History of Long Island - Aviation History

Aviation History

Long Island is important in the history of aviation. Roosevelt Airfield was located in Garden City, Nassau County. From this airport, Charles Lindbergh took off on his historic 1927 nonstop Orteig Prize flight from New York to Paris, France. Roosevelt Airfield was closed in 1951. Its land was redeveloped for commercial uses, including a shopping mall, Hofstra University, and numerous mid-density housing developments.

Long Island was also the location of major historic aerospace companies. Farmingdale-based Republic Aviation, for instance, manufactured the famed P-47 fighter aircraft during the World War II period. Grumman Aircraft, with operations in Bethpage and Calverton, produced the F-14 U.S. Navy fighter during the 1970s and 1980s. It was also the chief contractor on the Apollo Lunar Module that landed men on the moon. They received the contract on 7 November 1962, and ultimately built 13 lunar modules (LMs). One is on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum at the former Mitchel Air Force Base on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island.

Another important historic Long Island airport was Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Established in the early 1930s, it was New York City's first commercial airport. It was the start point or terminus of historic flights by Amelia Earhart, Roscoe Turner, Wiley Post, and Howard Hughes. It was sold to the Navy shortly before World War II for use as a Naval Air Station. In 1972 the Navy departed and the open space was transferred to the National Park Service as part of Gateway National Recreation Area.

Two of New York City's main airports, LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport, are located on the geographic Island. There have been more than ten major air disasters. The three following planes all crashed in either Nassau or Suffolk County: In 1965 Eastern Airlines Flight 663 crashed into Jones Beach State Park after take-off. In 1990, Avianca Flight 52 crashed into Cove Neck, NY, killing 73 passengers. In 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded over water off the coast of the small hamlet of East Moriches. Fatalities totaled 230 people in the disaster. A monument to those lost stands at Smith Point County Park on Fire Island in Suffolk County.

On July 25, 2012, Representative Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04), who represents part of Nassau County, introduced the Long Island Aviation History Act. The bill, H.R. 6201, requires the National Park Service to study various ways to commemorate and preserve Long Island's aviation history, including by designating parts of Long Island as National Historic Sites and National Historic Parks. The bill also requires the National Park Service to evaluate ways to enhance historical research, education, interpretation and public awareness of Long Island's aviation history.