Florida's Airport Boom: From 5 to 79 in Just 7 Years

National Airlines begins scheduled service from St. Petersburg

Floridians given more options as ambitious new airline begins coast-to-coast operations

Repeal of Prohibition spurs move to Sunshine State

Though National Airlines is widely recognized as a product of the Sunshine State, its founder, George T. Baker, originally hailed from Chicago. During Prohibition, in the early 1930s, Baker’s National Air Taxi System was doing a brisk business ferrying thirsty passengers between the Windy City and Canada on its fleet of two Ryan monoplanes until the repeal of the Volstead Act in early December 1933 threatened to put the service out of business. Baker briefly considered establishing an air taxi service between Chicago and Miami’s Biltmore Hotel, and an announcement even appeared in the Miami News in mid-December to the effect that service would begin on January 1st, but the plans appear to have been scrapped.

Above: Photo and text courtesy Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly, “Wings over Florida” (1999), Published by Arcadia Publishing Charleston, SC.

Florida Air Mail contract awarded

Instead, the next time National was mentioned in the Daily News was seven months later, in July of 1934. It had been renamed National Airlines System and had been awarded the Air Mail contract between St. Petersburg and Daytona Beach. The contract called for one round trip daily between St. Petersburg and Daytona Beach with adequate service for passengers and additional stops along the route at Tampa, Lakeland and Orlando.

Eastern’s loss is National’s gain

Inauguration of the new branch line was initially delayed by the need to complete work on the field at the Daytona Beach airport. But by October 15, 1934, National was able to begin service from St. Petersburg’s Albert Whitted Airport. The two Ryans had been thoroughly overhauled and updated, their fuselage painted a dark blue and the wings a vivid red. National operated the route with admirable consistency and Baker was quick to push the Dept. of Commerce to allow him to expand the route to Jacksonville. Permission was denied until November, when, following an accident at the Daytona airport, Eastern refused to fly there at night. National quickly applied for, and won, a temporary permit to deliver the mail between Daytona and Jacksonville so as not to disrupt Air Mail service for the cities on its route. Daily flights left St. Petersburg every afternoon at 3 PM, with stops at Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona, arriving in Jacksonville at 6PM where mail was handed over to Eastern for delivery to Newark, New Jersey, by 3:40 AM. The service was exceptionally speedy and consistent and by the end of December, Baker was petitioning the Dept. of Commerce for authorization to fly two planes a day between St. Petersburg and Jacksonville. Authorization was denied because the Dept. of Commerce did not consider St. Petersburg’s Albert Whitted Field to be well enough equipped for night flying.

Struggle to survive is rewarded as traffic increases

During this initial period of its operations, National struggled greatly to survive. Mail was the fledgling airline’s lifeblood as passengers were still few and far between. The airline even resorted to holding barnstorming events on Sundays in St. Petersburg, charging customers for joy rides in order to be able to meet its bills. But by early 1935 passenger demand had increased. Baker borrowed money to buy two second-hand, eight-passenger Stinson SM-6000 trimotor aircraft (later increased to three) in March of 1935, personally flying the first one down to Florida from New York. Daily passenger service on the Stinsons between Jacksonville and St. Petersburg was initiated the following month, with intermediate stops at Daytona Beach, Orlando, Lakeland, and Tampa. The cost of a round trip was $30.30. A one-way ticket cost $16.68.

New routes aggressively pursued

Over the winter season of 1935-1936, National began to operate once-a-week flights to Miami over what was called the “Everglades Trail,” a route described as linking the resort centers of Florida’s west coast with those of the east. In early January 1937, National founder George T. Baker announced that flights to Miami (with stops at Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Meyers) would begin to operate twice-weekly. When the stepped-up service was inaugurated, on January 5, Baker himself was at the controls of the Stinson tri-motor with National senior pilot, E. J. Kershaw, at his side. Shortly afterwards, National announced that beginning January 15, through service from St. Petersburg to Havana would be provided twice weekly via what appears to have been a first collaboration between National and Pan Am. National passengers were flown to Pan Am’s NW 36th Street Airport, then transferred to Pan Am’s Dinner Key seaplane base where they boarded Pan Am Clippers to Havana.

Eastern bristles at the competition

The bi-weekly service was short-lived, however, after Eastern Air Lines complained to the Superintendent of Air Mail Services that National was not authorized to fly between St. Petersburg and Miami. In April, National was ordered by the Postmaster General to discontinue the twice-weekly service.

The competition between National and Eastern for Florida routes came to a head in June 1937, with both airlines attending hearings in Washington. The result was that National was ordered to discontinue service from Daytona Beach to Jacksonville but allowed to extend service between St. Petersburg and Miami, on a route that included Tampa, Fort Meyers, Sarasota, Miami, Daytona Beach, Orlando, and Lakeland. Eastern was given authorization to stop at Orlando on its Jacksonville-Miami run. The decision was viewed as a compromise and the new routes were to take effect on July 15.

At left: Palm Beach Post, June 17, 1937.

Service to Miami is inaugurated

A jubilant full page spread in the Tampa Bay Times on July 11, 1937, announced the inauguration of the now-fully authorized St. Petersburg-Miami service, along with the announcement that National would be adding 10-passenger all-metal Lockheed Electras to its fleet. Delivery was tentatively scheduled for November 1st. The daily St. Petersburg-Miami route was inaugurated on July 16th, with Miami’s Municipal Airport serving as National’s Miami hub of operations. National remained at the Municipal Airport until it was taken over by the military in 1942.

At left: Tampa Bay Times July 11, 1937
Below: A Post Card depicts a National Lockheed Model L-10 Electra crossing the Everglades while a Seminole family looks on.

1930-1940