| 1. There are an increasing number of New York area | | | | J-6 engine, the aircraft proceeded nonstop to Ireland in |
| airports, including those on Long Island, in Westchester | | | | 28 hours, 13 minutes, allegedly due to "compass |
| County, and in New Jersey, yet few are able to name | | | | difficulties," thus earning him the nickname of "Wrong |
| New York City's very first airport. Even fewer are | | | | Way Corrigan." |
| able to explain why it no longer exists. That airport is | | | | The Germans had flown to Floyd Bennett Field in 24 |
| Floyd Bennett Field and it has had three distinct | | | | hours, 50 minutes, 12 seconds in August of 1938 when |
| historical phases. | | | | their Focke-Wulf Fw-200 prototype, powered by four |
| Tracing its origins to Lindbergh's historic, New | | | | 875-hp Hornet engines, had made the crossing from |
| York-Paris solo flight, it had alerted the world to the | | | | Berlin. The return journey had been completed in 19 |
| fact that the aircraft had not departed from New York | | | | hours, 55 minutes, one second, beating Wiley Post's |
| at all, but from Long Island instead, and that the only | | | | record by five and a half hours. |
| real "New York" airport had been located across the | | | | Despite all this activity, New York's first municipal |
| state line, in New Jersey. Thus indicating the need for a | | | | airport, intended as an impressive gateway to the |
| dedicated, New York-located, municipal airport, it had | | | | world's most impressive city, never developed into its |
| led to the establishment of a panel headed by famed | | | | intended position, remaining a General Aviation airfield |
| aviator Clarence D. Chamberlain to search for a | | | | instead. Several reasons could be cited as to why.a). |
| suitable site for one. | | | | Flatbush Avenue had served as its only ground |
| The subsequently chosen location, a 387-acre marsh | | | | access.b). Newark Airport had provided greater |
| on Barren Island south of Brooklyn, New York, had | | | | transportation links to Manhattan.c). The airport had |
| housed a small community, a horse-rendering plant, and | | | | commenced construction and attempted to operate |
| the appropriately-named, single-dirt runway Barren | | | | within the Great Depression.d). Air travel had not yet |
| Island Airport, which had been owned by Paul Rizzo | | | | been accepted as a public transportation means.e). Air |
| and had been used for periodic passenger sightseeing | | | | travel fares had been prohibitive to the general public.f). |
| flights. The site, part of 33 tiny islands, enjoyed | | | | On October 15, 1939, the 558-acre, $45 million Municipal |
| favorable winds, lacked approach obstructions, had | | | | Airport 2, occupying the site of the former North |
| been predominantly fog-free, and offered vast | | | | Beach Airport and therefore closer to Manhattan, had |
| expanses for future growth. The airport, intended as a | | | | been dedicated. It would later become La Guardia |
| state-of-the-art gateway to what had been | | | | Airport.g). Floyd Bennett Field's second replacement, |
| considered one of the world's greatest cities, had been | | | | the larger-area Idlewild Airport, equally located on |
| named "Floyd Bennett Field" after the Brooklyn | | | | Jamaica Bay, would also shortly be built. |
| resident and naval aviator who had served as Richard | | | | The US Postal Service's March 22, 1936 rejection of |
| E. Byrd's pilot on his historic North Pole flight in 1926. | | | | Floyd Bennett Field's air terminal application signaled the |
| Both had received the Congressional Medal of Honor | | | | airport's largest and most definitive death knoll. |
| for the feat. | | | | Floyd Bennett Field's last commercial flight departed on |
| Construction, by the City Department of Docks, | | | | May 26, 1941, but with war clouds draping themselves |
| coincidentally occurred on October 29, 1929, the same | | | | over much of the world, it had extracted more than |
| day that the stock market had crashed, and entailed | | | | rain from them: it had adopted a new purpose. |
| the connection of the islets by filling in their interspersing | | | | 2. War-sparked expansion of the US Navy, which had |
| channels with six million cubic feet of sand pumped | | | | first occupied Floyd Bennett Field's Hangar 5 and later |
| from the bottom of Jamaica Bay and raising its | | | | Hangar 1, resulted in the eventual $9 million sale of the |
| resultant elevation 16 feet above the tidewater, to | | | | airfield by the City of New York to it, and on June 2, |
| connect it to Long Island. | | | | 1941, it had been re-designated "Naval Air Station New |
| Runway 15-33, spanning 3,100 feet, and Runway 6-24, | | | | York." |
| at 4,000 feet, had constituted the airport's first | | | | Because of its proximity to New York and Long Island |
| topographical construction projects, along with a | | | | naval aircraft manufacturers, among them |
| taxiway. During the two-year period between 1929 | | | | Chance-Vought, General Motors, and Grumman, it had |
| and 1931, four pairs of hangars had equally risen from | | | | logically been the closest airport which could accept, |
| the former marshes: internally measuring 120 by 140 | | | | test, and ferry their designs to their respective combat |
| feet, the steel frame buildings featured trussed, arched | | | | theaters, processing everything from amphibious patrol |
| roofs, concrete slab floors, and wooden decks, and | | | | aircraft to aircraft carrier-based fighters and bombers. |
| had been supported by 45-foot-long pre-cast concrete | | | | By 1943, the process had been completed in as few |
| piles. | | | | as three days. |
| A neo-Georgian-style, red and black brick, two-story | | | | The war had necessitated considerable airport |
| Administration Building, completed in 1931, had been | | | | infrastructure expansion. The original Runway 15-33, |
| sandwiched between the now-extended, airport | | | | for example, had been lengthened to 4,500-foot |
| accessible Flatbush Avenue and the runways, and | | | | taxiway T-10 by 1942. The second runway to have |
| featured a semi-octagonal, three-floored, projecting | | | | been constructed, 6-24, had equally been converted |
| control booth of glass and steel atop it. The building | | | | into taxiways T-1 and T-2, and had been replaced by |
| had also served as the passenger terminal. | | | | a new, 5,000-foot runway with the same magnetic |
| Floyd Bennett Field, which had been given the | | | | compass headings. Runway 1-19 had also been |
| three-letter IATA code of "NOP," had been dedicated | | | | lengthened to 5,000 feet that year and would later |
| on June 26, 1930 amid a flying armada of 600 US | | | | become the airport's longest when it had been |
| Army Air Corps aircraft led by Charles Lindbergh and | | | | extended to 7,000 feet. And Runway 12-30 had also |
| Jimmy Doolittle and attended by a 25,000-strong | | | | been expanded to 5,000 feet and, still later, to 5,500 |
| crowd. The airport, which had officially opened a year | | | | feet. |
| later on May 23, 1931, had been given the US | | | | Aside from the fixed-wing aircraft activities, the Navy |
| Department of Commerce A-1-A rating, its highest, | | | | had established the world's first helicopter training |
| because of its hitherto advanced facilities: its modern | | | | facility at Naval Air Station New York for air-sea |
| terminal, paved runways, and their lighting systems for | | | | rescue operations with Sikorsky R-4 helicopters, |
| nighttime operations. | | | | practice sorties having occurred directly off of the |
| These facilities, attracting an increasing number of | | | | airport in Jamaica Bay. Army air Corps, Coast Guard, |
| famous, "Golden Age" pilots such as Wiley Post, | | | | Navy, and Royal Navy pilots had all trained here |
| Jacqueline Cochran, Roscoe Turner, Amelia Earhart, | | | | before having been sent to the China-Burma-India and |
| Howard Hughes, and Clarence Chamberlain, enabled | | | | Pacific Theaters. |
| them to commence or terminate record speed and | | | | PBY Catalinas and other patrol aircraft had routinely |
| distance flights here because of its strategic, east cost | | | | flown from Naval Air Station New York to escort and |
| location and long runways, which had permitted high | | | | protect the ships transporting materials for the |
| fuel load gross weight take offs to be conducted. | | | | Lend-Lease Program from subsurface German |
| Need dictated expansion. In 1936, two more runways | | | | U-boats. |
| had been completed: 3,500-foot Runway 1-19 and | | | | Navy WAVES, or Women Accepted for Volunteer |
| 3,200-foot Runway 12-30. The original Runway 15-33 | | | | Exceptional Service, directed traffic to and from the |
| had also been lengthened to 3,500 feet at this time. | | | | airfield by operating radio equipment in the control |
| Between 1936 and 1938, the Works Progress | | | | tower. |
| Administration had constructed additional service wings | | | | During World War II, the air station, having served as |
| between each hangar to house machine shops and | | | | the base for many Atlantic Fleet units, three submarine |
| maintenance facilities. | | | | patrol squadrons, a Scout Observation Service unit, |
| Although Floyd Bennett Field had become the United | | | | and two Naval Air Transport Service squadrons, had |
| State's second-busiest airport two years after it had | | | | become the busiest and had processed more than |
| opened, with 51,828 annual take offs and landings, few | | | | 46,000 aircraft. |
| of them had constituted commercial operations which | | | | The airport had become a post-war reserve station, |
| normally transported passengers, baggage, cargo, and | | | | playing roles in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and |
| mail. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia had repeatedly | | | | had served as the base for the Air National Guard |
| attempted to establish the facility as New York's | | | | during the Cold War. It had also been the location of |
| principle municipal airfield, usurping the role played by | | | | civilian pilot, flight engineer, and mechanic training. |
| Newark in New Jersey, but since passenger revenue | | | | When all these military conflicts had ultimately been |
| had then only been incremental to a carrier's | | | | resolved, however, the air station's purpose had |
| profitability, and not integral to it, like that of the mail, and | | | | progressively diminished. |
| since the US Postal Service itself had refused to | | | | 3. Decommissioned and no longer active as either a |
| transfer its New York operations center from Newark | | | | commercial or General Aviation airport, Floyd Bennett |
| to Floyd Bennett Field, the airport could never become | | | | Field had been transferred to the National Park |
| the viable commercial facility envisioned during its | | | | Service in 1972, becoming a part of its Gateway |
| inception. Other than American Airlines' temporary | | | | National Recreation Area. One of the first urban parks |
| relocation, it had primarily remained a General Aviation | | | | in the National Park System, it encompasses three |
| airfield. | | | | units in two states: the Jamaica Bay Unit in Brooklyn, |
| Nevertheless, the most important chapters of aviation's | | | | New York; the Staten Island Unit in Staten Island, New |
| Golden Age had been written here. Between 1931 and | | | | York; and the Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey. |
| 1939, ten notable cross-country and 16 transatlantic | | | | Floyd Bennett Field's only air activity, other than an |
| and round-the-world flights had all originated or | | | | occasional air show, is that of the New York City |
| terminated from the marsh-to-concrete transformed | | | | Police Department which bases its fleet of Bell Jet |
| patch appendaged to southern Brooklyn. | | | | Ranger helicopters here and uses part of one of the |
| In July of 1931, for instance, a Bellanca CH Pacer, a | | | | former runways for operational purposes. As a |
| high-wing monoplane powered by a single, 300-hp | | | | heliport, it is designated "NY22." |
| Wright J-6 Whirlwind engine, had established a distance | | | | Four of the eight original hangars had been adapted |
| record of 5,011.8 miles when it had flown from Floyd | | | | for concession reuse in 2006. |
| Bennett Field to Istanbul, Turkey. On August 29 of the | | | | The former Administration Building/Passenger Terminal, |
| following year, a Pratt and Whitney Wasp | | | | now designated the William Fitts Ryan Visitor Center, is |
| Junior-powered Waddell Williams had established a | | | | open to the public and, although its halls and rooms |
| new transcontinental speed record of 10.19 hours on its | | | | offer little more than interpretive displays and a small |
| flight to Los Angeles. In July of 1933, Wiley Post had | | | | gift shop, one can still climb the concrete stairs at the |
| flown a Pratt and Whitney Wasp-engined Lockheed | | | | building's façade where passengers had |
| Vega named "Winnie Mae" around the world in seven | | | | transferred from taxis, cars, and buses, and enter the |
| days, 18 hours, 49 minutes, and 30 seconds. He had | | | | central lobby, which had been the location of the |
| also been the first to circumnavigate the globe solo, | | | | passenger check-in facilities. After depositing and |
| covering 15,596 miles in four days, 19 hours, and 36 | | | | weighing their luggage, and obtaining a boarding folder, |
| minutes. | | | | they had then exited the aft doors to the observation |
| Wings had stretched from Brooklyn as far as the | | | | balcony which had overlooked the propeller-spinning |
| Middle East. In August, for example, an | | | | aircraft on the ramp awaiting them and accessed by |
| Hispano-Suiza-powered Bleriot 110 had flown the | | | | portable boarding stairs. Baggage had been wheeled |
| 5,657.4 miles to Syria in 55 hours. | | | | by cart from the building's lower level up the |
| By 1934, eight transatlantic flights had occurred from | | | | considerably inclined ramp and across the field to the |
| Floyd Bennett Field and several successively improved | | | | aircraft itself. The control tower had been directly |
| transcontinental ones. Major James H. Doolittle, piloting | | | | above them, atop the terminal. |
| a Wright Cyclone-powered American Vultee, had | | | | Although the building is now quiet and deserted, one |
| notched up a transcontinental record for a passenger | | | | can still sense the era's history it had absorbed, of the |
| transport category aircraft, completing the Los | | | | life scenarios enacted in it and facilitated by it. Its |
| Angeles-New York sector in 11.59 hours. A second | | | | silence ironically tells its story, serving as the line of |
| transport category record had been achieved in April | | | | contrast between what had been and what no longer |
| of that year when a TWA DC-1 had flown from | | | | was. |
| Burbank in 11 hours, five minutes, 45 seconds. Douglas | | | | Its internal roadways, once Floyd Bennett Field's |
| DC-1s subsequently established 22 speed records | | | | runway and taxiway infrastructure, still bear their |
| from Floyd Bennett Field with high gross weights, | | | | magnetic compass headings and can be freely driven. |
| simulating commercial transport payload and range | | | | Across from the Visitor Center, on the east side and |
| capabilities. | | | | at considerable distance via former Runway 6-24, is |
| One year later, on April 21, 1936, Howard Hughes had | | | | another public-accessible building, Hangar B. |
| established an intercity speed record when he had | | | | Constructed by the Navy during World War II for its |
| flown a Wright Cyclone-powered Northrop Gamma | | | | VRF-4 base, one of Naval Air Station New York's |
| between Miami and Brooklyn in four hours, 21 minutes, | | | | Naval Air Ferry Command squadrons, it had been |
| 32 seconds. Later in that year, in October, a Bellanca | | | | used as a Naval Air Reserve training facility to prepare |
| Flash, powered by a Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine, | | | | pilots and ground crews for the Korean War, the |
| had flown to Newfoundland and London-Croydon in 13 | | | | Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War. Now used |
| hours, 17 minutes. | | | | by the National Park Service's Volunteer-In-Park |
| Howard Hughes, taking the spotlight again in 1938, had | | | | Program Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (HARP) |
| piloted a Lockheed 14N Super Electra, powered by | | | | dedicated, since 1995, to preserving aviation history at |
| two Pratt and Whitney 900-hp Wright Cyclones, on a | | | | Floyd Bennett Field and interpreting its role, it houses a |
| record-breaking global circumnavigation, completing the | | | | collection of both fixed wing and rotary aircraft which |
| flight in three days, 19 hours, eight minutes, and ten | | | | represent the airport's two principle eras-its Municipal |
| seconds. | | | | Airport status from 1931 to 1941 and its Naval Air |
| Perhaps the most famous flight blunder, or so it is | | | | Station function from 1941 to 1971-and the five services |
| alleged, also occurred that July when Douglas Corrigan, | | | | which had operated from it: the Air National Guard, the |
| who had been denied permission to fly to Europe, filed | | | | New York City Police Department, the US Coast |
| a flight plan to California instead. After taking off in his | | | | Guard, the US Marine Corps, and the US Navy. |
| Curtiss Robin, powered by a 165-hp Wright Whirlwind | | | | |