Benoist XII • wp.archivoaereo.com

St. Louis engineer and businessman Thomas Wesley Benoist seriously began working in aviation in 1908, having previously been involved in the automotive business. Together with a partner, he founded AEROSCO – Aeronautical Supply Company, which supplied components and aviation materials to early aviators. In 1910, Benoist acquired a Curtiss Model D truss biplane, on which he learned to pilot.

By 1911, he established a flight school at St. Louis’s Kinloch Field airport and began manufacturing aircraft himself. After buying out his partner’s share in AEROSCO, he relocated the company’s base to a St. Louis suburb and renamed it Benoist Aircraft Co. The firm’s first product was a version of the Curtiss Model D, fitted with a Roberts engine, which was named the Benoist Biplane.

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The Fire and the Birth of the Benoist Type XII

At the very beginning of production, a major mishap occurred: on October 20, 1911, a fire completely destroyed Benoist’s uninsured enterprise. However, the entrepreneur quickly recovered from the shock. In early 1912, he, along with Anthony Jannus, built the first aircraft of original design – the Benoist Type XII, with the number XII indicating the year of manufacture.

Innovations and Historic Feats

This was a truss biplane with a pusher propeller and dual controls, known for being reliable and easy to operate, thus suitable for training purposes. It entered history as the first heavier-than-air craft from which a parachute jump was made, performed by Captain Albert Berry, with Anthony Jannus piloting the machine. In March 1912, a version of the Benoist XII with a pulling propeller, the Benoist Land Tractor Type XII, was introduced.

By June, based on this machine, an aircraft with a fuselage was developed, whose further evolution, the Type XII Cross Country Plane, toured the US Midwest. In the summer of 1912, Benoist began building seaplanes. The first of these was a Benoist XII placed on floats, which in September 1912 won second place in the hydroplane competitions in Chicago. In November-December of the same year, Jannus made a flight from Omaha, Nebraska, to New Orleans – along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

Technical Specifications

Modification	Benoist Land Tractor Type XII
Wingspan, m	17.00
Aircraft length, m	7.19
Aircraft height, m	2.49
Empty weight	474
Maximum takeoff weight	794
Engine type	1 Piston engine Roberts
Power, hp	1 x 75
Maximum speed, km/h	105
Cruising speed, km/h	97
Crew	2 crew