James Albert Whitted
Lt. James Albert Whitted , was an American aviator and St. Petersburg, Floridas bestknown pilot. During Whitteds career he ran a commercial air service business, was an instructor at the Naval flight school, and was also an engineer. Whitted was killed in a plane crash near Pensacola, Florida in 1923. St. Petersburgs city airport was subsequently named Albert Whitted Airport in 1928.
James Albert Whitted was born in St Petersburg, Florida on Valentines Day 1893. Alberts father, Thomas Albert Whitted traveled to the Pinellas area with his parents from Boone, Iowa in 1878. Alberts mother, formerly 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 which died at an early age. The third child born was James Albert Whitted. At a young age Albert attended local schools in St Petersburg. He also spent a lot of time learning mechanics from his father who was a mechanic. Eric Whitted, Alberts nephew, considered his Uncle to be a mechanical genius. According to Eric, when Albert was a teenager, he was a projectionist in the old Cameo Theatre. Back in those days, all movie projectors were handcranked because he was constantly reading, Albert rigged up a way to run the projector with a bicycle wheel and motor so he could
Source: Wikipedia