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CONTACT: Beth Herendeen, Marketing Director, (727) 893-7465

Cliff Footlick, Parks Director, (727) 893-7313

ALBERT WHITTED WATERFRONT PARK DEDICATION SUNDAY

St. Petersburg, Fla. (February 8, 2008) - Mayor Rick Baker, elected officials and members of the local aviation community, will dedicate Albert Whitted Park, the newest addition to St. Petersburg’s spectacular waterfront park system, at 480 Bayshore Drive SE, on Sunday, February 10 at 1:30 p.m. The new park was formerly a parking lot and is located across from Progress Energy Center’s Mahaffey Theater. The public is invited to attend.

Festivities also include a Grand Opening Celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. sponsored by the Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society. Events include aircraft displays; Angel Flight exhibit; control tower tours; free Young Eagles flights; and simulator rides, aviation activities and crafts for kids. Refreshments are available for purchase.

Amenities of the new park include a waterfront walkway along the South Yacht Basin, picnic shelters and restrooms, parking, an aviation-themed playground and great views of aircraft landing and taking off at Albert Whitted Airport. Visitors are able to hear control tower communications at several shelters overlooking runway 6-24. In keeping with St. Petersburg’s designation as a Green City, the park will feature a renewable, sustainable electric energy and lighting system sponsored by Progress Energy Florida and the University of South Florida.

“Albert Whitted Park is the largest addition of public parkland to our waterfront in nearly one hundred years,” explains Mayor Rick Baker.

Who is James Albert Whitted?

First Lieutenant James Albert Whitted was one of St. Petersburg’s hometown heroes, born February 14, 1893. Albert was one of the U.S. Navy’s first 250 pilots, enlisting at age 24 just as World War I began in 1918. He served as the chief instructor of advanced flying at the Navy School in Pensacola and by 1919 was in full charge of naval maneuvers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He returned home in 1919 and introduced the people of St. Petersburg to flying. Albert would take people up in the Bluebird, a plane he designed and built. He never charged for the flights. Albert’s aerial maneuvers always left spectators in awe. Albert also designed and built the Falcon. The Falcon and Bluebird were used in a commercial flying business he had with his brother, Clarence. Clarence was Albert’s mechanic, converting all of Albert’s ideas into reality. Albert was a mechanical genius, his planes and ideas were years ahead of their there time. Unfortunately, on August 19, 1923, Albert Whitted and four passengers were killed during a flight near Pensacola aboard the Falcon when the propeller broke off. Airport Whitted Airport was designated in 1928. Albert Whitted Park will be dedicated on February 10, 2008. (Excerpted from an article by Terri Griner, President, Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society.)

Albert Whitted Airport Dedication Video