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Despite all the confirmed reports of there being a “Great Depression” going on in America in the 1930s, there were rare pockets of prosperity to be found, and one of those was an idyllic place just outside of Hicksville, Long Island, NY, called the “Long Island Aviation Country Club” (LIACC). Picture this, if you can:
Before you jump into your car and run to Hicksville, be aware, LIACC is long gone from the face of the earth. No trace of anything related to it remains on the site. It was obliterated after WW II by the massive housing development now known as Levittown, NY. More about that later. The location of the LIACC facility was a rectangular sod landing area on the west side of Jerusalem Rd, south of downtown Hicksville, and west of Bethpage (home of Grumman). The accompanying map taken off the Mapquest website shows superimposed dashed lines for the LIACC site, between Dante Avenue and Glazer Lane in today’s densely populated Levittown, NY. The hangars, clubhouse, and tennis courts fronted on an east-west crossroad as shown in the aerial photos taken by noted aviation photographer Hans Groenhoff (Reference 2). A somewhat lengthy review of the economic health of LIACC was published in the April, 1932 issue of Aviation magazine (Reference 3). It opened with the statement, “Aviation Country Club of Long Island members in 1931 provided a market for $500,000 worth of aircraft.” The LIACC initiation fee for “accepted” members was $250. The annual dues were $150 (Reference 2). To put this into proper perspective, in 1931-32, a new Chevy or Ford cost about $650, an exotic Auburn boat-tail Speedster was $945, and a new open-cockpit Waco F-2 was $5000. Clearly, LIACC was a showplace for all the latest civil (and military) aircraft that are now worth a quarter to half million dollars or more each in today’s antique aircraft marketplace. And that showplace function was emphasized in the annual June show staged at LIACC under the direction of illustrious member Roger Wolfe Kahn, who also operated a large commercial fixed base operation called “RoWoKa” at nearby Roosevelt Field. Roger was famous for many reasons, as a jazz bandleader and composer, test pilot for Grumman, official timer for the Cleveland Air Races, and son of Otto Kahn, then the richest man in the world. LIACC Rules for Club CompetitionsIn all formal club competitions for rating or during air meets, the best score shall be determined by taking the average of three landings for any one type of competition. In the event that a contestant is disqualified for under-shooting the mark, gunning the motor, etc., in any one of the landings, he shall be ruled out of further competition in the event at that time. The rules continue on in similar detail to define a “Bomb Dropping” competition wherein bags of sand weighing 1-1/4 pounds each are dropped from at least 400 ft. into a 100-foot diameter circle painted on the field, and scored as to closeness to the center of the circle for an average over 5 drops. From all published accounts, this colorful enjoyment of the best flying machines ever produced during the “Golden Age” of aviation continued in earnest at LIACC right up to the fall of 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland and the clouds of WW II blotted out the blue skies over LIACC and elsewhere in both the U.S. and in Europe. The historical account of LIACC on the website of Paul Freeman (Reference 1) states that “In nearly 20 years of flight operations, the club never had a serious accident resulting in injury – not even at the annual airshows.” After America entered the war (after Pearl Harbor), the fears of coastal attacks brought government banning of all non-essential private flying within 150 miles of both the east and west coasts. Airplanes with any remote military value as light personnel transports were conscripted by the government and overpainted in Army olive drab right in front of the tearful owners. Such was the fate of most Howards, Stinsons, Fairchilds, Beech Staggerwings, and cabin model Wacos. Many coastal flying schools were forced to relocate well inland where they could survive through military contracts under the War Training Service and the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Some flyers managed to keep flying their own civil airplanes along the coasts by joining the local Civil Air Patrol squadrons and fitting out their ships with crude bomb racks under the belly, below the cockpit, where they could carry and jettison a single depth charge (bomb) on enemy submarines they helped detect. And then came war’s end in 1945, and the aviation industry, as well as the aviation press, eagerly anticipated a postwar boom in civil flying and new airplane sales. But this rose-colored vision of a flying American public was a mere fantasy. Returning veteran flyers were coming home to their families with the desire to get jobs and “make babies,” not necessarily to buy a new private airplane. There was a boom in housing, however, and that boom happened to focus on the suburban countryside, including Hicksville, NY. A mega-developer of middle-class subdivisions was one Mr. William Levitt who offered to pay $2,200 per acre for the LIACC property. What a time it was. LIACC was born on the crest of the post-Lindbergh wave of enthusiasm for the airplane. Despite the calamity of the Wall Street stock market crash and the decade of financial depression that followed it, LIACC was a veritable orgy of airplane enjoyment for a couple hundred fairly unique individuals from many different professions in the New York metropolitan area. What a time it was. Following are views of some of the airplanes:
References: 1. “Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: New York, Central Long Island” by Paul Freeman, 2005, www.airfields-freeman.c/NY/Airfields_NY_LongIsC.htm. 2. “He’s Probably at Hicksville” by Spencer Gregg, Popular Aviation, November 1939 3. “Non-professional Progress” (no author noted), Aviation, April 1932 4. The Air Pilots Register 1935, John S. Reaves, editor, published by the Air Pilots Register Co., 45 West 45th St., NY, NY. © 2007 The Long Island Early Fliers Club, P.O. Box 221, Bethpage, NY 11714-0221 • info@longislandearlyfliers.org |
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