Shore Guy
20th May 2002, 12:57
http://www.cradleofaviation.org/
May 20, 2002
Museum Honors Runways in Land of the Expressway
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
AST GARDEN CITY, N.Y., May 19 — Seventy-five years after Charles A. Lindbergh set off from the Hempstead Plains for his solo flight to Paris, Long Island is better known for its busy highways than for its runways.
But there was a time when the name Roosevelt Field conjured up images of Mr. Lindbergh's point of departure, not the shopping mall right off the Meadowbrook Parkway. And today, residents and politicians gathered to celebrate the opening of a museum documenting that history.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum opens officially on Monday, exactly 75 years after Mr. Lindbergh's take-off and more than 30 years after politicians and aviation enthusiasts started to talk about building it.
Over the years, Nassau County, now climbing its way back from the brink of bankruptcy, poured about $40 million into the museum, which will be run by a nonprofit corporation called Nassau Heritage.
Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, described the path leading to the museum as a "tremendously long struggle," noting that he was a child when the plans were first hatched. "Long Island is deserving of a world-class facility like this," he said at today's ceremony.
Sure, there was Kitty Hawk, N.C. But shortly after the Wright Brothers' flight, experimental pilots like Glenn Curtiss and Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to get a pilot's license, converged on Long Island's fields and flight schools.
During World War I, Mitchel Field, where the Cradle of Aviation now sits, became a major military air base. Airplane manufacturers, including Grumman, set up plants and headquarters here.
"Everybody, if they didn't work for Grumman, they knew somebody who did," said Bill Kelly, 50, of Hicksville, who spent 17 years with the company. "There was nothing like working for Grumman. You really had a sense of pride."
Today, Mr. Kelly arrived at the ceremony marking the museum's opening with his son, Billy, 18, one of hundreds of volunteers who have spent what museum officials say is some 650,000 hours restoring old airplanes and spacecraft.
Two refurbished airplane hangars and a building with a sparkling glass facade make up the museum, where about 70 airplanes and spacecraft are on display. Some, like the supersonic Grumman F-11 Tiger at the entrance, are suspended in the air, while others rest on the ground.
The planes, which include restored originals as well as replicas, were collected throughout the years; many are on loan. A 1918 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny was retrieved from a farm in Iowa where Mr. Lindbergh left it after a barnstorming stint, and a Grumman Wildcat was salvaged from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where it ended up after plummeting during a training exercise in 1944.
Martha Lindemann, 75, marveled at a lunar module, wrapped in gold and black foil, that Grumman manufactured on Long Island; it was never sent to the moon because of cuts in NASA's budget.
"Isn't that beautiful?" said Mrs. Lindemann, who arrived at the opening wearing a rhinestone airplane pin. She was accompanied by her husband, a retired carpenter who helped restore the planes. "Fantastic," she said.
Courtney O'Shea, 3, whose father, Charles, is the Nassau County tax assessor, was taken by one of the museum's interactive exhibits — a small hot air balloon that glides upward at the push of a button. "There it goes, there it goes," she squealed.
For John Prete, 72, a former production planner at Grumman who also helped with the restoration, the museum enshrined memories of a time that his grandchildren will never experience.
"A lot of these artifacts are part of my generation," Mr. Prete said, resting on a shining TBM Avenger he helped restore. "I was a little worried about the aviation history going down the tubes."
At the ceremony, Gov. George E. Pataki announced plans to market the Cradle of Aviation along with other air and space attractions in New York — like the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in Manhattan — under the "I Love New York" tourism campaign. Together, he said, the museums would be billed as the New York State Aviation Alliance.
Museum officials estimated that the museum, which also features Long Island's only IMAX theater, will draw more than 400,000 visitors a year.
May 20, 2002
Museum Honors Runways in Land of the Expressway
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
AST GARDEN CITY, N.Y., May 19 — Seventy-five years after Charles A. Lindbergh set off from the Hempstead Plains for his solo flight to Paris, Long Island is better known for its busy highways than for its runways.
But there was a time when the name Roosevelt Field conjured up images of Mr. Lindbergh's point of departure, not the shopping mall right off the Meadowbrook Parkway. And today, residents and politicians gathered to celebrate the opening of a museum documenting that history.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum opens officially on Monday, exactly 75 years after Mr. Lindbergh's take-off and more than 30 years after politicians and aviation enthusiasts started to talk about building it.
Over the years, Nassau County, now climbing its way back from the brink of bankruptcy, poured about $40 million into the museum, which will be run by a nonprofit corporation called Nassau Heritage.
Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, described the path leading to the museum as a "tremendously long struggle," noting that he was a child when the plans were first hatched. "Long Island is deserving of a world-class facility like this," he said at today's ceremony.
Sure, there was Kitty Hawk, N.C. But shortly after the Wright Brothers' flight, experimental pilots like Glenn Curtiss and Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to get a pilot's license, converged on Long Island's fields and flight schools.
During World War I, Mitchel Field, where the Cradle of Aviation now sits, became a major military air base. Airplane manufacturers, including Grumman, set up plants and headquarters here.
"Everybody, if they didn't work for Grumman, they knew somebody who did," said Bill Kelly, 50, of Hicksville, who spent 17 years with the company. "There was nothing like working for Grumman. You really had a sense of pride."
Today, Mr. Kelly arrived at the ceremony marking the museum's opening with his son, Billy, 18, one of hundreds of volunteers who have spent what museum officials say is some 650,000 hours restoring old airplanes and spacecraft.
Two refurbished airplane hangars and a building with a sparkling glass facade make up the museum, where about 70 airplanes and spacecraft are on display. Some, like the supersonic Grumman F-11 Tiger at the entrance, are suspended in the air, while others rest on the ground.
The planes, which include restored originals as well as replicas, were collected throughout the years; many are on loan. A 1918 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny was retrieved from a farm in Iowa where Mr. Lindbergh left it after a barnstorming stint, and a Grumman Wildcat was salvaged from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where it ended up after plummeting during a training exercise in 1944.
Martha Lindemann, 75, marveled at a lunar module, wrapped in gold and black foil, that Grumman manufactured on Long Island; it was never sent to the moon because of cuts in NASA's budget.
"Isn't that beautiful?" said Mrs. Lindemann, who arrived at the opening wearing a rhinestone airplane pin. She was accompanied by her husband, a retired carpenter who helped restore the planes. "Fantastic," she said.
Courtney O'Shea, 3, whose father, Charles, is the Nassau County tax assessor, was taken by one of the museum's interactive exhibits — a small hot air balloon that glides upward at the push of a button. "There it goes, there it goes," she squealed.
For John Prete, 72, a former production planner at Grumman who also helped with the restoration, the museum enshrined memories of a time that his grandchildren will never experience.
"A lot of these artifacts are part of my generation," Mr. Prete said, resting on a shining TBM Avenger he helped restore. "I was a little worried about the aviation history going down the tubes."
At the ceremony, Gov. George E. Pataki announced plans to market the Cradle of Aviation along with other air and space attractions in New York — like the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in Manhattan — under the "I Love New York" tourism campaign. Together, he said, the museums would be billed as the New York State Aviation Alliance.
Museum officials estimated that the museum, which also features Long Island's only IMAX theater, will draw more than 400,000 visitors a year.