Cradle of Aviation Museum
Encyclopedia
East Garden City, New York
East Garden City is a census-designated place in the northeast part of the Town of Hempstead, in the central part of Nassau County, New York, along the Hempstead/North Hempstead town line. The population was 6,028 at the 2010 census...
on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
to commemorate Long Island's part in the history of aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
. It is located on land once part of Mitchel Air Force Base
Mitchel Air Force Base
Decommissioned in 1961, Mitchel Field became a multi-use complex currently home to the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Nassau Coliseum, Mitchel Athletic Complex, Nassau Community College and Hofstra University.-Origins:...
which, together with nearby Roosevelt Field and other airfields on the Hempstead Plains
Hempstead Plains
The Hempstead Plains is a region of central Long Island in New York state in what is now Nassau County. It was once an open expanse of native grassland estimated to once extend to about . It was separated from the North Shore of Long Island by the Harbor Hill Moraine, later approximately the route...
, was the site of many historic flights. In fact, so many seminal flights occurred in the area, that by the mid-1920s the cluster of airfields was already dubbed the "Cradle of Aviation", the origin of the museum's name.
Long Island – The Cradle of Aviation
Aviation firsts that contributed to Long Island's nickname - the "Cradle of Aviation:"- 1873 - First recorded flight over the island, a balloon piloted by W. H. Donaldson from Brooklyn to Queens Village.
- 1874 - More balloon flights, New York City to Lynbrook and Lynbrook to Hempstead.
- 1909 - Glenn CurtissGlenn CurtissGlenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...
flies a plane 25 miles from Mineola and wins the Scientific American Prize. - 1910 - The International Aerial Tournament is held at Belmont ParkBelmont ParkBelmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
. - 1911 - Cal RodgersCalbraith Perry RodgersCalbraith Perry Rodgers was an American pioneer aviator. He made the first transcontinental airplane flight across the U.S. from September 17, 1911 to November 5, 1911, with dozens of stops, both intentional and accidental...
makes the first transcontinental airplane flight from Sheepshead Bay to California in the Vin Fiz. - 1916 - First night flight.
- 1917 - First flight of pilotless aircraft, the Sperry Aerial torpedoAerial torpedoThe aerial torpedo, airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo is a naval weapon, the torpedo, designed to be dropped into water from an aircraft after which it propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torpedoes were used extensively in World War II, and remain in limited...
. - 1919 - First transatlantic crossing by an airship (R34 (airship)) which arrives at Roosevelt Field from England.
- 1923 - First non-stop transcontinental airplane flight from Mitchel Field to San Diego, CA by John A. Macready and Oakley G. KellyOakley G. KellyOakley George Kelly was a record setting pilot for the United States Army Air Service.-Biography:He was born on December 3, 1891 in Pennsylvania.In May 1922, Lieutenant Oakley G...
. - 1924 - First round-the-world flight arrives at Mitchel Field.
- 1927 - First solo transatlantic flightTransatlantic flightTransatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
by Charles LindberghCharles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
from Roosevelt Field to Paris, France. - 1929 - First "blind" instrument flight by Jimmy DoolittleJimmy DoolittleGeneral James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War...
at Mitchel Field. Instruments developed by the Sperry and Kollsman companies of Long Island.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum's first curator, until 1985, William K. Kaiser, performed his own aviation first when he participated in the first transatlantic crossing of non-rigid airships in 1944 as a young ensign blimp pilot in the United States Navy. For his educational contributions and curatorial work at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Kaiser was named a Jimmy Doolittle Fellow and an Ira Eaker Fellow by the Air Force Association Aerospace Education Foundation in 1986.
Museum origins
The first Cradle of Aviation Museum Newsletters were published periodically by the Friends of Nassau County Museum when the air museum itself was still just a dream of Kaiser and George C. Dade, the museum's first director. Along with Henry Anholzer of Pan American Airlines and a team of volunteers, they acquired and restored numerous aircraft. These aircraft reflected some of Long Island's aviation firsts and its local aerospace industry. The first acquisition was a World War I Curtiss JN-4D discovered in an Iowa pig barn by Dade in 1973. Apparently, Lindbergh later confirmed that this was his very first airplane. According to their Spring 1979 newsletter, the museum also had a Ryan Brougham (sister ship of the Spirit of St. LouisSpirit of St. Louis
The Spirit of St. Louis is the custom-built, single engine, single-seat monoplane that was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.Lindbergh took off in the Spirit from Roosevelt...
), Republic P-47N Thunderbolt, Republic Seabee, Grumman F-11A Tiger, and a Grumman Lunar Module spacecraft. These aircraft were destined to occupy hangars 3 & 4 of Mitchel Air Force Base which was acquired by Nassau County when the base closed in 1961. The museum originally opened with just a handful of aircraft in the un-restored hangars in 1980. A major renovation and expansion program in the late 1990s allowed the museum to re-open in a state-of-the-art facility in 2002.
Aircraft
Today the museum contains over 60 aircraft and scale models of airplanes from various time periods, including Charles LindberghCharles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
's Curtiss Jenny in which he barnstormed, the A-10 Thunderbolt II
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
and Grumman F-14 Tomcat, and an actual unused Apollo Lunar Module
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back...
, LM-13. LM-13 was scheduled to land on the moon with the Apollo 19 mission, but with the mission's cancellation it remained on earth, and close to its birthplace in the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft...
facility in nearby Bethpage, New York
Bethpage, New York
Bethpage is a hamlet located on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States, as well as a census-designated place with borders slightly different from those of the hamlet...
.
Many of the tour guides and restoration workers formerly worked at Grumman, which contributed much to the museum.
The museum is one of the more popular Air and Space museums in the United States and is well known for its innovative installations, including unique audio-visual, hands-on and interactive exhibits. The museum's longtime curator (1985–present), Joshua Stoff, is a well-respected author in aviation circles.
In addition to the museum itself, the complex houses an IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theater and the Red Planet Cafe, decorated to look like a space station on Mars. The museum continues to install new exhibitry related to various Long Island topics to this day.