampa bay — no trip could be more enjoyable.".
tony jannus
in 1947, the league moved its spring training camp to havana, cuba. two hundred girls made the trip to havana, and for many, like jochum, the flight was their first airplane trip. as she recalled in an interview with jim sargent, "i took my first airplane flight, we stayed at the seville-biltmore hotel, and we played our games at the gran stadium. all the teams were filmed for fox news going down the steps at the university of havana". the new rules applied during the regular season permitted a full sidearm pitching delivery, and many players who developed hitting underhand pitching had problems adjusting to the new pitching style. as a result of the innovation, dorothy kamenshek was the champion bat with a significant .306 average, audrey wagner was the leader with seven home runs, and elizabeth mahon topped all hitters with 53 runs batted in. jochum was not an exception, as she slipped to .211, 42 rbi, 36 runs, and 44 stolen bases. for the second consecutive year south bend made the playoffs, but again lost in the first round, this time to the grand rapids chicks, who defeated the racine belles in seven games.
betsy jochum