The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-12-04
Smathers Plans To Renew Efforts To Gain
Establishment OF AT Academy In Florida

one aviatin state in the nation and
the greatest of international air
commerce centerf."
Somewhat faeetiously, Senator
Smathefs added:
"a think We can exercise me
foresight 10 snvisiens ir the
space world 81 the future which
IL 80 real 10 our boys who fellow
The comic strips, mat beth Buck
Rogers and IRE Space Cadets
viii semsdaY be operating from
q Space Academy in the heart u
Florida"
In recounting Florida eontribu.
ton TO aviation, Smathers said a
dynamic outlook" Of forward-look-
ing Florida citizens had a great
deal TO do with forming receptive
attitudes and a sense Of air-mind-
edness" IN America. He cited three
contributing events.
The first Of these early events
was the creation and publishing of
the worlds first aviation legisla.
ton. On July IT. 1908, there ap-
peared in the Kissimmee Valley
Gazette . proposed ordinance for
the regulation OF aircraft. The pro-
posed ordinance was perhaps as
much an exercise in legal seman-
tics as a practical piece Of legis.
lation, preceding, as it did, wide
spread use Of the airplane by many
years. The Kissimmee ordinance
was published more than q year
before the first reported flight
made In Florida.
Although never officially adopted
into local law, the proposed 0rdi-
nance, and Kissimmee itself, re-
ceived attention from cities all
over the country and from abroad.
Commenting on the wide publicity
resulting from publication of the
document, Col. william Lazarus re-
ported that 1t became the basis
Of international treaties; its repro.
duetion is a matter Of official re-
cord in the archives Of nations and
its provisions have been fully &C.
credited as an outstanding piece
of wisdom and foresight by dis
tinguished scholars, diplomats, and
journalists"
Another event which was help
ing to condition the minds of Flo
ridians to the new mode Of travel
came about in 1912. This was the
first West-to-East transcontinental
flight performed by Robert w,
Fowler. Mr.. Fowler's flight was an
unsuccessful attempt to capture
the william Randolph Hearst prize
for the first coast-to-cost trip BY
powered airplane. The flight be.
gan at Pasadena, California on
October IL, 1911 and ended al
Jacksonville on February 9, 1912.
The flight impressed many people
with the future possibilities of air
transportation.
The establishments Of she Ne.
val Air Staten ct Psnsseola dur
Ing fhe winter of lsI3-lsla was
another event which helped the
people " Florida 10 adjust them.
selves quickly 10 the ecncapt Of
flying. The Naval facility 81 PEN
saeola became . permanent cir
statlon and exsrted q rather
strong influence, avissionwiss, on
fhs people 81 Florida.
While plans were being formuIat.
ed for the establishment of the
Pensacola Air Station, another
event took place which had the eff.
feet of making the people of Flo.
rida air-conscious. This was the es.
of the nations first
scheduled commercial airline. On
January /, 1914 the Benoist Com.
pany, using Benoist flying boat,
inauguraIed air passenger service
between Tampa and St. Peters.
burg were situated on opposite sid
es of Tampa Bay with NO bridge
connections to shorten the distance