1. Antony Habersack Jannus, more familiarly known as Tony Jannus, was an early American pilot whose aerial exploits were widely publicized in aviation's pre-World War I period.
15 Facts About Tony Jannus
1. 2.
Tony Jannus flew the first airplane from which a parachute jump was made, in 1912.
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The Tony Jannus Award, created to perpetuate his legacy, recognizes outstanding individual achievement in the scheduled commercial aviation industry and is conferred annually by the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society founded in Tampa, Florida, in 1963.
4.
Jannus was born in Washington, DC, where his father Frankland Jannus was a patent attorney and his great-grandfather, Roger C Weightman, had previously been mayor from 1824 until 1827.
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Tony Jannus became interested in flying when he saw an airshow in Baltimore, Maryland, in November, 1910, and began flight training that year at College Park Airport in Maryland.
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In 1911, Tony Jannus was the first pilot to fly the Lord Baltimore II, an amphibious airplane built in Baltimore, from the city's Curtis Bay.
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On March 1,1912, Tony Jannus piloted a Benoist biplane when Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane near St Louis.
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Later that year, Tony Jannus set a 1,900-mile overwater flight record following the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Omaha, Nebraska, to New Orleans in a Benoist Land Tractor Type XII mounted with floats.
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Also in 1913, Tony Jannus participated in a New York Times-sponsored air exhibition.
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Tony Jannus flew actress Julia Bruns in a Baldwin Red Devil 4,000 ft above Staten Island for twenty minutes on October 12,1913.
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In July, 1915, Tony Jannus successfully flew the prototype Curtiss JN-3, forerunner of the JN-4 "Jenny" of World War I fame.
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The Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society founded in 1963, perpetuates the memory of Jannus as the first commercial airline pilot, by annually conferring the Tony Jannus Award for outstanding achievement in scheduled air transportation.
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On December 17,2006, Jannus was posthumously inducted into the Paul E Garber First Flight Shrine at the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, joining other honorees such as Wilbur and Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Chuck Yeager, who have shaped the aviation industry.
14.
Tony Jannus was designated a "Great Floridian" by the State of Florida in 2010.
15.
The St Petersburg concert venue Tony Jannus Landing is named for him.