A Makeover for Albert Whitted
By Brian Passey
In 1965, Don Morris was looking for a place to live.
He wrote letters to cities across the United States inquiring about general aviation airports in each. Morris was fresh out of the Navy and wanted to become a pilot.
The St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce replied to Morris with what he called a nice letter about Albert Whitted Airport. Morris was so impressed he moved his family to St. Petersburg without even seeing the city first.
He has now lived in St. Petersburg for nearly 40 years and owns a model railroading business.
"Like myself, there are many other people who came to the city because of the airport," Morris, 62, said.
On Nov. 3, 2003, Morris almost lost the airport as a controversial referendum to replace part of Albert Whitted Airport with a waterfront park went before St. Petersburg voters. In the months before the election, Morris and other members of the Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society (AWAPS) set out to educate the public about the airport's historical significance and, ultimately, to save the airport.
Their work paid off. The votes fell in favor of the airport, and the City Council formed a 19-member task force to make recommendations about how the airport should be operated and improved.
Now the Albert Whitted Airport Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Force Committee is in the midst of meetings about the airport's future. And instead of facing runway closures, the task force is researching ideas, including the addition of parks, to build public interest in the airport.
The task force is broken up into four subcommittees: airport design, environmental, economic and finance. Morris is the chair of the airport design subcommittee, which is responsible for creating the overall design and layout of the airport, according to the task force's Web site at www.stpete.org/airport advisory.htm.
Albert Whitted Airport manager Richard J. Lesniak, 34, said the task force will finish its work by September, consolidate its recommendations and present them to the City Council for approval and inclusion in the city's master plan for the airport. Lesniak said it would probably take about one year to complete the master plan before beginning any capital improvements.
"If they act on those recommendations, this could be one of the best general aviation airports in the United States," Morris said.
Though some of these improvements may take years to complete, the public can expect to see smaller changes to the airport by the end of the summer. Morris said the City Council recently approved the addition of two public viewing areas at the airport, one of which is already partly constructed.
The viewing area—with two picnic tables Morris paid for—is at the west side of the airport through an opening in the fence. Eventually a covered deck will be built at the site and another one on the north side of the airport near the control tower. Morris said they will both be about three times the size of the existing area. The one near the control tower will have wheelchair access.
The design subcommittee met Tuesday in City Hall to discuss some possible additions to the airport in the future including lengthening one runway, building a new control tower and creating two museums dedicated to aviation history, with special emphasis on St. Petersburg.
Museums would be especially appropriate given the historical role of Albert Whitted Airport since it officially opened in 1928. Morris said Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh both visited the airport repeatedly to refuel. He said Lindbergh stopped almost every time he came to Florida.
"I actually met him on one of those flights in the '60s," Morris said.
The history of the airport began even before it existed. From a spot near the present-day Albert Whitted Airport, pilot Tony Jannus and his Benoist Airboat began the first regularly scheduled flight service in 1914. The airport is also the birthplace of National Airlines, one of the nation's first airlines. The airline was founded in 1934 at the airport's Hanger 1—where Bay Air Flight Service now operates.
This history was part of the reason AWAPS was fighting for the airport before the November referendum. Morris said the group is interested in more than just fighting battles. They also want to preserve and enhance the airport.
With this goal in mind, AWAPS member Tom Ostermann presented the museum idea to the task force's design subcommittee Tuesday. The idea involves turning the historic Hanger 1 into a museum housing a full-size model of Jannus' plane, currently on display at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.
"The reason we are promoting the preservation of Hanger 1 is because it's the birthplace of National Airlines," Ostermann said.
While one museum would occupy the old Hanger 1, the proposal also calls for a new building next to the hanger in the southwest corner of the airport.
AWAPS is seeking financing for the museums from a variety of sources, including the Suncoast Airfest on Oct. 9-10. For now the museums are mostly conceptual and in the early planning stage.
"We're working on donations that would build the buildings," Ostermann said.
Other ideas for the future of the airport include a new control tower, a new terminal, new hangers and lengthening one runway into Tampa Bay to serve aircraft–such as small jets–requiring longer runways.
The ideas also include ways to provide better public access to the airport such as parks, trails and maybe even a playing field for USF students. As with the museums, however, all will depend on financing from various sources, including everything from government agencies to the air show.
The subcommittees will continue meeting throughout the summer as they prepare to submit recommendations to the City Council. Residents are invited to make suggestions to the committee, and all meetings are open to the public.
"I think the result is going to be a pretty nice place down there," said Bill Heller, a 67-year-old USF professor who originally supported closing one of the runways. He is now a member of the task force and supports the public's decision to keep the airport intact.
"It's going to be a nice future if everything goes as planned," Heller said.
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