Charles Knotek: First Scheduled Airline Service

Artist: Charles Knotek
1933 -
Nationality: American
Artwork Year: 1983
Image Size: 16.25 by 12.75 inches
Overall Size: 20 by 15 inches
Medium: Mixed Media on Cold Press Illustration Board

It was New Year's Day, 1914. Early in the morning, a thundering parade made its way through downtown St. Petersburg ... a lone city located on an isolated peninsula in southern Florida. The lively, colorful parade finally came to a halt at the edge of the waterfront, where crowds had gathered to view a magnificent flying machine -- the Benoist XIV flying boat -- and, more importantly, to view the inaugural flight of the very first scheduled airline service. This had all come about as a result of the booming tourist trade of the peninsula. With few roads and bridges -- and unreliable railroad and steamer service -- St. Petersburg was nearly isolated from the rest of Florida. Nonetheless, with much difficulty, hoards of tourists flocked to the town's warm, sunny beaches each year. So, in order to facilitate their travel, St. Petersburg set up the world's first airline -- allowing tourists to quickly travel from Tampa to St. Petersburg for the modest rate of $5 per person. Thus, on January 1, 1914, with over half of the town's population watching, the first flight got underway as the flying boat sped across the ocean bay until it seemed to skip like a stone along the water. Then with the single oversized propeller roaring at full throttle, the plane gently nosed into the sky to earn an honored place in the history of manned flight.

This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood® Commemorative Cover for the Man's Conquest of the Heavens series issued in 1983.

Artwork Copyright © 1983 Unicover Corporation. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Images of the Artwork may be watermarked and/or digitally watermarked. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the copyright.

Our Stock Number (SKU): XB08486

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