Floyd Bennett Field
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Image:Floyd Bennett Field.PNG Floyd Bennett Field, New York City's first municipal airport, was located in Brooklyn on Barren Island, which is now physically part of Long Island dure to the filling in of the channel. It is near Gerritsen Beach. It is currently part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The airport was dedicated on June 26 1930 and opened on May 23 1931. The IATA airport code is NOP.
New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia pushed for Floyd Bennett field to replace Newark Airport in Newark, New Jersey as the city's main air terminal. He was only able to persuade American Airlines to move its Newark operations to the new airport, and many passengers complained that Bennett Field was farther from Manhattan than Newark was. To keep the airport competitive, LaGuardia ordered the New York Police Department to escort limousines from the airport to the city at high speeds.
Its most storied flight was probably that of Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, who, in 1938, after repeatedly being denied permission by the government to attempt a non-stop flight to Ireland, "accidentally" crossed the Atlantic on a flight registered to go to California.
Famed aviator Wiley Post twice used the field for record-breaking round-the-world flights, and developed the Sperry autopilot here. Famous aviatrixes of the era such as Jackie Cochran, and even Amelia Earhart broke records at this airfield. Howard Hughes also used Floyd Bennett Field as the start and finish of his record-setting circumnavigation of the globe in ninety-one hours in July 1938.
Media-savvy pilot Roscoe Turner was also a frequent visitor at this airfield, often in conjuction with record-breaking flights. Later, the aviation program at Floyd Bennett was abandoned in favor of a new airport in Queens, which took advantage of the then-new Queens-Midtown Tunnel to Manhattan. This airport was quickly renamed LaGuardia Airport in recognition of the mayor's efforts to undercut Newark.
During World War II, the facility was used by the U.S. military's airlift network. The noted pilot Eddie Schneider died in a training crash on the tarmac in 1940. The Navy deactivated the naval airfield in 1971. In 1972 it became part of Gateway National Recreation Area, and is now administered by the National Park Service.
The runway has been long closed, but it is very occasionally reopened for air shows. The NYPD has some divisions located on the old base. The Department's Aviation base, with its fleet of Bell Jet Ranger helicopters is located there, as well as the headquarters for the NYPD Special Operations Division. The Driver Training Unit is also located out there, using an abandonded runway to teach new and veteran officers on the many different vehicles of the department.
Since 1995, Floyd Bennett Field has been the site of the annual Gateway to the Nations - New York City Native American Heritage Celebration organized by the Redhawk Native American Arts Council.
Far from the city lights, the airfield offers perhaps the best dark sky site in the five boroughs. The Amateur Astronomers Association of New York meets there one night a month from May to December for observing sessions.
This airport should not be confused with Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport (ICAO code KGFL), which is an active airport located in Queensbury, New York about fifty miles north of Albany. Template:Seealso