Location of the aerodrome, green oval labeled "Morris Park Race Track"
The Morris Park Aerodrome was a short-lived airfield in what is now the Morris Park section of the Bronx, New York, United States. The aerodrome, which was in operation from 1908 to 1909, occupied the grounds of the former Morris Park Racecourse. The newly-formed Aeronautical Society of New York leased the land in 1908 and used it as an aerodrome for two years until it was developed for residential use.
The Society used the grounds for building and testing aircraft, and for putting on public exhibitions. Two major public exhibitions were staged at the aerodrome; one in November 1908, and another in June 1909. The latter had flights by Glenn Curtiss in his Golden Flyer biplane, including the first demonstration of a stable flight around a closed course using ailerons for lateral control. The exhibitions also featured gliders, balloons, kites, parachute jumps, and ground vehicles driven by propellers known as wind wagons.
The aerodrome ceased operations at the end of 1909, when the land was given over to residential development. The Society moved its operations to a larger facility on Long Island, which would eventually become known as Roosevelt Field.
Origins
In 1905, the Aero Club of America was formed as an outshoot of the Automobile Club of America, patterned after the Aero Club of France.[1] In response to sentiment that the aero club should be more active, president Cortlandt Field Bishop appointed a Committee of Aviation in April 1908 for the purpose of "stimulating more activity in aeroplane work". Unsatisfied with the progress being made by the committee, fifty members of the club split off on June 10, 1908, forming the Aeronautic (or Aeronautical) Society of New York. Initial membership included Lee Burridge, Albert Triaca, Willard Kimball, Roger Whitman, William Hammer, Leo Stevens, Daniel Brine, and Stanley Beach[2] Burridge (who would later be President of the Society[3]) spoke of plans to acquire an airfield:[2]
... this society is going to stand for something tangible, practical, and it proposes to secure experimental grounds as soon as possible where men who have been working on problems of aeronautics will be enabled to try out their machines.
Morris Park Clubhouse in 1898
That summer, the Society looked at several properties from New Jersey to Long Island and ultimately identified the grounds of the old Morris Park Racecourse as the best location.[4] The racecourse had closed in 1904 after which the 372-acre (151ha) property was used for automobile and motorcycle racing for a few years. It was convenient to the recently opened West Farms Square subway station and a trolley stop, as well as a range of cafes and residences which could be had for inexpensive rents. Proximity to public transportation was considered essential, making the field accessible to all experimenters, not just the affluent.[5]:273–274 The location provided open spaces on a level elevation, several existing buildings which could be repurposed as workshops, and a larger building for a clubhouse complete with a neatly trimmed lawn and flower beds.[6]
Morris Park Aerodrome (occasionally called the Morris Park Volery[7]) was made available to members for the first time on the weekend of August 29th and 30th.[5]:274 A lease was signed on or about August 31, 1908,[4] running until December 31, 1909.[8] By September, plans were being made for an exhibition where "Freak machines will have a chance to show what they can do as well as the more orthodox types." Fences adjacent to the track were removed to provide a clear straight path of at least 0.62 miles (1.00km), and a machine shop was being constructed.[8]
This was the first flying field in the United States; by the end of the year, All the World's Air-Ships by Fred Jane listed it as one of eight such facilities in the country.[9][10] The aerodrome was also home to the International School of Aeronautics run by Albert Triaca.[6]
Exhibitions
November 1908
On October 18, the first exhibition of the Society was announced for November 3 to coincide with election day. There were plans for two airplanes from the Aerial Experiment Association(June Bug and Silver Dart) to compete, a five-mile dirigible race, kites, and gliders; the kite contest was open to public school students with no entry fee.[11] There were also plans for one-, five-, and ten-mile motorcycle races sponsored by the Federation of American Motorcyclists[5]:269 and for the U.S. Weather Bureau to demonstrate using kites and captive balloons to collect atmospheric data.[5]:277 Admission to the exhibition was $0.50 (equivalent to $17.5in 2024), with the subway ride from Manhattan taking 40 minutes.[5]:269 An estimated 20,000 spectators showed up, far exceeding expectations. Although several hundred people had volunteered to act as marshals (equipped with badges and sticks), a large number of people swarmed past the gate with only about 3,500 people having paid their admission fee.[5]:279
Lesh in the air at the 1908 exhibition
A glider piloted by sixteen-year old Laurence J. Lesh crashed during its third flight after reaching a maximum altitude of 70 feet (21m) and travelling a total of about 200 feet (61m).[12] The cause of the crash was attributed to inexperience flying this model of glider which lacked the rudder used on his earlier designs.[13] The injuries sustained in the crash sent Lesh to the hospital and he took a year of rehabilitative therapy to fully recover from his broken ankle.[14][15] The glider had been launched by rope tow behind a 1907 Thomas Flyer driven by Montague Roberts[fr], one of the drivers who had won the 1908 New York to Paris Race in that car.[12][16] Previous launch attempts that day had used a tow horse; out of six tries, only two got off the ground, reaching an altitude of about 20 feet (6.1m).[17] Lesh had also planned to show a large box kite that day.[18] Lesh, a protégé of Octave Chanute, was a native of Iowa who moved to Montreal as a child. He was the first known aviator in Canada, having built and flown horse-drawn gliders as early as 1907. Lesh also completed a record-setting 24 minute, 6.2-mile (10.0km) flight in 1907 towed by a motor boat on the St. Lawrence River.[14]
Glenn Curtiss on a wind wagon (date and location unknown)
The exhibition included a wind wagon contest, these being wheeled ground vehicles driven by propeller thrust.[11] One of these was wrecked and its inventor, Julian P. Thomas, severely injured when he crashed while trying to avoid a motor bicycle; The New York Times described Thomas' machine as resembling "a huge tricycle with a propeller eight feet long in front and a gasoline motor behind".[19] Other inventors scheduled to show their wagons included astronomer William Pickering, aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss, and W. A. Custard.[11] According to Curtiss, the purpose of the wind wagon was to test the power of motors and the efficiency of propellers[20] and it had no commercial value.[21]
June 1909
The Golden Flyer in flight at Morris Park Aerodrome, 1909
A second annual exhibition was held on June 26, 1909, with 2000 people in attendance[22] on a day with ideal flying weather.[23] The highlight of the event was a series of flights by Curtiss in a biplane named the Golden Flyer which the Society had purchased from Curtiss and his partner Augustus Herring for $5,000 (equivalent to $120,000in 2024).[24] This set a number of records; the flights themselves were the first airplane flights ever taken over New York City,[25] the purchase was the first to a civilian owner, and the Herring-Curtiss Company was the first aeroplane manufacturing company in the country.[24] The terms of the sale included training for two pilots, and an obligation for Curtiss to fly it the exhibition. The Curtiss design used ailerons for roll control instead of the wing warping system employed by the Wright Brothers, making the airplane more stable and more maneuverable.[26]
The first flight was a straight-line flight covering 300 yards (270m), averaging 30 feet (9.1m) in altitude. The Brooklyn Eagle noted that "his adjustment of his controls to uneven wind currents was absolutely accurate".[23] The remainder of the flights took place after twilight, having been delayed by puffy winds, with the event being forced to conclude as darkness fell. The rough ground at the field was a complicating factor, making landings difficult.[27] One flight lasted 1 minute 45 2/5 seconds, completing a lap around the 1-mile (1.6km) track at an altitude of 20 feet (6.1m), flying between trees along the backstretch and sometimes reaching as high as 60 feet (18m). The aircraft was reported as "always under perfect control".[22][23] This flight was the first time Curtiss had completed a flight around a circular course, although Henri Farman and the Wright Brothers had both already accomplished this feat.[28]
Frederick Schneider demonstrated a motor-driven catapult-assisted airplane of his own construction, named The Brooklyn. The craft failed to get off the ground due to a rusty launching rail and too little weight loaded into the catapult, only managing to slide along the grass for 100 feet (30m). There were also parachute jumps from hot air balloons, with Paul Bloomfield jumping from 1,000 feet (300m), and Mary Hunter from an altitude reported only as "far higher" than Bloomfield's.[23] One of the less serious events was a "balloonatic race". This consisted of a person attempting to run while being supported by a lighter-than-air balloon with just enough bourancy to support the person's weight.[27]
William Martin being towed behind an automobile (date and location unknown)
William H. Martin flew a glider towed by an automobile driven by his wife. He had only gone about 50 yards (46m) when the tow rope broke and the glider crashed; he suffered minor injuries but the aircraft was severely damaged.[22] The safety of the craft was demonstrated on September 21 when Martin's eight-year-old granddaughter, Blanche, made several solo flights, becoming the youngest person to make a flight in a heavier-than-air craft.[29]
Martin's glider had originally been constructed on his farm in Canton, Ohio, equipped with sled runners for operation on snow. The V-shaped lower wings added stability as a result of the dihedral effect. It first flew on January 12, 1909, launched from the top of a hill and towed by Martin's horse named Old Billy. The first flight covered 200 feet (61m) reaching a maximum altitude of 25 feet (7.6m). Over the next few days, over 100 flights were conducted, with Martin's wife, son, and pet dog all taking turns. Martin brought the glider to Morris Park in May, 1909, where it continued to make demonstration flights, being pulled around the track at 30 miles per hour (48km/h) behind an automobile with a 150ft (46m) tow rope, and reaching altitudes as high as 75 feet (23m). By this time, the snow runners had been replaced with wheels.[29]
The Fledglings
Detail from The Fledglings
In attendance at the 1908 exhibition was painter Rudolph Dirks, more commonly known as the cartoonist who drew The Katzenjammer Kids. Based on his experiences at the show, Dirks created an oil-on-linen painting titled The Fledglings. After the show, Dirks hurried back to his studio in Manhattan to begin work with only a few rough pencil sketches as notes. Not having any prepared canvas on hand and wishing to begin work quickly so as not to let his memories of the event fade, Dirks repurposed a linen window shade to use as a canvas.[30][31] The painting is considered by aviation historian Tom Crouch to be the first serious artistic work to depict flight by aircraft[30][32][33] and is now in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum.[31]
Other activities
Device for laying out a propeller
The March 1909 issue of Aeronautics included a paper by R. W. Jamieson describing a device used to lay out a screw propeller for an airplane, taking into account the diameter and pitch. The device itself was presented to the Society and installed at the Morris Park Aerodrome for use by the society's members.[34]
A report in the April 1909 issue of Aeronautics Magazine described new aircraft (referred to as "machines") that were being planned or under construction by at least twenty members of the Society and would be exhibited at Morris Park in the spring of that year. The report noted that Anna Held christened the first aeroplane constructed entirely at Morris Park.[35] The magazine had previously observed that Americans often named their aircraft, contrary to the European habit of numbering them: "Flying machines have a something that is akin to a personality, and giving them names, even if it does not help us to realize their individuality, and perhaps it may, at least it helps in a curiously subtle way to popularize them."[7]
Anna Held christening an airplane at Morris Park
Kimball's N.Y. No 1
Wilbur R. Kimball's design was a 42-foot (13m) wingspan biplane with eight four-bladed low-pitch propellers on ball-bearing mounts driven by a 50 horsepower (37kW) four cylinder two-stroke engine.[36] Lateral control was achieved by the use of the Neale system: four movable panels set vertically between the two wings.[37] In addition to this airplane, Kimball was also working on another design for William H. Butler which would utilize a 100 horsepower (75kW) engine.[36] Kimball's airplane was christened on March 14 by Anna Held as the N. Y. No 1; the ceremony was believed to be the first time a aeroplane had ever been christened.[7]
Schneider biplane
In December 1908, a new airplane arrived at Morris Park: a biplane under construction by Frederick Schneider, who had begun construction at his home in Brooklyn, disassembled it there, and reassembled it at Morris Park on the 29th of the month. The plane had a 30-foot (9.1m) wingspan and with a pilot aboard weighed 630 pounds (290kg) with a main wing loading of 1.7 pounds per square foot (8.3kg/m2). A 36 horsepower (27kW) five-cylinder engine drove three adjustable-pitch propellers.[36]
American Eagle
American Eagle at Morris Park, 1909
In February 1908, aviator Joel T. Rice and financier John Andrew Riggs formed the Hot Springs Airship Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas whereupon they started work on a 50-foot (15m)dirigible named The Arkansas Traveler.[38] In 1909, they moved the ship to New York, where they showed it at the Hudson–Fulton Celebration in September–October of that year. They also began work at Morris Park on a larger ship, The American Eagle, costing over $5,000 (equivalent to $120,000in 2024).[39] At the time, this was the largest steel-framed airship in the country.[39] The name was apparently unpopular with New Yorkers, leading to the newspapers of the time referring to it as The Arkansas Traveler, the same name as the previous ship.[40]
The American Eagle had a 100-foot (30m) envelope holding 33,000 cubic feet (930m3) of hydrogen gas with an 85-foot (26m) compartment providing seating for 15 passengers. Instead of the usual rudder, The American Eagle had a large propeller mounted so that in addition to providing propulsive thrust, it could pivot left and right providing lateral control, Two smaller propellers could be pivoted up and down for vertical control, a system which Rice had patented in 1904. It was intended to be used for cross-country flights, with the initial trip scheduled from New York to Washington DC. Stops along the way were planned at 50–75-mile (80–121km) intervals to show off the ship. Riggs said that the trip was intended "to demonstrate the practical uses of a properly equipped dirigible balloon for long-continued cross-country travel".[41][42][verification needed] Unfortunately, the flight never happened. Immediately after being launched, the horizontal planes accidentally hit the propellers, destroying them, making it impossible to control the ship. A gale-force storm two days later caused irreparable damage to the gas envelope.[40]
Post-aerodrome era
Morris Park proved to be too small to serve the needs of the Aeronautical Society. After surveying the available locations near New York City, Glenn Curtiss recommended moving to the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome (later renamed Roosevelt Field), near Mineola, Long Island.[43] By 1910, the Morris Park property was being subdivided into building lots when a fire destroyed many of the remaining buildings.[44]
In the 1920s, there were efforts to create a new airport about 2 miles (3.2km) to the northeast, in a marshy area near the Hutchinson River which was later the site of Freedomland U.S.A. and, still later, of Co-op City. Bronx Chamber of Commerce president Logan Billingsley made one failed attempt in 1927. Another attempt in 1929 by Curtiss-Wright also failed.[45][46][47]
1 2 3 4 5 6 Crouch, Tom D. (Fall 2011). "The Aeronautic Society of New York and the Birth of American Aviation, 1908—1918". New York History. 92 (4): 268–289. JSTOR23645508.
1 2 "Aeronautics". Aeronautics. 5 (2). Unnumbered advertisement sheet before title page. August 1909 – via HathiTrust.
↑ "Half a Century Ago". Air Power Historian. 6 (2): 137. April 1959. JSTOR44513573.
↑ Goldstone, Lawrence (2014). "16: The Toast of France". Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies. New York: Ballantine Books. pp.183-184 (ebook edition). ISBN978-0-345-53804-8.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
