Floyd Bennett Field (FBF) celebrated its 94th birthday with a free bash that included a two-mile fun run (or walk) on historic runways, a sneak peek at plans for the future and activities for the entire family on Saturday, May 3rd. The celebration took place on the grounds between the Ryan Visitor Center and Hangars 3 and 4.
The historic field was once marshland on Barren Island and became NYC’s first municipal airport in 1931, since all aircraft at that time either departed from Long Island or New Jersey. It was a great location for an airport due to its optimal flying conditions. It lacked approach obstructions, was mostly fog free, had steady winds and potential for future growth.
Runners and walkers of all ages lined up at the starting line to run the historic FBF runways. Their course would be the same runways that some of the most notable pioneers in aviation — like Jacqueline Cochran, Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes — used.
When runners finished the course, everyone was invited to get a sneak-peak inside Hangars 3 and 4 and hear about plans to rehabilitate the buildings. The goal is to reuse the hangars for community programming and events.
Dressed in a bomber jacket and wearing “pinks” trousers, the required uniform members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots wore, Lauren Cosgrove, campaign director for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), took on Cochran’s historical persona.
As Cosgrove walked from the runway that Cochran rode many times to the area between the terminal and the hangars, she explained how important women were to FBF during World War II. They held jobs that had only been offered to men. They worked in the factories on the field, as test pilots and aviation mechanics, staffed the control tower and performed administrative work.
On the lawn between the visitor center and the hangars, partygoers danced to music played by a DJ, competed in lawn games, picnicked and enjoyed photo opportunities and arts and crafts. Circuit electric shuttles were available to taxi people from the grounds, down the runway to Hangar B (an aviation museum). People of all ages participated in a scavenger hunt to find items among the historical aircraft.
FBF was named after a Brooklyn resident and pilot, Floyd Bennett, who served as explorer Richard E. Byrd’s naval aviator on their 1926 flight to the North Pole. Both men were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Ironically, the commencement of the Great Depression began on the same day that construction on the airport started. The stock market crashed at the same time Barren Field was being built to represent a modern airport that had concrete runways and hangars that could house the largest airplanes and seaplanes. The crash would affect the new airport over the following years.
Over 250 people celebrated the Floyd Bennett Field Birthday Bash! which was presented by Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy in partnership with Millennium Development, Runway Green, Circuit, NPCA and Rockaway Track Club.
