Floyd Bennett Field

1airport, intended as an impressive gateway to the
                There are an increasingworld’s most impressive city, never developed into
number of New York area airports, including those onits intended position, remaining a General Aviation
Long Island, in Westchester County, and in Newairfield instead.  Several reasons could be cited as to
Jersey, yet few are able to name New York City’swhy.
very first airport.  Even fewer are able to explain why1. The US Postal Service’s March 22, 1936 rejection
it no longer exists.  That airport is Floyd Bennett Fieldof Floyd Bennett Field’s air terminal application
and it has had three distinct historical phases.signaled the airport’s largest and most definitive
                Tracing its origins todeath knoll.
Lindbergh’s historic, New York-Paris solo flight, it2. Flatbush Avenue had served as its only ground
had alerted the world to the fact that the aircraft hadaccess.
not departed from New York at all, but from Long3. Newark Airport had provided greater transportation
Island instead, and that the only real “New York”links to Manhattan.
airport had been located across the state line, in New4. The airport had commenced construction and
Jersey.  Thus indicating the need for a dedicated,attempted to operate within the Great Depression.
New York-located, municipal airport, it had led to the5. Air travel had not yet been accepted as a public
establishment of a panel headed by famed aviatortransportation means.
Clarence D. Chamberlain to search for a suitable site6. Air travel fares had been prohibitive to the general
for one. public.
The subsequently chosen location, a 387-acre marsh7. It would later become La Guardia Airport.
on Barren Island south of Brooklyn, New York, had8. Floyd Bennett Field’s second replacement, the
housed a small community, a horse-rendering plant, andlarger-area Idlewild Airport, equally located on Jamaica
the appropriately-named, single-dirt runway BarrenBay, would also shortly be built.
Island Airport, which had been owned by Paul RizzoFloyd Bennett Field’s last commercial flight
and had been used for periodic passenger sightseeingdeparted on May 26, 1941, but with war clouds draping
flights.  The site, part of 33 tiny islands, enjoyedthemselves over much of the world, it had extracted
favorable winds, lacked approach obstructions, hadmore than rain from them: it had adopted a new
been predominantly fog-free, and offered vastpurpose.
expanses for future growth.  The airport, intended as2
a state-of-the-art gateway to what had been                War-sparked expansion of
considered one of the world’s greatest cities, hadthe US Navy, which had first occupied Floyd Bennett
been named “Floyd Bennett Field” after theField’s Hangar 5 and later Hangar 1, resulted in the
Brooklyn resident and naval aviator who had servedeventual $9 million sale of the airfield by the City of
as Richard E. Byrd’s pilot on his historic North PoleNew York to it, and on June 2, 1941, it had been
flight in 1926.  Both had received the Congressionalre-designated “Naval Air Station New York.”
Medal of Honor for the feat.                Because of its proximity to
Construction, by the City Department of Docks,New York and Long Island naval aircraft
coincidentally occurred on October 29, 1929, the samemanufacturers, among them Chance-Vought, General
day that the stock market had crashed, and entailedMotors, and Grumman, it had logically been the closest
the connection of the islets by filling in their interspersingairport which could accept, test, and ferry their designs
channels with six million cubic feet of sand pumpedto their respective combat theaters, processing
from the bottom of Jamaica Bay and raising itseverything from amphibious patrol aircraft to aircraft
resultant elevation 16 feet above the tidewater, tocarrier-based fighters and bombers.  By 1943, the
connect it to Long Island.process had been completed in as few as three days.
Runway 15-33, spanning 3,100 feet, and Runway 6-24,                The war had necessitated
at 4,000 feet, had constituted the airport’s firstconsiderable airport infrastructure expansion.  The
topographical construction projects, along with aoriginal Runway 15-33, for example, had been
taxiway.  During the two-year period between 1929lengthened to 4,500-foot taxiway T-10 by 1942.  The
and 1931, four pairs of hangars had equally risen fromsecond runway to have been constructed, 6-24, had
the former marshes: internally measuring 120 by 140equally been converted into taxiways T-1 and T-2, and
feet, the steel frame buildings featured trussed, archedhad been replaced by a new, 5,000-foot runway with
roofs, concrete slab floors, and wooden decks, andthe same magnetic compass headings.  Runway 1-19
had been supported by 45-foot-long pre-cast concretehad also been lengthened to 5,000 feet that year and
piles.would later become the airport’s longest when it
A neo-Georgian-style, red and black brick, two-storyhad been extended to 7,000 feet.  And Runway
Administration Building, completed in 1931, had been12-30 had also been expanded to 5,000 feet and, still
sandwiched between the now-extended, airportlater, to 5,500 feet.
accessible Flatbush Avenue and the runways, and                Aside from the fixed-wing
featured a semi-octagonal, three-floored, projectingaircraft activities, the Navy had established the
control booth of glass and steel atop it.  The buildingworld’s first helicopter training facility at Naval Air
had also served as the passenger terminal.Station New York for air-sea rescue operations with
Floyd Bennett Field, which had been given theSikorsky R-4 helicopters, practice sorties having
three-letter IATA code of “NOP,” had beenoccurred directly off of the airport in Jamaica Bay. 
dedicated on June 26, 1930 amid a flying armada ofArmy air Corps, Coast Guard, Navy, and Royal Navy
600 US Army Air Corps aircraft led by Charlespilots had all trained here before having been sent to
Lindbergh and Jimmy Doolittle and attended by athe China-Burma-India and Pacific Theaters.
25,000-strong crowd.  The airport, which had officially                PBY Catalinas and other
opened a year later on May 23, 1931, had been givenpatrol aircraft had routinely flown from Naval Air
the US Department of Commerce A-1-A rating, itsStation New York to escort and protect the ships
highest, because of its hitherto advanced facilities: itstransporting materials for the Lend-Lease Program
modern terminal, paved runways, and their lightingfrom subsurface German U-boats.
systems for nighttime operations.                Navy WAVES, or Women
These facilities, attracting an increasing number ofAccepted for Volunteer Exceptional Service, directed
famous, “Golden Age” pilots such as Wiley Post,traffic to and from the airfield by operating radio
Jacqueline Cochran, Roscoe Turner, Amelia Earhart,equipment in the control tower.
Howard Hughes, and Clarence Chamberlain, enabled                During World War II, the air
them to commence or terminate record speed andstation, having served as the base for many Atlantic
distance flights here because of its strategic, east costFleet units, three submarine patrol squadrons, a Scout
location and long runways, which had permitted highObservation Service unit, and two Naval Air Transport
fuel load gross weight take offs to be conducted.Service squadrons, had become the busiest and had
Need dictated expansion.  In 1936, two more runwaysprocessed more than 46,000 aircraft.
had been completed: 3,500-foot Runway 1-19 and                The airport had become a
3,200-foot Runway 12-30.  The original Runway 15-33post-war reserve station, playing roles in the Korean
had also been lengthened to 3,500 feet at this time. and Vietnam Wars, and had served as the base for
Between 1936 and 1938, the Works Progressthe Air National Guard during the Cold War.  It had
Administration had constructed additional service wingsalso been the location of civilian pilot, flight engineer, and
between each hangar to house machine shops andmechanic training.
maintenance facilities.When all these military conflicts had ultimately been
Although Floyd Bennett Field had become the Unitedresolved, however, the air station’s purpose had
State’s second-busiest airport two years after itprogressively diminished.
had opened, with 51,828 annual take offs and landings, 3
few of them had constituted commercial operations                 Decommissioned and no
which normally transported passengers, baggage,longer active as either a commercial or General
cargo, and mail.  Mayor Fiorello La Guardia hadAviation airport, Floyd Bennett Field had been
repeatedly attempted to establish the facility as Newtransferred to the National Park Service in 1972,
York’s principle municipal airfield, usurping the rolebecoming a part of its Gateway National Recreation
played by Newark in New Jersey, but since passengerArea.  One of the first urban parks in the National
revenue had then only been incremental to aPark System, it encompasses three units in two
carrier’s profitability, and not integral to it, like that ofstates: the Jamaica Bay Unit in Brooklyn, New York;
the mail, and since the US Postal Service itself hadthe Staten Island Unit in Staten Island, New York; and
refused to transfer its New York operations centerthe Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey.
from Newark to Floyd Bennett Field, the airport could                Floyd Bennett Field’s
never become the viable commercial facility envisionedonly air activity, other than an occasional air show, is
during its inception.  Other than American Airlines’that of the New York City Police Department which
temporary relocation, it had primarily remained abases its fleet of Bell Jet Ranger helicopters here and
General Aviation airfield.uses part of one of the former runways for
Nevertheless, the most important chapters ofoperational purposes.  As a heliport, it is designated
aviation’s Golden Age had been written here. “NY22.”
Between 1931 and 1939, ten notable cross-country and                Four of the eight original
16 transatlantic and round-the-world flights had allhangars had been adapted for concession reuse in
originated or terminated from the marsh-to-concrete2006.
transformed patch appendaged to southern                The former Administration
Brooklyn.   Building/Passenger Terminal, now designated the
In July of 1931, for instance, a Bellanca CH Pacer, aWilliam Fitts Ryan Visitor Center, is open to the public
high-wing monoplane powered by a single, 300-hpand, although its halls and rooms offer little more than
Wright J-6 Whirlwind engine, had established a distanceinterpretive displays and a small gift shop, one can still
record of 5,011.8 miles when it had flown from Floydclimb the concrete stairs at the building’s façade
Bennett Field to Istanbul, Turkey.  On August 29 ofwhere passengers had transferred from taxis, cars,
the following year, a Pratt and Whitney Waspand buses, and enter the central lobby, which had been
Junior-powered Waddell Williams had established athe location of the passenger check-in facilities.  After
new transcontinental speed record of 10.19 hours on itsdepositing and weighing their luggage, and obtaining a
flight to Los Angeles.  In July of 1933, Wiley Post hadboarding folder, they had then exited the aft doors to
flown a Pratt and Whitney Wasp-engined Lockheedthe observation balcony which had overlooked the
Vega named “Winnie Mae” around the world inpropeller-spinning aircraft on the ramp awaiting them
seven days, 18 hours, 49 minutes, and 30 seconds. and accessed by portable boarding stairs.  Baggage
He had also been the first to circumnavigate the globehad been wheeled by cart from the building’s lower
solo, covering 15,596 miles in four days, 19 hours, andlevel up the considerably inclined ramp and across the
36 minutes.field to the aircraft itself.  The control tower had been
Wings had stretched from Brooklyn as far as thedirectly above them, atop the terminal.
Middle East.  In August, for example, an                Although the building is
Hispano-Suiza-powered Bleriot 110 had flown thenow quiet and deserted, one can still sense the
5,657.4 miles to Syria in 55 hours.era’s history it had absorbed, of the life scenarios
By 1934, eight transatlantic flights had occurred fromenacted in it and facilitated by it.  Its silence ironically
Floyd Bennett Field and several successively improvedtells its story, serving as the line of contrast between
transcontinental ones.  Major James H. Doolittle,what had been and what no longer was.
piloting a Wright Cyclone-powered American Vultee,                Its internal roadways, once
had notched up a transcontinental record for aFloyd Bennett Field’s runway and taxiway
passenger transport category aircraft, completing theinfrastructure, still bear their magnetic compass
Los Angeles-New York sector in 11.59 hours.  Aheadings and can be freely driven.
second transport category record had been achieved                Across from the Visitor
in April of that year when a TWA DC-1 had flownCenter, on the east side and at considerable distance
from Burbank in 11 hours, five minutes, 45 seconds. via former Runway 6-24, is another public-accessible
Douglas DC-1s subsequently established 22 speedbuilding, Hangar B.  Constructed by the Navy during
records from Floyd Bennett Field with high grossWorld War II for its VRF-4 base, one of Naval Air
weights, simulating commercial transport payload andStation New York’s Naval Air Ferry Command
range capabilities.squadrons, it had been used as a Naval Air Reserve
One year later, on April 21, 1936, Howard Hughes hadtraining facility to prepare pilots and ground crews for
established an intercity speed record when he hadthe Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the
flown a Wright Cyclone-powered Northrop GammaVietnam War.  Now used by the National Park
between Miami and Brooklyn in four hours, 21 minutes,Service’s Volunteer-In-Park Program Historic
32 seconds.  Later in that year, in October, a BellancaAircraft Restoration Project (HARP) dedicated, since
Flash, powered by a Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine,1995, to preserving aviation history at Floyd Bennett
had flown to Newfoundland and London-Croydon in 13Field and interpreting its role, it houses a collection of
hours, 17 minutes.both fixed wing and rotary aircraft which represent the
Howard Hughes, taking the spotlight again in 1938, hadairport’s two principle eras—its Municipal Airport
piloted a Lockheed 14N Super Electra, powered bystatus from 1931 to 1941 and its Naval Air Station
two Pratt and Whitney 900-hp Wright Cyclones, on afunction from 1941 to 1971—and the five services
record-breaking global circumnavigation, completing thewhich had operated from it: the Air National Guard, the
flight in three days, 19 hours, eight minutes, and tenNew York City Police Department, the US Coast
seconds.Guard, the US Marine Corps, and the US Navy.
Perhaps the most famous flight blunder, or so it is                Floyd Bennett Field, a tiny
alleged, also occurred that July when Douglas Corrigan,parcel of land which had been transformed from
who had been denied permission to fly to Europe, filedmarsh to concrete, and had played important roles in
a flight plan to California instead.  After taking off in hisNew York’s Golden Age and military aviation eras,
Curtiss Robin, powered by a 165-hp Wright Whirlwindhas been reduced to silence and inactivity as it now
J-6 engine, the aircraft proceeded nonstop to Ireland insits in the shadow of its replacement, JFK International
28 hours, 13 minutes, allegedly due to “compassAirport, from which mulitple, European-bound takes
difficulties,” thus earning him the nickname ofoffs routinely occur, a shadow from which those
“Wrong Way Corrigan.”European-bound flights had ironically been proven.  As
The Germans had flown to Floyd Bennett Field in 24such, it had served as a stage where a brief, but
hours, 50 minutes, 12 seconds in August of 1938 whenimportant piece of New York aviation history had been
their Focke-Wulf Fw-200 prototype, powered by fouracted out, leaving only its memory and its
875-hp Hornet engines, had made the crossing fromeffects—indeed, and in essence, the very purpose of
Berlin.  The return journey had been completed in 19the planet itself, proving that, when a life cycle has
hours, 55 minutes, one second, beating Wiley Post'sbeen completed and has fulfilled its purpose, that it can
record by five and a half hours.only pave the way for those to follow, but can never
Despite all this activity, New York’s first municipalbe reused itself.