N1EDM

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On one of the numerous threads I'd read here, someone came up with a teriffic history of Floyd Bennet Field in LI.

I was working in Jamaica Bay (in LI) last week, and happened to mention that there was a lot of history involved with FB Field. I thought I had bookmarked that thread, but apparently not.

Does anyone here have any info or links to any type of history that might involve Floyd Bennet field? I'd like to pass it along to my friend.

Thanks,

Bob

khodges

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What do you want to know?

FBF was New York City's first municipal airport, dedicated on May 23, 1931. It's named after the pilot who flew Admiral Richard Byrd over the North Pole. It was never a commercial success, because at the time it was too far from Manhattan; but it had long concrete runways and favorable winds that made it a perfect "jumping off" spot for many, many record-breaking flights by some of the most notable aviators of the "Golden Age".

In a way, it is responsible for the existence of both LaGuardia and JFKIA. Mayor LaGuardia wanted an airport more convenient to the inner city, and so became the airport in 1939 that carries his name. LaGuardia was a man with vision, and realized that as the city grew, and with commercial air travel coming into its own, that more space was needed than LaGuardia airport could provide. Because it had never been a money maker, the city decided to sell FBF in order to purchase the land across Jamaica Bay, as the city was financially unable to finance another airport because of the construction of LaGuardia. In 1941 FBF was sold to the Navy for $9 million, and the land occupied by Jamaica Seaplane Airport was purchased to develop as a new commercial center, which came to be called Idlewild, and later JFK International Airport.

I'm a big fan of the history at FBF, and JFKIA; my stepdad was Financial Planner for JFKIA during the 60's and 70's, and he had a lot of stuff about both fields, and I'm a big fan of Golden Age flyers and planes. One of the best stories about FBF has to do with the murals that were painted in the Admin Building as a WPA project, but that's a long tale.

N1EDM

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khodges,
Thanks for that history. I'm doing work off and on in Jamaica Bay and go right by JFK and FBF. That gives me some history. I hope to get some extra time there and possibly visit the old FBF and see if any of the old buildings (and the murals) are still around anywhere.

Thanks for the reply. It made for very interesting reading.

Bob

khodges

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Don't bother looking for the murals--they've been gone since 1940. They were funded as a part of the WPA's Federal Arts Program. They were painted in a hangar at FBF and then hung in the rotunda of the Administration Building from the mezzanine. The WPA administrator was an obsessed anti-Communist, and made charges that the murals depicted "Red Propaganda" and ordered them taken down. Whether they were immediately destroyed, or stored and then lost, has never been clearly known, but it is hoped that they somehow survived and will be found.

The artists were Eugene Chodorow and August Henkel; the panels were each 6 feet high and 30 feet long, and depicted the mythology of flight, with Daedalus and Icarus, and the history of manned flight, from the Mongolfier Brothers to the then present day of Golden Age Flight.

The last picture here is the Admin Bld with the Control Tower. Good luck on your visits, I wish I could get up there and wander around.

vinnyjet

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bob
do a search on the net for floyd bennett field
there is alot of info out there
vinny

MajorTomski

Here's a great site for lost and abandonded airports

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NY/...klyn.htm#Floyd

N1EDM

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Thanks, Guys! I appreciate all of the information...

That's a shame about those murals. Hmmmm, that guy had a real lack of focus. I don't see anything 'Communist' in those murals, just good hard-working Americans...

I appreciate all the input from all of you, and a great History lesson.

Bob