Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air station. Floyd Bennett Field is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Unit, and is managed by the National Park Service. While no longer used as an operational commercial, military, or general aviation airfield, a section is still used as a helicopter base by the New York City Police Department, and one runway is reserved for hobbyists flying radio-controlled aircraft.
Floyd Bennett Field was created by connecting Barren Island and several smaller islands to the rest of Brooklyn by filling the channels between them with sand pumped from the bottom of Jamaica Bay. The airport was named after Floyd Bennett, a noted aviator who piloted the first plane to fly over the North Pole and had visualized an airport at Barren Island before dying in 1928; construction on Floyd Bennett Field started the same year. The airport was dedicated on June 26, 1930, and officially opened to commercial flights on May 23, 1931. Despite the exceptional quality of its facilities, Floyd Bennett Field never received much commercial traffic, and it was used instead for general aviation. During the interwar period, dozens of aviation records were set by aviators flying to or from Floyd Bennett Field.
Starting in the 1930s, the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy occupied part of the airport. With the outbreak of World War II, Floyd Bennett Field became part of Naval Air Station New York on June 2, 1941, and Floyd Bennett Field was a hub for naval activities during World War II. After the war, the airfield remained a naval air station operated as a Naval Air Reserve installation. In 1970, the Navy stopped using NAS New York / Floyd Bennett Field, though a non-flying Naval Reserve Center remained until 1983. The Coast Guard continued to maintain Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn for helicopter operations that remained through 1998 when it, too, was decommissioned. Following the Navy's departure, several plans for the use of Floyd Bennett Field were proposed, although use as a civilian airport for fixed-wing operations was considered untenable due to the proximity to and extensive commercial air traffic associated with, John F. Kennedy International Airport. In 1972, it was ultimately decided to integrate the airport into the Gateway National Recreation Area. Floyd Bennett Field reopened as a park in 1974.
Many of the earliest surviving original structures are included in a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, being among the largest collections and best representatives of commercial aviation architecture from the period, and due to the significant contributions to general aviation and military aviation made there during the Interwar period. Floyd Bennett Field also contains facilities such as a natural area, a campground, and grasslands.
History
Planning
Need for an airport
Floyd Bennett Field was New York City's first municipal airport, built largely in response to the growth of commercial aviation after World War I. During the 1920s, air travel in Europe was more popular than in the United States because, although Europe had a surplus of airplanes, the United States already had a national railroad system, which reduced the need for commercial aircraft. While other localities had municipal airports, New York City had a multitude of private airfields, and thus did not see the need for a municipal airport until the late 1920s.The New York City Board of Estimate submitted a recommendation for a New York City municipal airport in 1925, but it was denied. Two years later, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced a similar recommendation, which was largely ignored. By this time, the city urgently needed an airport. This was underscored by the construction of the Newark Metropolitan Airport in 1928, as well as several transatlantic flights from the New York area that were piloted by such figures as Charles Lindbergh, Clarence D. Chamberlin, and Charles A. Levine. Most of the nation's air traffic around this time was from airmail operations, and the United States Postal Service designated Newark Airport as the airmail terminal for the New York City area, since Newark was the region's best-equipped airport for airmail traffic. New York City officials decided that an airport in the city itself was necessary, because placing the airmail terminal in Newark represented a missed opportunity to put New York City on the aviation map.
In mid-1927, Herbert Hoover, the United States Secretary of Commerce, approved the creation of a "Fact-Finding Committee on Suitable Airport Facilities for the New York Metropolitan District". The Hoover committee, composed of representatives from New York and New Jersey, identified six general locations in the metropolitan area where an airport could be built. The committee recommended Middle Village, in Central Queens, as the first location for an airfield. Its second choice was an existing airstrip on Barren Island in southeastern Brooklyn. Another site in the eastern part of the bay, near the present-day JFK Airport, was also recommended. At the time, the report listed three "Federal or State Fields", three "Commercial Fields", and seventeen "Intermediate Fields" in the New York metropolitan area. Chamberlin was appointed as the city's aeronautical engineer to make the final decision on the airport's location.
There was much debate over where the airport should be located. U.S. Representative and future New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, himself a former military airman, advocated for a commercial airport to be placed in Governors Island, as it was closer to Manhattan and located in the middle of New York Harbor. He left open the possibility that the outer boroughs could also build their own local airports. La Guardia, along with Representative William W. Cohen, introduced a motion in the 70th United States Congress to establish the airport on Governors Island, but it was voted down.
Site chosen
Chamberlin chose Barren Island as the site for the new municipal airport. An isolated settlement on the island had been developed in the late 19th century, and at its peak, had been home to "several thousand" people. A garbage incinerator and a glue factory had been located on the island. By the 1920s, Barren Island's industrial presence had dwindled, and only a small percentage of residents remained on the island. In 1927, a pilot named Paul Rizzo had opened the Barren Island Airport, a private airstrip, on the island.Chamberlin chose the Barren Island location over Middle Village for several reasons. First, city officials had already spent $100 million between 1900 and 1927 toward constructing a seaport in Jamaica Bay, having dredged land for the proposed shipping channels. Chamberlin also favored the Barren Island location because of the lack of obstructions nearby, as well as the presence of Jamaica Bay, which would allow seaplanes to also use the airport. Finally, the site was city-owned, while the land in Middle Village was not. City officials believed that an airport at Barren Island would be able to spur development of Jamaica Bay, despite the abandonment of the seaport proposal. However, airline companies feared that the Barren Island Airport would have low visibility during foggy days, a claim Chamberlin disputed because he said there was little history of fog in the area.
Construction
In February 1928, the Board of Estimate unanimously approved Chamberlin's suggestion to build the airport at Barren Island, allotting a plot on Barren Island for that purpose. The project also received an appropriation of $500,000, paid for with taxes. One of the members of Hoover's Fact-Finding Committee objected because Middle Village was located at a higher elevation with less fog, while Barren Island was more frequently foggy during the spring and fall. However, Barren Island was already flat, so an airport located there would be ready for use in less time than an airport built on the hills of Middle Village. After the plan was approved, two airmail companies announced that they would not move their operations from New Jersey to Barren Island, because the airmail facilities at Newark International Airport were closer to Manhattan than the proposed Barren Island Airport was.Designs for the proposed Barren Island Airport were being solicited in 1927, even before the city had given its approval of the Barren Island site. By January 1928, the New York City Department of Docks had composed its own team to create plans for the airport. The future airport would be able to accommodate both airplanes and seaplanes. A "Jamaica Bay Channel" on the airport's east side would provide loading docks and hangars for seaplanes. The airplane hangars and an administrative building would occupy the northwest corner of the airport. Four runways would be built across the rest of the grass field. By fall 1928, the Department of Docks had published a more detailed plan that would theoretically allow the Barren Island Airport to get an "A1A" rating, the highest rating for an airport awarded by the United States Department of Commerce. This new plan called for two perpendicular concrete runways in a "T" shape, with one being long and the other being long. An administration building, fourteen hangars, and other maintenance facilities would be constructed on the west side of the airport, parallel to Flatbush Avenue. The rest of the airport would be a grass field.
The Department of Docks was in charge of constructing the Barren Island Airport. The first contract for construction was awarded in May 1928. The $583,000 contract entailed filling in or leveling of soil across a parcel. Sand from Jamaica Bay was used to connect the islands and raise the site to above the high–tide mark. This contract was completed by May 1929. A subsequent contract for $75,000 involved filling in an extra of land, and was finished by the end of 1929. In order to secure an "A1A" rating, the planners built runways, twice the minimum runway width mandated by the Department of Commerce. These runways were designed for planes taking off. The planners also constructed grass fields with several layers of soil, which would allow for smooth plane landings. They conducted studies on other infrastructure, such as the power, sewage, and water systems, to determine what materials should be used to allow the airport to get an "AAA" rating, which was the same as an "A1A" rating.
Barren Island Airport was renamed after the aviator Floyd Bennett in October 1928. Floyd's wife, Cora, recalled that they had once toured Barren Island when Floyd said, "Some day, Cora, there will be an airport here." Bennett and Richard E. Byrd claimed to have been the first to travel to the North Pole by airplane, having made the flight in May 1926, for which they both received the Medal of Honor. They were preparing to fly to the South Pole in 1927 when Bennett placed these plans on hold in order to rescue the crew of the Bremen. Bennett died of pneumonia in April 1928, during the Bremen rescue mission, and he was subsequently buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Many things were named after Bennett, including the aircraft Byrd and three others flew to the South Pole in 1929 and the Barren Island Airport.
After the field was completely filled and leveled, the two concrete runways were built. The shorter runway was numbered 15–33 while the longer runway was numbered 6–24. At the time, Runway 6–24 was the longest concrete runway in the U.S. The layer of reinforced concrete, gravel drainage strips, and extra width contributed to the airport's "AAA" rating. The new airfield's runways, built at a time when most "airports" still had dirt runways and no night landings, made the airport among the most advanced of its day, as did its comfortable terminal facilities with numerous amenities.
As work on the runways was ongoing, plans for the administration building and hangars were being revised. The number of hangars was reduced from fourteen to eight due to a lack of funds; the other six hangars were supposed to be built later, but it never happened. After the plans were finalized in late 1929, construction started on the administration building and eight hangars. Materials were shipped by boat to a temporary pier west of Flatbush Avenue. In 1930, work started on the administration building. The administration building was erected on the west side of the field, near Flatbush Avenue, and four hangars each were constructed to the north and south of the building. The architect of the hangars and administration building is not documented, but Tony P. Wrenn, a preservation consultant, surmises that Edward C. Remson designed these structures. In 1929, builders awarded contracts for hydraulic filling operations, a wooden perimeter fence, soil placement and seeding, and runway widening. These contracts were substantially complete by 1930.