Benoist Flying Boats & the Lorain Hydro and Aero Co.

Today’s blog post is brought to you by local historian Rick Kurish, a longtime contributor to this blog who has suggested many great topic ideas over the years. Rick is always researching things of interest, and willing to share his findings as well.

In his article, Rick takes a brief look at Benoist Flying Boats, as well as the Lorain Hydro and Aero Company.

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Some time ago I came across the online photographs of Ernst Niebergall, a photographer working in Sandusky in the early 1900s. While the collection contains many interesting photographs, my attention was captured by a photo of an airplane taken on the beach at Cedar Point in the summer of 1914. 

The caption was "Benoist Flying Boat Owned by Lorain Hydro and Aero Company.” 

And here are two more Ernst Niebergall photos from the same collection, and with the same caption. 

Since I'd never heard of a Benoist Flying Boat or the Lorain Hydro and Aero Company, I couldn’t resist a little research. What I found was quite interesting. 

It turns out that Thomas W. Benoist was an early pioneer in both aviation design and business. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and within a few years of the Wright Brothers’ flight, he was building and flying planes in St. Louis. 

1912 ad in “Aero and Hydro"

“In an aviation career of only ten years, he formed the world’s first aircraft parts distribution company, established one of the leading American aircraft manufacturing companies and a successful flying school, and from January to April 1914 operated the world’s first scheduled airline,” according to this Wiki entry.

He eventually became interested in “flying boats,” and along with his chief pilot Tony Jannus, developed one capable of transatlantic flight. Since the Roberts Motor Company of Sandusky, Ohio was Benoist’s preferred source for his aircraft engines, he moved his company there in June 1916. Sandusky Bay was also a perfect body of water to test his designs. 

Here’s the newspaper article announcing the move to Sandusky by the Benoist Aeroplane company.

Unfortunately, just at the time his business was stating to take off, he was killed in a tragic streetcar accident in Sandusky. 

The Sandusky Star - Journal of June 14, 1917 has a long article about his death. At the time of his passing, Benoist's airplane designs were drawing interest from the U.S. Government for potential use in World War I. 

The Sandusky papers have several articles on his meetings with the government, including one in which government officials were to come to Sandusky just a week after his death.

Despite articles which speculated that Sandusky could become to airplane manufacturing what Detroit was to the automobile industry, his company died shortly after his death. His family sold the business, which was moved out of Sandusky. The company wasn’t mature enough to survive the loss of its creator and visionary leader. 

The accomplishments of Thomas W. Benoist are well documented on the internet, and include the fact that he operated the first passenger airline in the U.S. This was a passenger service between the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg in Florida. The flight took 20 minutes and cost 5 dollars. 

His achievements in aviation were also honored on a U.S. postage stamp, which depicted his flying boat. The stamp was issued as part of Transportation Series issued between 1990 and 1994.

So what was the connection between Thomas Benoist and the Lorain Hydro and Aero Company? 

The tie-in was that Lorain Hydro and Aero purchased two Benoist Flying Boats, and in 1915 flew exhibitions at Cedar Point. The company also flew passengers from Sandusky to Cedar Point. 

The Lorain Hydro and Aero Company was the brainstorm of Lorain businessman J. E. Pepin, who circa 1910 to 1917 was the manager of the Citizen’s Loan and Trust Company located at 552 Broadway in Lorain. An article in the Chronicle-Telegram of November 7, 1914 (below) announced the organization of the company with Pepin as president. 

J. E. Pepin seems to have been a rather interesting character. An article in the Sandusky Register on March 1, 1919 indicates that after the Lorain Hydro and Aero company, Pepin moved to Detroit and eventually enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I. After many daring exploits in France, he was apparently using something like hypnotism to cure shell shock cases in a hospital. 

C. Ray Benedict was the regular aviator for the Lorain Hydro and Aero Company. An article in his hometown newspaper, the Binghamton Press on September 1, 1915 details his activities during the summer of 1915, when the Lorain Hydro and Aero Co. had the concession for Cedar Point. 

Another article indicted that the residents of Lorain were treated to an air show in the summer of 1917 when the Anderegg brothers were testing a hydroplane they were purchasing from the Lorain Hydro and Aero Company. The company had gone out of business at that point and had sold its last ‘machines’ to the Anderegg brothers. The article notes that the company had its headquarters near Broadway and 9th Street.

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As a sideline to the articles about the Benoist Aircraft company, here is another interesting article. It centers around a woman flyer named Alys McKey Bryant who worked for the Benoist company in Sandusky. The article was published as she prepared to leave Sandusky after Benoist’s death in 1917.

While working for the company, Alys McKey Bryant was the factory supervisor, mechanic, and flight instructor. Quite a resume for a woman circa 1917. 

Courtesy Wikipedia

There is a great article about her, including several photos, in the Ohio's Yesterdays series published online by the Rutherford B. Hays Presidential Library and Museum. It is well worth reading. Here is the link.

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UPDATE (May 14, 2020)
A longtime contributor to this blog reminded me in an email that there is another Lorain connection to the ‘flying boat’ topic discussed here today. In an email, Bob Kovach noted, "Lorain's own Bill Long was also connected to the flying boat scene. 

“He also flew people back and forth to Cedar Point.

"Bill Long also restored one of those sea planes then donated it to the Crawford Auto Museum for display,” observed Bob. "Unfortunately, around 2010 it was auctioned off to a private collector for over $500,000 dollars.”

Here is that 1917 Curtiss MF 'Seagull' Hydroaeroplane that was formerly owned by Bill Long.

As stated on the Bonhams.com auction website, "Records are sketchy, but it appears that A-5543 had a single owner, William H. Long, who was the owner and longtime operator of the Lorain, Ohio airport. 

"Long is said to have based the MF at Sandusky Bay, from which he made frequent trips to Cedar Point Amusement Park, presumably flying joyriders and sightseers.”

Here’s another photo of the plane at the time of the 2010 auction, courtesy of the Financial Times website.

The website noted, "It was... the prize-winning American aviator Glen H Curtiss who perfected early flying boat design and his “F” model of around 1913 was adopted by the US Navy. The Curtiss MF (for “Modernised F model”) on offer here dates from 1917 and is a rare survivor among more than 80 of its type that were in service with the navy until the early 1920s. 

"Many MFs were sold off by the navy after the war, and it is thought that this former training aircraft was bought by William H Long, one-time owner of Lorain airport, who based it at Sandusky Bay, Ohio, and used it for ferrying sightseers to the nearby Cedar Point amusement park. The plane was last refurbished in 1945 before being donated to a car and aircraft museum in Cleveland, after which it went on display at Ohio’s Western Reserve Historical Society. In recent years, the MF has been in storage but is said to be in “remarkably good order.”

Anyway, Bob also sent me the photo below, which he found among some discarded items behind the old Lorain City Airport on Leavitt Road. (Bob lived nearby and even remembers Bill Long personally.)

Bob believes the photo (which is labeled only “Nov 4”) is of Bill Long’s flying boat.

As usual, thanks for sharing, Bob!

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By the way, in this 1959 interview with Bill Long, one of the bearded aviator’s prized collectibles that was stored at the airport was the wooden propeller to the Curtiss flying boat.