Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located in the East Garden City section of Uniondale, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazelhurst Field) for the Air Service, United States Army during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1919, it was renamed in honor of President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

's son, Quentin, who was killed in air combat during

. Roosevelt Field was the takeoff point for many historic flights in the early history of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

, including Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, bal ...

. It was also used by other pioneering aviators, including

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

and

Wiley Post Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was an American aviator during the Aviation between the World Wars, interwar period and the first aviator, pilot to fly solo around the world. Known for his work in high-altitude flyi ...

History

The Hempstead Plains Aerodrome originally encompassed east of and abutting Clinton Road, south of and adjacent to Old Country Road, and west of Merrick Avenue. A bluff 15 feet in elevation divided the plain into two large fields. The U.S. Army Signal Corps established the Signal Corps Aviation Station, Mineola, on the west field in July 1916, as a pilot training school for members of the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

World War I

When the U.S. entered the war in April 1917, the entire field was taken over and renamed Hazelhurst Field after Leighton Wilson Hazelhurst Jr. Hazelhurst was a native of Georgia and was a graduate of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

. He reported for aeronautical duty at the Signal Corps Aviation School, Augusta, Georgia, on 2 March 1912. On 11 June 1912, while making a flight at College Park, Maryland, as a passenger in an airplane undergoing acceptance tests, the plane crashed to the ground and both the pilot and Lt. Hazelhurst were killed. An adjacent tract of land south of the Hempstead branch line of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

was acquired for expansion, becoming

Camp Mills Camp Albert L. Mills (Camp Mills) was a military installation on Long Island, New York (state), New York. It was located about ten miles from the eastern boundary of New York City on the Hempstead Plains within what is now the village of Garden Ci ...

along Clinton Road and Hazelhurst Aviation Field No. 2 to the east, part of the massive Air Service Aviation Concentration Center. Hazelhurst Field No. 2 was renamed Mitchel Field on July 16, 1918, to commemorate John Purroy Mitchel, the former mayor of New York killed in a flying accident on July 6, 1918, while training with the U.S. Air Service in Louisiana. On September 24, 1918, the Army dedicated the eastern portion of Hazelhurst Field No. 1 as Roosevelt Field.National Archives of the United States: Records of the Training and Operations Group (Air Service) and the Training and Operations Division (Air Corps) Records of the Army Air Forces (AAF), (Record Group 18) 1903–64 (bulk 1917–47)
/ref> Air Service units that assigned to Hazelhurst Field were:Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the First World War, Volume 3, Part 3, Center of Military History, United States Army, 1949 (1988 Reprint) ;; Permanently assigned * 46th Aero Squadron (II), July 1918-January 1919 * 52d Aero Squadron (II), July–November 1918 ;; Assigned to Aviation Concentration Center for deployment to AEF * 168th Aero Squadron, December 1917-January 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken. NJ (AEF) * 170th Aero Squadron, February–March 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 213th Aero Squadron, December 1917-January 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 220th Aero Squadron, March 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 369th Aero Squadron, January–February 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 370th Aero Squadron, January–February 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 371st Aero Squadron, January–February 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 372d Aero Squadron, January–February 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 374th Aero Squadron, February–March 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Halifax, NS (AEF) * 822d Aero Squadron, March–April 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) * 15th Construction Company, July–August 1918 : Transferred to Port of Entry, Hoboken, NJ (AEF) ;; Returning to United States from Europe * 141st Aero Squadron, July 1919 (Demobilization) * 497th Aero Squadron, April 1919 (Demobilization) * 505th Aero Squadron, January 1919 (Demobilization) ;; First Atlantic crossing by air in both directions On the morning of 5 July 1919, the British

R34 (airship) The R.33 class of British rigid airships were built for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, but were not completed until after the end of hostilities, by which time the RNAS had become part of the Royal Air Force. The lead ...

landed after having crossed the Atlantic as the first aircraft to cross in the east–west direction. It later returned to Britain, being the first aircraft to complete an Atlantic crossing in both directions. After the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

, the Air Service authorized several companies to operate from the fields but maintained control until July 1, 1920, at which time the government sold its buildings and improvements and relinquished control of the property.

Civil use

Once in civilian hands, the owners sold portions along the southern edge of the field and split the remainder of the property into two separate areas. Curtiss Field, a airport on the original site of Hazelhurst Field, occupied half of the western portion along Clinton Road. Roosevelt Field occupied the remainder, consisting of seven hangars and a large parking ramp adjacent to Curtiss Field, and an east–west packed clay runway in length on the bluff. The area between Curtiss Field and the

Long Island Motor Parkway The Long Island Motor Parkway, also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, or Motor Parkway, was a limited-access parkway on Long Island, New York, United States. It was the first highway designed for automobile use only. Th ...

, which ran north of and parallel to Stewart Avenue, became the Old Westbury Golf Course, while the area to the east of the golf course was used as the Meadow Brook Polo Field. Both areas are now completely developed. In pursuit of the

Orteig Prize The Orteig Prize was a reward of $25,000 offered in 1919 by New York City hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first Allies of World War I, Allied aviator, or aviators, to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice versa.Bak. Pages 28 and 29. Se ...

René Fonck Colonel René Paul Fonck (27 March 1894 – 18 June 1953) was a French aviator who ended the First World War as the top Triple Entente, Entente fighter Flying ace, ace and, when all succeeding aerial conflicts of the 20th and 21st centurie ...

attempted to take off in the

Sikorsky S-35 The Sikorsky S-35 was an American triple-engined sesquiplane transport later modified to use three-engines. It was designed and built by the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company for an attempt by René Fonck on a non-stop Atlantic crossing for the Or ...

from Roosevelt Field's long runway on September 21, 1926, but the aircraft was severely overweight and stressed the auxiliary landing gear mounted to help support the load, losing a wheel. Unable to gain lift speed, the plane cartwheeled off the end of the bluff and burst into flames, killing two of its crew. The following May, operating from a hangar at Curtiss Field, Charles Lindbergh used the Roosevelt Field runway for the takeoff of the ''

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the Charles Lindbergh#New York–Paris flight ...

'' on his flight to Paris. Both fields were bought in 1929 by Roosevelt Field, Inc. The western field, called "Unit 2", and the runway atop the bluff, called "Unit 1", were connected by a broad earthen taxi ramp and the consolidated property was named Roosevelt Field. Unit 1 was sold in 1936 and became the Roosevelt Raceway, while Unit 2 continued to operate as an aviation center under the name Roosevelt Field. At its peak in the 1930s, it was America's busiest civilian airfield.

Closure

Roosevelt Field was used by the Navy and Army during World War II. After the war, Roosevelt Field reverted to operation as a commercial airport until it was acquired by real estate developers in 1950. The field closed on May 31, 1951. The eastern field first became an industrial park but is now largely retail shopping, including the Mall at The Source on the site of the former runway, and townhouses, while the site of the original flying field in 1911–1916 has become a shopping mall.

Fresco

Aline Rhonie Hofheimer (1909–1963), painted a long fresco representing aviation history on Long Island that was displayed in Hangar F beginning in 1938 and was later relocated to the

Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology (commonly called Vaughn College) is a private college in East Elmhurst, New York, specialized in aviation and engineering education. It is adjacent to LaGuardia Airport but was founded in Newark, N ...

in Queens, NY.

Mall

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

-based real estate company Webb and Knapp gained a controlling interest in the airfield in 1950 and later built light factories on the former Unit 2. Currently its site is occupied by Roosevelt Field Mall and Garden City Plaza.

In popular culture

* Arthur J. Burks, "Haunted Hangars" (two-part serial), ''Flyers'', January & February 1930. Referred to as "Mineola field". * In

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his gag cartoon, cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' an ...

's short story "The Greatest Man in the World", Jack "Pal" Smurch, a two bit hooligan turned national hero, both departs from and returns to Roosevelt Field on his historic round-the-world flight.

References

External links

UNH: 1918 USGS map of Hazelhurst/Roosevelt Field and environs

{{Airports on Long Island, New York Airports established in 1916 Airports in Nassau County, New York East Garden City, New York Uniondale, New York Former installations of the United States Army Defunct airports in New York (state) World War I airfields in the United States World War I sites in the United States