1. Archives
The Albert Whitted Collection (2014.063.000)
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The Albert Whitted Collection
Overview
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Description of Papers
Related Materials
Contents of the Collection
Overview
Repository Archives
St. Petersburg Museum of History
335 2nd
Avenue NE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
archives@spmoh.org
Creator James Albert Whitted (b. 1893 – d. 1923)
Title Albert Whitted Collection
Dates 1917 – 1923
Physical Description 0.42 linear feet (1 legal size document box)
Language English
Arrangement Series organized by folder title:
I. Certificates
II. Letters from Whitted
III. Newspaper Articles About Whitted
IV. Plans for Whitted’s Seaplane Falcon
V. Flight and Passenger Logs
VI. Scrapbook
VII. Telegrams on Whitted’s Death
VIII. – XI. Photographs
Summary The materials held in this collection are related to aviation pioneer
James Albert Whitted (1893 – 1923). Born in St. Petersburg, FL,
Whitted served in the US Navy as a naval aviator and ran one of the
earliest commercial flight businesses, taking passengers up on short
plane rides. He was also an engineer, designing and building his own
plane, named the Falcon. Whitted died in an airplane accident near
Pensacola, FL in 1923 at the age of thirty. The collection consists of

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The Albert Whitted Collection (2014.063.000)
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correspondence, certificates, newspaper clippings, airplane designs,
flight logs, scrapbooks, photographs, and telegrams. Most of the
material is from the years 1920 – 1923.
Administrative Information
Provenance Donated to the St. Petersburg Museum of History over the period of
2014 – 2016 by Anne Fields, granddaughter of Albert Whitted.
Information about Access The Albert Whitted Collection files may be viewed by appointment.
Handling of certain components of the collection may be restricted
due to their fragility. In some cases copies may be substituted for
originals.
Ownership and Copyright Copyright has been transferred to the St. Petersburg Museum of
History for unpublished materials produced by the creator of this
collection. Copyright status for other materials is unknown.
Cite As Credit must be given for any use of materials. The credit line should
read: The St. Petersburg Museum of History, Albert Whitted Collection,
and should indicate the box and folder listing.
Processing Note Collection processed by Frances Doyle, 2015 – 2016. Finding aid
created and edited by Frances Doyle, March 2016.
Biographical Note
James Albert Whitted (known as Albert Whitted) was born in St. Petersburg, Florida on February
14, 1893. Albert's father, Thomas Albert Whitted, traveled to the Pinellas area with his parents from
Boone, Iowa in 1878. Albert's mother, Julia Phillips, was the daughter of the Long Key settler Zephaniah
Phillips. After their marriage Thomas and Julia moved to what is now Gulfport in 1884. There they built a
house and had nine children, four of whom died at an early age. Their third child was James Albert
Whitted. Albert learned the basics of mechanics at a young age from his father, who was a mechanic.
When Albert graduated from St. Petersburg High School with his two brothers George and Clarence, he
was regarded as an expert mechanic himself and established St. Petersburg's first motorcycle shop.
In 1910 Whitted moved to New Haven, Connecticut for a brief period, where he took up
motorcycle racing before returning to his motorcycle shop in St. Petersburg. While in New Haven Albert
had become interested in aviation, and had acquired a part ownership in a Curtis land machine which he
had helped to build.
Early on in World War I, Albert Whitted enlisted in the aviation corps of the regular army. He
was sent to Pensacola in March, 1917. In August of the same year he qualified as a naval aviator and
received his pilot’s number 179 and is classed as one of the first 250 pioneer pilots of the navy. In August
1918, he became an instructor in small seaplane flying and later, with six other pilots, he was selected to
instruct the men in the flying of the bigger sea planes of the Navy such as the H-12. On September 25,
1918 Whitted was commissioned as a first lieutenant and just three days later he was made chief
instructor in advanced flying. Before being awarded a commission he had risen to the position of flying
instructor at Pensacola Naval Station. He held the distinction of being classed as one of the first 250

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naval flyers and later was one of only six classed to fly the larger type of planes. Albert remained in the
Navy for a short period after World War I. He conducted maneuvers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and was
also involved in a plane crash in Pensacola along with a student that he was instructing. Albert, along
with a student aviator, fell over 1,000 ft. into the Pensacola Bay. Albert suffered only a bruise on his
nose and his student passenger suffered a broken arm. The crash was attributed to the student’s
excitement. In 1919 Albert received his commission as a junior lieutenant and was placed on inactive
duty.
On November 14, 1918 Albert married Frances Louise Brent (1894 – 1995) of Pensacola, Florida.
She was the youngest daughter of F. C. Brent. After their wedding, Frances and Albert lived at the Brent
family home in Pensacola. They also lived in St. Petersburg, where Albert was from, moving back and
forth between the two cities. By the end of 1922, shortly before Albert's death the couple had two
daughters, Catherine Eugenia "Jean," and Frances Louise "Fanty."
After being discharged from the Navy in 1919 Albert moved back from Pensacola with his wife.
Albert also brought with him commercial aviation to the city of St. Petersburg. Although it was Tony
Jannus who flew the world's first scheduled air transportation between St. Petersburg and Tampa in
1914, it is Albert Whitted whom local historians credit with truly introducing the people of St.
Petersburg to flying. Albert began his commercial aviation career out of a hangar on the Vinoy Basin in
St. Petersburg. He took passengers up for short plane rides in his seaplane the "Blue Bird.” Thousands of
residents and tourists went up with him in the next few years. In the summer of 1921, Albert designed
and built a larger and faster plane, the Falcon, in Pensacola which he brought back home to St.
Petersburg in the winter. The Falcon was an experimental airplane with a four-bladed propeller, which
Whitted was constantly adjusting and improving.
On August 19, 1923 Albert crashed his plane off of Pensacola and perished along with four
passengers. He had been flying along about two hundred feet above the water when a loose propeller of
his plane “Falcon” cut through the fuselage and severed wires needed to control the plane. After a
desperate effort to regain control of the plane it hit the water so hard that almost all passengers and
Albert were killed instantly. The plane had taken off only five minutes earlier. The only woman aboard
the flight was found floating by Mr. William E. King, a longtime friend of Whitted. She died upon being
pulled into the boat. The other passengers and Albert were all pinned beneath the plane. It took several
diving attempts to pull the men from the plane. The accident happened about forty miles east of
Pensacola near Camp Walton on the Santa Rosa sound. Albert had been making changes to the Falcon’s
design a short time before its crash. A new motor had just been installed at St. Petersburg before he left
for Pensacola and new wings were also added at that time. The increased speed was said to have put an
enormous strain on the propeller.
The funeral for Lieutenant James Albert Whitted, U.S.N.R.F. was held in his father-in-law's home
in Pensacola. He was laid to rest at St. Michael’s Cemetery. During his commercial air service business
Albert never had an accident and had carried more than 5,000 passengers.
After Albert's death in 1923 Frances lived as a widow in the Brent family house with her two
daughters, as well as a few of her brothers and sisters. While living there she met another Naval officer,
Harold Foster Fick, of St. Joseph, Missouri. Frances was remarried to Harold Fick in 1927.
In 1926 local leaders of St. Petersburg decided to construct a downtown airport, which they
named in Whitted’s honor.
(Information in biographical note taken from Wikipedia on 3/9/16.)
Description of Papers
The collection is comprised of materials assembled and donated by Albert Whitted’s
granddaughter, Anne Field. Included in the collection are numerous photographs, a flash drive with
photographs digitized by the donor, flight logs, passenger lists, scrapbooks, certificates from Whitted’s

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military career, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and a drawing of Whitted. Donations to this collection
are ongoing, so this finding aid may not accurately reflect the extent of the collection.
Related Materials
See also the Whitted Family Collection (2010.020.001), which contains information and photos
related to Albert Whitted and other members of the Whitted family, including Albert’s parents and
brother Eric Whitted.
Contents of the Collection
Folder # Folder Title Contents Accession
Number(s)
1 Certificates Certificate of Qualification – Aeronautic School
War Service Certificate – US Navy
US Navy Discharge Certificate
Four Blue Bird passenger certificates
2014.063.006
2014.063.008
2014.063.010
2014.063.012
2 Letters from
Whitted
Two letters from Whitted to his commander in the Navy
regarding maneuvers at Guantanamo, Cuba, March 25,
1919.
2014.063.015
3 Newspaper
Articles About
Whitted
Various newspaper clippings about Whitted’s death,
August 1923.
Newspaper clipping about the St. Petersburg – Tampa
Airboat Line, January 1984.
Ink drawing of Lieutenant Albert Whitted by Maxwell
Hunter, early 1923.
2014.063.009
2014.063.016
2014.063.007
4 Plans for
Whitted’s
Seaplane the
Falcon
Photocopy of Albert Whitted’s designs for his seaplane
“Falcon.”
2014.063.014
5 Flight and
Passenger Logs
Flight log, 1917 – 1919
Passenger list/log, 1919 – 1923
Passenger list/log, 1922 – 1923
2014.063.000
2014.063.005
2014.063.004
6 Scrapbook Scrapbook full of newspaper clippings about Albert
Whitted
2014.063.003
7 Telegrams on
Albert Whitted’s
Death
35 telegrams, most of them addressed to Frances
Whitted, offering condolences on Albert's death in a
plane crash on August 19, 1923
2014.063.011
8 Small Albert
Whitted Photo
Album
Photograph album, mostly aerial views of St. Petersburg
from Albert Whitted's flights.
2014.063.001
(P08341 – P08386)

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9 Albert Whitted
Photo Album
Photograph album containing aerial views of St.
Petersburg and Pensacola, photos of the Blue Bird and
Falcon, the construction of the Falcon, and photos from
Whitted's time supervising naval maneuvers in
Guantanamo, Cuba.
2014.053.013
(P08387 – 8393)
10 Photos –
Customers,
Aerial Views,
Blue Bird, Falcon
Twenty photographs of Whitted’s customers, his
seaplanes Blue Bird and Falcon, aerial views of St.
Petersburg and Pensacola, and a US Navy airship.
2016.006.
(P08430 – P08448)
11 Flash Drive of
Whitted Photos
Flash drive containing high resolution scans and
captions/descriptions for most of the photos in the
Albert Whitted Collection photo albums (2014.063.001
and 2014.063.013). Includes scans of some photos
donated to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola,
Florida.
2014.063.002
Note: Numbers beginning with P0 are used to indicate photographs that have been added to the
museum’s photo collection and digitized. Not all of the photographs in the Albert Whitted Collection
have been digitized, but those that have still reside in the document box that houses the Albert Whitted
Collection, and copies have been placed in the museum’s photo files.