![](https://stuckattheairport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/St.-Petersburg-plane-Benoist.jpg)
![](https://stuckattheairport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/St.-Petersburg-plane-Benoist.jpg)
The St. Petersburg Historical Museum in Florida displays a replica of the Benoist XIV airboat used in the first scheduled air service in the vicinity.
On January 1, 1914, the St. Petersburg-Tampa airboat route began flying across Tampa Bay.
The flight distance was 18 miles and 23 minutes. The trip was 11 hours faster than traveling by rail between St. Petersburg and Tampa.
![](https://stuckattheairport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/benoist.jpg)
![](https://stuckattheairport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/benoist.jpg)
(Provided by Smithsonian Institution)
The plane was just one of the treasures we discovered when we visited the museum. The museum has the largest collection of signed baseballs. 5,036 and still growing. Exhibits include artifacts from the artists known as the “Florida Highwaymen,” a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy, and local roadside attraction Webb’s City.
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