Before LaGuardia Airport, before JFK International Airport, the first municipal airport of New York City was Floyd Bennett Field. The airport officially opened on the 23rd of May, 1931. Unfortunately due to the Great Depression the airport closed down. The field was then occupied by the Navy, US Coast Guard and Armed Forces during the time of war (WWII and Cold War). After the deployment of the Navy, Floyd Bennett Field was then established as part of Gateway’s National Recreation Area in 1972, which is managed by the National Park Service.
This hidden jewel of the inner city has been left out of aviation history books and I felt it was a calling for me to dig deep into the history and bring it to life with the completion of this book. The original copy was lost in Hurricane Sandy and thanks to Blurb.com, they sent me another copy. (THANK YOU BLURB!)
This was more than just a book. The book represents my journey towards becoming passionate about urban planning and now pursuing it as another focus of study. I love people and I love people being able to take ownership of their national parks. Floyd Bennett Field compared with Howard Beach (where I live) was not damaged as severely by Hurricane Sandy and it is something to consider when we build the resilience institute within Jamaica Bay. This would be a prime location and make it accessible to the community.
The two images below are ArcGIS maps that I have created with the shape file sources coming from the GIS specialist at Gateway.
