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Duluth Aviation Institute
preserving yesterday, inspiring today, exploring tomorrow
DULUTH ONE

GATEWAY TO THE CITY
Duluth International Airport

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                                                                Rendering courtesy of Duluth Airport Authority

The ceremonial gold shovel dug into the hillside last week beginning construction on a new terminal building for the Duluth International Airport. As a gateway to Duluth, the airport terminal is an important building reflecting who we are as a city, where we have been, where we are going, and what we value. September 13th will be the 79th birthday of our airport. As with any birthday, it is time to reflect on our aviation past and future.

Nature provided Duluth with its first runway, St. Louis Bay. In the winter of 1913 Oliver Rosto, Duluth’s first pilot and aircraft designer, flew his Duluth #1 Rosto Monoplane from the frozen harbor. In the summers of 1913 and 1914, the Lark of Duluth Benoist Flying Boat flew from the Duluth Boat Club. Owners Julius Barnes and W. D. Jones wanted to introduce the city to flying. As president of the Duluth Boat Club, Barnes initiated a citywide celebration. The Lark O’ the Lake Summer Carnivals were held on weekends during the summers of 1913 and 1914.

On January 1, 1914, the Lark of Duluth flew the inaugural flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line and became the world’s first airliner. A new era in transportation began with one simple flight in the Lark of Duluth. Aviation became a commercial enterprise and air transportation was born.

In 1928, Mid-Plane Sales and Transit Company flew a six passenger plane between Duluth and the Twin Cities from Anderson Field at Pike Lake. Arrowhead Region Airlines was flying from the bay with two float or ski equipped Lockheed Vegas. The airline offered schedule passenger and mail service between Duluth and Port Arthur, Canada, and was one of the first services to land at the new Duluth airport. Northwest Airways flew the "Duck" Sikorsky S-38 flying boat from the Duluth Boat Club with airmail and passengers in 1931. The Duluth Boat Club was an "airport terminal" for the city.                                                                                   Continued

LARK OF DULUTH
BUILDING THE LARK
GODFATHER TO
THE ASTRONAUTS
ABOUT US
MEMBERSHIP
PATH TO AVIATION
SKY HARBOR


AIRPORT
LESSON PLAN

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Three Jennys flying over Williamson-Johnson Municipal Airport,
ca.1932

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Williamson-Johnson Airport, ca. 1940

Photos courtesy of
Minnesota Historical Society
and Carol Ziemer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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