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NEW YORK MUNICIPAL
AIRPORT
A Detailed Description of The Great
Air Terminal Constructed by the
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
NEW YORK MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
The nucleus of the New York Municipal Airport at North Beach, most modern airport In
the country, was a anall, privately owned field which was acquired by the Curtiss-Wright
Corporation In 1929 and was opened a year later as the Glenn H. Curtiss Air Terminal.
Years before, the site had been an amusement resort. In January, 1935, the city leased
the field, comprising 105 acres situated on the East River south of Rlkers Island, on the
peninsula formed by Flushing Bay on the east and Bowery Bay on the west, with an option to
buy. Three small hangars stood near the shore at the northwestern edge of the property,
half hidden by a hill on the east. The portion of the field available for planes was of
limited size and there were no runways In the modern sense. Under the city's tenure as
lessee It was used by private plane owners and by barn stormers as a base for short sight¬
seeing trips.
A Combined Transcontinental and Transoceanic Terminal
Here, taking advantage of the exceptional location on the Queens shore, New York City
and the Works Progress Achilnlstration and Its successor, the Work Projects Administration,
have constructed a huge modern airport for the use of both land-and seaplanes. Facilities
for both are combined in a single terminal which will serve also as a transfer point for
transcontinental and transoceanic travel. Here passengers may make the single change nec¬
essary for the flight between all parts of the United States and Europe or Bermuda. Ser¬
vice from the field to Miami will connect with clippers for the West Indies and Central
and South America.
Quicklg Reached bg Bridges and Tunnel
In convenience to the center of the city, the site Is exceptional. It Is ten minutes
by motor from the Triborough Bridge by the Grand Central Parkway and, with the completion
of the East River Drive, will be about twenty minutes from the Grand Central zone. It also
is conyenient to the Queensboro Bridge and to the new Mid-town Tunnel. Easy access to the
Bronx and Westchester County is afforded byway of the new Whitestone Bridge.
Another marked advantage of the site Is that It offered an opportunity for reclaim¬
ing a large area of new land from the East River. Thus an airport of adequate size could
virtually be built to order. Instead of having to fit the airport to Its surroundings,
handicapped by the terrain or by the nearness of buildings, it was possible here to lay
out runways of ample length, giving first consideration to the prevailing winds. The ap¬
proach of arriving planes, too, could be made over the water, permitting planes to lose
1
altitude at a distance from the field. Moreover, the buildings of the airport could be
grouped on the land side, leaving the flying field entirely clear.
Steps were taken by the Mayor In 1937 to win the approval of the Board of Estimate
and the Sinking Fund Commission for the purchase and development of the airport and to ob¬
tain the help of the Federal Government, through the Works Progress Administration. Tenta¬
tive plans were drawn up under the direction of Lieut. Col. Brehon Somervell, Works Pro¬
gress Administrator for New York City, in cooperation with Commissioner John McKenzle of
♦
the Department of Docks, and designs for the proposed buildings were prepared bv Delano &
Aldrlch, architects.
Nation's Leading Experts Cooperate on Plans
In laying out the airport, the best experience In the country In this branch of en¬
gineering was called upon. The Bureau of Air Commerce, the United States Army and the en¬
gineers of the important air lines contributed. The plans were drawn by the Design Section
of the WPA Planning Department, headed by Samuel E. Stott as chief, and assisted by a board
of engineers composed of Walter Douglas, of the New York firm of Parsons, Klapp,
Brlnckerhoff & Douglas; Brig. Gen. M. C. Tyler, Assistant Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army,
and Joseph A. Meehan, Acting Chief Engineer of the New York City Department of Docks. The
design of the field, particularly the arrangement of runways, lighting and signals, was
also guided by specialists of the Bureau of Air Commerce, forerunner of the Civil Aero¬
nautics Authority.
Extensive soil borings were made by the WPA over the entire area, both on land and
under water, where fill was to be deposited. Topographical surveys also were made to com¬
plete the Information necessary In developing the design. The flexibility of the plan was
a consideration, so that It would provide not only for current needs but for expansion to
meet future demands.
Undertaking Approved bg Citg and U. S. Government
The necessary resolutions for the adoption of the plan, the acquiring of the addi¬
tional land and the appropriation of the required sponsor's contribution by the city were
adopted by the Board of Estimate and the Sinking Fund Commission in August, 1937, the
Board of Estimate authorizing the contribution of such sums as would be necessary to bring
the Federal expenditures for labor and for materials and equipment to the ratio of 70 - 30.
The plans were approved by the Bureau of Air Commerce and on September 3, 1937, President
Roosevelt approved the undertaking as a Works Progress Administration project.
As originally approved, the plan called for increasing the 105 acres of the field to
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429 acres through the purchase by condemnation of 96 acres of land to the southwest and
the creation of the remainder by filling in 228 acres in Bowery Bay, Rikers Island Channel
and Flushing Bay. The purchase of the 96 acres would extend the field to the Grand Central
Parkway on the south and to 81st Street on the west, and a hill on this property was to be
cut down to the level of the airport. A new bulkhead was to be built beyond the old sea¬
wall at the southern edge of Bowery Bay, at the western side of the field, and Bowery Bay
was to be filled in to this line.
All work was to be done by the Works Progress Administration except the driving of
piles, the building of the bulkhead, and certain other operations requiring heavy equip¬
ment, which was to be done by the city under private contract. A purchase price of
$1,300,000 was agreed upon between the city and the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, the con¬
demnation of the additional 96 acres bringing the total cost of the land - to the city to
$2,778,291.
Over 60 per cent of Field Is Made-Land
Later, after wbrk was under way, the original plan was enlarged in order to lengthen
the runways. The final plan increased the area to 558 acres, of which 357 acres, or over
60 per cent, was made-land. This meant increasing the amount of fill required from the
9,300,000 cubic yards originally called for to 17,300,000 cubic yards.
The city had sufficient fill available in the great mounds of cinders, ashes and
rubbish in the Department of Sanitation's huge dump on Rikers Island, an accumulation
going back over 50 years. The island with its smouldering hills of refuse was an unde¬
sirable landmark in the East River. Some of these hills topped 100 feet in height. Under
the plan, the island was to be levelled off and the former dump turned back to the city
for landscaping. Thus the necessity for fill for the airport was made an opportunity of
ridding the East River of a public eyesore, close to the World's Fair grounds, which later
would be a public park, and close to the city's principal airport.
Those in Charge of Work
Gayle McFadden, an experienced engineer, was assigned to take charge of the work and
a separate field office of the WPA Division of Operations, then headed by Capt. Richardson
Seiee, was Set up. Mr. McFadden continued in charge until July 1, 1939, when he was
called to Washington to direct the construction of the new Gravelly Point airport there,
and was succeeded by Alexander MacGregor, formerly in charge of the extensive WPA opera¬
tions in the city's park system. Capt. Selee was transferred by the War Department on
July 1, 1938, and was succeeded as Director of the WPA Division of Operations by Capt.
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Howard L.-Peckham. Following the transfer of Capt. Peckham on July 1, 1939, direction of
the work as head of the Division of Operations was continued by Capt. C. F. Robinson. At
all stages of the work Col. Somervell was, of course, in direct command.
The Task of the Architects and Engineers
Delano & Aldrlch, who had drawn the preliminary plans and who had previously designed
six airports, were commissioned by the city as architects to lay out the general plan ex¬
cept the flying field proper, and to design all the buildings and assume responsibility
for the landscaping. It required many weeks to correlate the exacting requirements of the
various City Departments, the Board of Fire Underwriters, and the air companies, and to
bring them within the budget of the WPA. The working drawings for the buildings were
started at the end of December, 1937. Approximately one thousand drawings were made in
the course of the following eighteen months, together with the accompanying specifications.
These included all the complicated drawings for heating and air-conditioning, plumbing,
lighting, and inter-communicating systems of telephone and pneumatic tubes. Since it
would have required a year to work these out in final form, it was agreed with the WPA Ad¬
ministrator, Colonel Somervell, that the drawings should be supplied one after the other
and as quickly as the necessary information could be gathered and put on paper. This
called for close cooperation between the architects and the WPA Division of Operations.
Alexander D. Crosett, structural engineer; A. F. Brinckerhoff, landscape architect,
and Syska & Hennessy, mechanical engineers, were associated with the architects.
Magor LaGuardia Starts the Steam Shovels
Mayor La Guardia, in the presence of Lieut. Col. Somervell, Dock Commissioner McKenzie
and other officials of the city and the WPA, operated the steam shovel that lifted the
first bucketful of dirt on September 9, 1937, and work on this, the largest single job
undertaken and carried out by the Works Progress Administration in the country, was under
way with about 400 men by October 1.
The first operations undertaken were the construction of the bulkhead at Bowery Bay
and a trestle over which the fill was to be transported from Rikers Island. This trestle,
2,280 feet long and 24 feet wide, providing two lanes, was built of steel stringers sup¬
ported on steel H-beam piles, with a wooden deck and a floating swing-span of steel, 240
feet long and weighing 300 tons, to permit the passage of commercial shipping regularly
using the channel. This swing-span was constructed by the city under private contract and
was floated into place. The entire trestle was to be demolished and removed as soon as
the work of transporting the fill had been completed.
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When the trestle was finished, the force employed by the WPA on the job was increased
to 5,000 men. Flood lights were installed throughout the field and that part of Rikers
Island where work was in progress, and the job was put on a twenty-four hour schedule, the
men working in three shifts, six days a week. The personnel was increased when building
construction began to over 11,000, a figure which was raised gradually until, when con¬
struction was at its height in the early months of 1939, it was over 23,000 men. Under
the legislation then governing the WPA, prevailing hourly rates were paid, with a fixed
limit to the amount that could be earned in a four-week period. This automatic restric¬
tion in the number of hours Der month meant that a far larger number of men must be as¬
signed to the work, in shifts of a few days each, than would be working on any one day.
Approximately 9,000 men were working on the job daily at the peak of operation, and about
this number was continued after the appropriation act passed by Congress on June 30, 1939
fixed the hours for all workers at 130 a month.
The Problems of Fill
The problem of fill was somewhat similar to that at the World's Fair grounds on
Flushing Meadows, a mile or so to the east, where 6,000,000 cubic yards of ashes and rub¬
bish were spread over deep muck. But at the Fair grounds the muck was covered with a
heavy mat of vegetation having some bearing value while at North Beach the area of soft,
deep muck to be filled was all under water. Studies indicated that extreme care in the
filling operations was necessary to prevent excessive settlement and disastrous mud waves.
It was decided, on the basis of reports of WPA engineers and the engineers of the
U.S. District Engineer's office, that the level of the airport should be fixed at 12 feet
above mean low water at the perimeter and 15 feet at the front of the buildings, requiring
a maximum depth of fill of about 27 feet,inclusive of displacement of the silt and settle¬
ment. Because of this displacement and settlement, the estimated amount of fill required
was approximately double the theoretical amount required between river bed and grade level.
The fill was put in by spreading in shallow layers kept at a slope as flat as possible to
the water line, where it was allowed to take its natural slope of about 30 to 1.
Other Plans Rejected
Other plans for filling, including hydraulic fill, the use of a bulkhead or coffer¬
dam and other plans, had been rejected as Impracticable, unsuited to WPA operations, or
too costly. The only bulkhead Included in the final plans was the one, 1,763 feet long,
of steel sheet piling, along the south end of Bowery Bay, where close access to the shore
5
for seaplanes was desired. Subsequently the city had Bowery Bay dredged, by private con¬
tract, to a depth of 15 feet. The hill on the southwest side of the property, about 50
feet In height, with a trolley line running to the top, was levelled off and the west shore
of the field bordering the east side of Bowery Bay was built out with this heavier mate¬
rial to displace the muck and ensure the stability of the shore line of the seaplane basin
against the effects of the dredging operations.
Forty Steam Shovels and 400 Trucks
The excavation and loading of the ashes and rubbish was done by up to forty steam
shovels, serving, at the peak, as many as 400 trucks. The great mounds of ashes on the
island were cut down, 15 feet at a time, levelled off at the grade and then another 15-
foot cut was begun. Deep cuts and roads were made to several points on the island to fa¬
cilitate the operation of the trucks. A picturesque feature of the island's appearance
during the operation was the high, slender mounds of ashes left by the steam shovels to
support the lighting poles. These poles were moved continually to lower levels and as
continually were left at the top of new pinnacles as the shovels carried still lower the
level about them. Haulage schedules were operated on the basis of an 8-cubic yard load of
fill crossing the trestle every 7 seconds, 24 hours a day-
The filling of an area was started at low tide and the area was built up as the water
rose. Trucks were dumped along the inner side of a fill area and the material was spread
by bulldozers. By the time a section had been brought up to grade by thi3 system it had
bqBn packed sufficiently by the trucks and tractors to be stable.
Month after month the progress photographs, made from an army plane, showed the sha¬
dow of the underwater fill and the clear-cut line of the fill above water moving outward
gradually from the original area until, in the spring of 1939, the well-packed fill fol¬
lowed the line drawn for it in the plans and the shadow of the underwater fill was well
outside.
Separate Bases for Landplanes and Seaplanes
To carry out the double purpose of the airport as a terminal for both transcontinen¬
tal and transoceanic planes, two separate bases are provided, each with its own adminis¬
tration building and hangar accommodations. The two are connected by a taxi runway for
planes and by an interior road bordering the Grand Central Parkway.
There are four great runways for landplanes, with a surface of five-course asphalt
macadam to provide for the settling of the made ground beneath them. The longest of these
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runways, No. 1, Is 6,000 feet long and 200 feet wide and runs northwest and southeast.
Runway No. 2, running northeast and southwest, Is 5,000 feet long and 200 feet wide.
No. 3, running east and west, is 4,500 feet long and 150 feet wide, and No. 4, running
north and south, Is 3,532 feet long and 150 feet wide.
Runwags Accord with Prevailing Winds
These runways were designed In strict accordance with the "wind-rose" or diagram con¬
structed from the meteorological records showing the prevailing winds at the site, the
6,000-foot runway being built along the line of direction of the most frequently prevail¬
ing winds, the 5,000-foot runway along the line of the second most frequent, and so on.
Taxi runways, 100 feet wide, Intersect the runways, connecting than with one another
and with the apron, 400 feet wide, and 6,200 feet long, which extends In an arc In front
of the land base buildings. This apron Is of concrete for a length of 2,500 feet where It
Is on the original ground and of the same asphalt macadam construction as the runways
where It Is on the newly made ground. The part of the apron In front of the loading plat¬
form Is Intended to provide ample space for the loading or unloading of fifteen big trans¬
port planes at one time.
The entire ground area of the airport except runways, apron, roads and parking space
Is top-soiled and seeded with grass, and the area on the Parkway side Is being landscaped,
this work extending along the Interior service road and Parkway to the west boundary of
the field. The words "New York" In 85-foot letters of white crushed stone stretch across
the grass plots between the runways.
Buildings of the Landplane Base
The administration building overlooks a boat basin maintained by the Department of
Parks between the southeastern part of the airport and Grand Central Parkway and connected
by a narrow channel with Flushing Bay.
Approach to the landplane base Is by a curving drive from 94th Street, at which point
a bridge over the Parkway gives access to eastbound traffic. Between the Parkway and the
buildings of the landplane base Is a macadamized parking space broken by landscaped malls.
Some 1,600 automobiles can be accommodated.
The buildings of the landplane base comprise the administration building, correspond¬
ing In function to a large railroad terminal, and six hangars, arranged in an arc with its
convex side toward the field, the administration building standing In the center with a
group of three hangars on each side. The segmental arrangement was determined by the ar¬
rangement of the runways and by the rules of the Bureau of Air Commerce, now the Civil
7
Aeronautics Authority, governing clearance between runways and building line. Further to
the east the master plan calls for two more hangars of the same size.
Structures on Concrete Piles
All the buildings at the airport are supported on cast-in-place concrete piles, vary¬
ing in length from 35 to 125 feet. In the case of the structures on the original ground,
only the columns rest on these piles, but in the buildings constructed on fill, comprising
the eastern group, the concrete floor as well is thus supported. A total of 9,012 of
these concrete piles was used. The pile work was done by the city on contract. All
buildings are of fireproof construction throughout, with steel frames and exteriors of a
soft buff-colored face brick.
The administration building at the landplane base is a rectangular structure, 300
feet by 60 feet, of two stories and a basement floor above ground. A circular section,
one story higher and 170 feet in diameter, occupies the center of the rectangle and ex¬
tends toward the field.
At the Parkway side of the building is a circular drive with two roadways, one, at
ground level, serving the ground floor entrance of the building and intended for the use
of arriving plane passengers leaving the terminal, the other, on a circular ramp, leading
to the main entrance of the building at the main floor level and intended primarily for
passengers about to take planes. The walls at the sides of the ramp are marked at the
ground level by lamps of stainless steel and opalescent glass.
The "Spirit of Flight"
The buff-colored exterior of the building is trimmed with black brick. The doors at
both the ground level and the main floor are of stainless steel. Above the entrance at
the main floor level is a marquee of stainless steel and above this a simple facade with
high wrought-iron framed windows in the center and high, narrow windows with stainless
steel grills at the sides. Above the center window is a plain surface bearing the words
"New York Municipal Airport" in bronze letters. The whole facade is surmounted by a con¬
ventionalized eagle of stainless steel, the Spirit of Flight, modelled and executed by
T . A. and I. W. Beck.
From the traffic ramp at the main floor level, a short corridor leads into the main
concourse of the terminal, occupying a rotunda 90 feet 6 inches in diameter. In the cen¬
ter of this is a circular stair-well, surrounded by an information desk. The rotunda is
finished in a soft gray tile with a light gray plaster above. The floor is of pinkish
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gray marhle. Over the center stair-well, at the base of the low dome, are the signs of
the zodiac in gold against a background of silvery gray clouds and, suspended in the cen¬
ter, under a circular skylight, is a large globe of blue and the same silvery gray. The
decorations in the dome were designed by Arthur Covey.
At the outer edge of the circular room are the ticket offices of the various air
lines using the landplane base, telephones and toilet rooms. The passenger waiting room
Is on the side of the circle toward the field.
Around the wall of the rotunda are sixteen black marble pillars with stainless steel
trim, topped by modern Indirect lighting fixtures of cast aluminum, and between these and
above the ticket offices are tall windows of glass brick. Behind the ticket offices are
various operations offices and pilots' quarters.
In the east wing, formed by the extension of the rectangle beyond the circle of the
rotunda, is a coffee shop and kitchen and in the west wing are the offices of the airport
manager and his staff.
On the floor below, reached by the center stairways or by the ground floor entrance
from the parkway, a circular baggage room surrounds the concourse, with a covered truck
passage outside the baggage room. The east wing is occupied by the express room and in
the west wing is the post office, with adequate facilities for the large volume of airmail
and express which, it is expected, will be handled through the airport.
Lounge, Terrace and Restaurants
Stairs at the Parkway or south side of the main concourse lead to the second floor —
actually the third floor above ground. Here a circular lounge and restaurant surrounds
the upper part of the main rotunda, the high glass-brick windows by which the main con¬
course is partly lighted being the principal decoration of the inner wall of the lounge.
Outside the lounge is a terrace, also to be used as part of the restaurant, opening from
the lounge through French windows. The steel sash and trim on the terrace is in an ex¬
tremely dark blue, contrasting sharply with the pale buff brick. The main restaurant and
the kitchen occupy the east wing, and in the west wing is the Kittyhawk room, a grill room
named to commemorate the scene of the Wright brothers' first flights. Provision also is
made for a barber shop, telephone rooms and toilets on this floor.
The lighting fixtures in these public rooms, specially designed by the architects,
employ various types of illumination, including fluorescent lights.
Offices of the U, S. Weather Bureau and two departments of the Civil Aeronautics
9
authority, the Air Traffic Communications and the Air Traffic Control, are located on the
third floor. From these offices all air traffic in the northeastern part of the United
States will be handled. Light and power outlets at frequent intervals in the floors of
these C.A.A. offices provide for all electric requirements. There is a complete pneumatic
tube service from these rooms to the control tower and to the loading platform.
Most Powerful Beacon in Country
The control tower on the roof, its floor 64 feet above the ground, is a steel and
copper structure, with sides sloping outward at the bottom so as to prevent glare, its
upper part so designed as to shield the windows from water in a storm, and with special
air-conditioning apparatus to prevent condensation. On top of this tower is a rotating
beacon of the new double-end type, of 13,500,000 candle power, the most powerful beacon in
the country. Also on top of the tower are the latest types of wind velocity and direction
indicators. These operate seven sets of indicators for the control tower operator and
the various airlines. A separate set is installed on the roof for the Weather Bureau and
an indicator from the other set also is installed in the Weather Bureau's offices so that
one set can be checked against the other.
The building is heated by steam, from boilers in the basement of the west wing.
Loading Platform and Promenade
Access to the planes is from a covered platform of concrete construction, 1,500 feet
long and 20 feet wide, which runs along the edge of the loading apron in a long arc be¬
tween the two groups of hangars, with the administration building in the center. The
field side of the platform is enclosed by steel panels with 40 swing doors or gates spaced
the length of the platform. These gates are divided into groups of three by dispatchers'
booths connected to the dispatchers' offices and ticket offices inside the building by a
pneumatic tube system and telephones. Last minute word on weather conditions and other
instructions and the final check up of passenger tickets are handled at these booths.
Planes will be brought up to a given gate of the platform and passengers can embark or
disembark only a few feet from the gate. A public address system will announce arrivals
and departures of planes. Stairways lead down from the concourse on the main floor to
this platform, and other broad stairways lead from the concourse to the concrete promenade
on top of the loading platform. It is from this upper promenade that those seeing trav¬
elers off or waiting for incoming travelers will watch the field. The promenade is a
point of vantage, open to the public, from which it is expected thousands of persons will
view the varied activity of a great airport, with a perfect view of the field at close
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range and yet safely out cf the way of the planes. Five thousand persons can be accom¬
modated on this platform.
Only the western group of three hangars, Nos. 1, 3 and 5, was Included In the first
construction operations. But In November, 1938, Mayor LaGuardla, at a ceremony held at
the airport In the presence of Harry L. Hopkins, then National WPA Administrator; Lieut.
Col. Somervell, Dock Commissioner McKenzie, and officials of the several air lines, signed
contracts with the American Airlines Inc. for all three of the hangars then under con¬
struction, with the United Air Lines for a fourth, Hangar No. 2, and with the Transconti¬
nental and Western Air for two others, Nos. 4 and 6. The American Airlines Inc. announced
that they would make the airport their headquarters, moving their offices and mechanical
departments from Chicago, and plans were drawn for additional office and shop space.
Six Landplane Hangars
The six landplane hangars are Identical in size and appearance. Each Is 350 feet
wide by 165 feet deep and Is 42 feet from ground to trusses. The three hangars of the
American Airlines group have been connected Into a single unit. At the Parkway side, a
two-story wing, approximately 1,300 feet lcng, runs the length of the hangars, with a
width of from 40 to 60 feet. The first floor houses a kitchen In which food will be pre¬
pared for passengers on American Airlines planes and employees, commissary department,
pilots' training facilities, pilots' and stewardesses' lounges, shops, stock rooms, hos¬
pital and offices. The second flcor Is occupied by offices and a cafeteria for employees.
On the first floor of a two-story wing, 176 feet by 197 feet, at the west side of the
group, are machine shops, engine and propeller overhaul shops and, on the field side,
three engine test cells and control rooms for testing engines after overhauling. The
second floor has shops for instrument and radio overhaul and a lunch room. Air condition¬
ing equipment has been Installed In the office section of the American Airlines group, the
Installation comprising 22 machines and 300 tons of refrigeration units.
Similar wings with machine shops on the ground flcor and offices above are being
built, as part of the hangars in the easterly group.
Electricallq Operated Doors
The field side of the hangars Is enclosed by four electrically operated steel and
glass doors, hung In pairs on either side of a single steel pillar In the middlp of the
opening. This one pillar Is the only obstruction in the opening, giving a clear space on
each side of 163 feet 5 Inches. Each door is In two horizontal sections. In opening, the
lcwer half rises Inside the upper half until even with It, giving a 21-foot opening, and
11
then, if desired, the two sections swing out together to a horizontal position, leaving
the entire 40-foot opening clear. The doors are operated by simple electric switches;
they also can be operated by hand in case of emergency, a system of counterbalances taking
the weight. The exterior space between the top of the doors and the flat curve of the
roof is covered with stainless steel. The corresponding space at the opposite side of the
building, between the roof of the two-story wing and the hangar roof, is a huge window, of
a blue glass which reduces heat and glare.
Wall of Heated Air
The hangars are heated by individual hot air systems, the heated air being blown
through concrete tunnels, about 4 feet square, from furnaces in the office wings, around
the sides and across the opening of the hangar. A concrete trench across the opening, Just
inside the doors, receives the heat from the tunnel and discharges it ifl>ward through sub¬
way gratings'. The furnaces and fans are connected electrically with the doors so that
when the doors are raised the flow of heated air is automatically stepped up, throwing up
a wall of heated air to counteract the cold coming through the opening. Outlets along the
closed sides of the hangars connect with the same hot air tunnel.
The office and machine shop wings of the hangars in the American Airlines group are
heated by steam, all three from boilers in Hangar No. 5, the steam being carried by an 8-
inch main. In Hangars Nos. 2, 4 and 6, the office and machine shop wings, as well as the
hangars proper, are heated by hot air, as is the case also in the entire marine hangar.
Altogether, there are 30 hot air furnaces in the seven hangars. All furnaces at the air¬
port are oil-fired. Two 15,000-gallon underground storage tanks are located at the Park¬
way side of each building; oil delivery to these tanks is by truck.
The interior of each hangar is lighted from 56 fixtures, suspended from the trusses.
Half of these are 750-watt mazda lamps, the other half of the mercury vapor type, of 400
watt3. The combination closely approximates daylight. The lighting Is controlled by remote
control switches located at the doors and at the rear of each hangar. If desired, the en¬
tire 56 lights can be turned on at once by throwing three switches.
Fluorescent lights are used in the workshops because of their high candle power. In
some of the shops the lighting fixtures are suspended from trolley ducts so that they can
be moved about readily. Electric outlets In the hangar floors furnish convenient connec¬
tions for the testing of planes.
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The marine terminal . occupies the extreme western section of the airport, between the
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bulkhead at the edge of Bowery Bay and the Parkway. A wide, straight landscaped driveway
from the Parkway, opposite 85th Street, terminates in an oval plaza to furnish the main
approach to the marine terminal building, which is located on the shore of Bowery Bay and
about 2,000 feet from the Parkway.
The Marine Terminal Building
This building is a two-story circular structure, 144 feet in diameter, with an inside
rotunda 74 feet 10 inches in, diameter. Two rectangular wings, each 54 feet by 45 feet, ex¬
tend toward Bowery Bay, one from the northwest side, the other from the northeast side of
the building. Through the easterly of these wings, a corridor, with waiting rooms at the
sides, leads to a ramp connecting the terminal with a landing float in the bay. Incoming
planes will land on surveyed "runways" out in the river and taxi into the bay. Similarly,
departing planes will taxi out to the "runways" and take off from them.
All Facilities of a Port of Entry
The marine terminal building, harmonizing with the landplane administration building
in materials and design, is entered through stainless steel doors in a two-storv facade
facing the Parkway. Flying fishes in gold above blue waves decorate the top of the circu¬
lar structure. The main concourse occupies the center rotunda, an arrangement similar to
that in the landplane terminal. The Interior of the rotunda is severely plain, the walls
finished in dark green marble with a light gray plaster above. Trim and fixtures are in
stainless steel and aluminum. The floors are of gray marble. At the Bowery Bay side of
this floor is a large room with low, serpentine counters for customs inspection of bag¬
gage. Around the outside of the circle are the customs offices, Immigration inspectors'
room, detention room and quarters for the public health service. The west wing has the in¬
coming baggage room and the east wing has waiting rooms, a separate baggage room for de¬
parting baggage and the office of the traffic manager- On the second floor are offices for
the port manager, the traffic managers of the airlines using the port, the Weather Bureau
and radio service. An outside observation terrace extends around the bay side of the
building at the second floor- The operating tower on the roof, housed in a circular stain¬
less steel structure, overlooks the bay. Equipment for upper air observation is located on
the roof, at an elevation of 48 feet above the field. There also is a lunchroom in a pent¬
house on the roof.
The building is heated by steam from boilers in the hangar, the steam being carried
through an 8-inch main some 500 feet long.
13
From the concourse, a vestibule and covered walk extend to the bulkhead line, con¬
necting with the passenger ramp, and a second covered walk, connecting with this, extends
some 300 feet to the plane taxi-oval connected with the landplane base so that landplanes
can pick up or discharge passengers at the marine terminal. At the end of the float to
which the seaplane taxies to load and discharge passengers, provision is made for light,
power, public telephone and the airport's private telephone, all of which can be connected
into the seaplane.
The Marine Terminal Hangar
To the south and west from the marine terminal building, and facing the traffic plaza,
is the marine terminal hangar- This is a five-sided building with two adjoining open sides
facing northwest and southwest, each 204 feet 4 inches wide, and north and south open
sides each 169 feet 7 inches wide. The fifth side, facing the plaza, is 354 feet long.
Each of the four openings is covered by electrically operated doors of the same type as
those on the landplane hangars, 40 feet high and practically the full width of the side.
The overall dimensions of the building are 300 feet by 354 feet and the height 45 feet
from floor to trusses.
The roof is supported by an unusual system of trusses radiating from a single pillar
in the center of the plaza side of the building. By this system, interior supports for
the roof were eliminated and the entire interior of the hangar is free from any obstruc¬
tion. Under this system, also, it is possible to extend these trusses, enlarging the floor
space and the width of the openings, in case increasing size of transoceanic planes makes
this necessary.
Seaplanes Hauled on Railroad Tracks
A ramp with a wooden deck on steel piles extends into the bay from the bulkhead, to
the west of the passenger landing float. Standard gauge railroad tracks run into the bay
to the end of this ramp. Seaplanes will be hauled up the ramp on dollies running on the
tracks, the power being furnished by electric winches. At the bulkhead, from which the
tracks fan out to the service field and through the hangar by each of the four doors, trac¬
tors will take up the hauling. The service field, extending around the four open sides of
the hangar, is paved with concrete for a distance of 100 feet from the hangar and with as¬
phalt macadam for another 100 feet.
At the east or closed side of the hangar, is a three-story wing, 250 feet long and
50 feet wide, with machine shops on the ground floor. The upper two floors are occupied by
the offices of the Pan-American Airways, which leased the hangar last June for a period of
14
ten years. The facilities include lunch rooms for employees and rest rooms, shower baths
and other conveniences for pilots.
The master plan provides for a second hangar, of the same size and design, to the
southwest of the present hangar, using the same ramp and service field. Plans also have
been drawn for a hangar and office building, 165 feet by 120 feet, to be built at the
marine base for the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
Gasoline Piped from Tankers
Provision is made for bringing gasoline to the airport by water in tankers and dis¬
charging it directly into storage tanks by pipe lines. At the westerly edge of the field,
near the bulkhead, is a gasoline storage building housing eighteen 20,000 gallon storage
tanks with the necessary pumps, foamite equipment and loading apparatus. This will serve
the Pan-American Airways hangar by pipe line and, by truck, the eastern group of hangars
at the landplane base. Gasoline will be pumped into these tanks direct from the tankers
brought up to the bulkhead in Bowery Bay. A separate gasoline storage building has been
erected for the American Airlines, to the west of their hangars. This has seven 15,000
gallon tanks, with the necessary equipment. These tanks also will receive their gasoline
through the same pipe system from Bowery Bay.
To the pilot of an incoming plane, at night, the field will appear dark, the edge of
the field and the runway he is directed to use outlined by lights, with powerful flood¬
lights operating from the ends of that one runway. Buildings will be marked out for him by
red obstruction lights.
Night Lighting of Field
The runways are bordered by contact lights, spaced 200 feet apart, the fixtures set
in the ground and projecting two inches above the surface. These lights throw two beams
along the runway, one horizontal and the other 15 degrees from the horizontal. The bright¬
ness of these lights is controlled from the central control tower to suit them to the
weather, the operator having a range of three degrees of brillance to choose from.* These
lights show amber for the first 3,OCX) feet of the runway and white for the remainder, with
filters so placed that the same rule holds from whichever end the plane approaches the
runway. There are 204 of these runway contact lights at the airport.
The ends of each of the four runways are marked by green range limits and at each end
of each runway there are two narrow-beam floodlights, each of 7,500,000 candle power. Each
runway and taxi runway is controlled by red traffic lights, indicating that it is in use.
15
Across the taxi-strips leading to the runways are treadles which give notification to the
control operator that a plane is entering upon or leaving that runway.
The field is outlined by 85 boundary lights, spaced 250 feet apart. These boundary
lights, amber in color, are of the latest prismatic type, giving a piercing beam. They
are alternately connected on two circuits so that if one circuit fails only alternate
lights will be affected.
The apron is illuminated by flood lights mounted on the hangars, five on each hangar -
The red obstruction lights on top of the buildings are Neon tubes with automatic switch¬
overs so that if one tube falls another goes on automatically, also giving indication to
the control operator that a tube has proved defective.
When a plane has landed on a runway, the flood lights and runway contact lights go
out and the taxi lights go on, showing the pilot the taxi lane by which he is to reach the
loading apron and platform.
Nerve Center of the Airport
The nerve center of this whole network of lights is a desk in the control tower of
the landplane administration building. This desk shows the airport in miniature. Tiny
lights go on and off with the contact, traffic, and floodlights on the field and inform the
control operator when a plane crosses a treadle in moving to or from a runway.
The operators in the tower have the control of the lighting system at their finger
tips on this desk in front of them — controls for the beacon, the flood lights on the
hangars illuminating the apron, the obstruction lights, the runway contact lights,the
field boundary lights and the lights on roadways and parking areas. Those lights in con¬
tinual use at night, such as the boundary and obstruction lights and the lights on roads
and parking space, also are controlled by astronomical time switches which turn them on at
sunset and off at daybreak, subject to the control of the operators.
Modern Wiring System
The electrical wiring and controls in the control room comprise one of the most in¬
tricate and efficient systems ever installed. This extensive and complex lighting svstem
required the laying of a network of underground cable in ducts covering the entire field.
Approximately 800,000 lineal feet, or some 160 miles, of duct were laid.
Bowery Bay is Illuminated by two banks of flood lights so situated that the pilot,
whether taxying in or out, will not get the glare in his eyes. Each of these two banks
comprises three floodlights of 3,000 watts each or 18,000 watts for the two banks. Light¬
ing at the marine terminal, including the terminal building, hangar and the floodlights on
16
Bowery Bay, is controlled from the terminal and also is tied in with the landplane admini¬
stration building so that the entire airport operates as a single unit.
At the north end of the airport is a 22-foot wind T which gives the pilot the direc¬
tion of the wind so that he will know which runway to use in daylight landings. The same
wind T is connected with an Indicator in the control tower to give the operator the same
information. This wind T is also controlled from the tower so that the operator may indi¬
cate to the pilot which runway he is to take.
Equipment for Instrument Landing
At present, only runway No. 2, the 5,000 feet runway, is equipped for Instrument land¬
ing. The transmitting station for this is behind Calvary cemetery in Maspeth, L. I., 3.8
miles from the southwesterly end of the runway. The system used is known as the SMRAZ-D
unit. When the pilot is on the beam he receives a continuous signal through his earphones.
If he is to the left of the beam he hears the code letter N — a dash and a dot — con¬
stantly repeated; if he is to the right of the beam he hears the code letter A — a dot
and a dash.
When the pilot passes over the transmitting station he receives a high frequency note
informing him of that fact, the note coming from a transmitter known as a Z marker. Half¬
way between the transmitting station and the airport is another Z marker. These two Z
markers give him his exact distance from the runway. From this and his altitude he can
compute the gliding angle. The pilot can come in on the same beam from the northeast, Z
markers for his guidance being placed at College Point.
Provision also has been made in the plans for equipping the 6,000 foot runway, No. 1,
for instrument landing. According to the plans, it is proposed to use the Bendix Benz-beam
system on this runway. With this system, the pilot is kept on the beam by watching two
dials on his instrument board, Instead of listening through his earphones.
Auxiliary power outlets for radio, light or power use are located at each end of all
runways.
Radio Receivers and Transmitters
All radio receivers, including those of the airport itself and those of the air lines,
are located on Rikers Island in order to eliminate electrical interference from automo¬
biles and machinery- A 200-pair submarine cable connects the towers on the island with the
control tower on the landplane administration building, from which distribution is made
to the operating offices of the airlines, where they are amplified. The radio transmitters
for the airport control tower also are in the landplane administration building; those for
17
the airlines are located in the marshes of Jamaica Bay, along Cross Bay Boulevard, some
fifteen miles from the airport, and are connected with it by telephone company wires.
Separate Substations Furnish Current
Current for all power and light requirements is taken from four 27,000 volt primary
feeders connecting with four separate substations of the Consolidated Edison Company.
These four feeders are kept entirely separate from one another so that if one goes out the
others are not affected. The current is stepped down at three transformer vaults in the
airport to 120-208 volts for service. Current for field lighting is taken off two of these
services and is stepped up to 5,000 volts, at which-it is run out to the flood lights and
runway contact lights, where it is stepped down again to the required voltages. By using
this high voltage for transmission across the field a large saving in copper was effected.
Besides the telephone company connections in the various buildings, a private tele¬
phone system has been installed in every building. There will be approximately six dial
exchanges in this private system, each exchange capable of handling about 100 connections.
Subsurface and Storm Water Drainage
The airport has two drainage systems, a subsurface system to take care of the ground
water and a surface system to drain off the storm water. The subsurface system is complete
for the apron and roadways, and crossovers have been installed under the runways so that
surface drainage for the field can be installed at any point at any time without interfer¬
ing with the traffic of the airport.
The subsurface drainage system, designed to lower the ground water table, comprises
broken stone trenches and 6-lnch perforated corrugated iron pipe on each side of all run¬
ways and taxiways. The water flows into Junction basins, constructed about 400 feet apart,
and is carried off through concrete and vitrified tile pipes ranging from 8 to 36 inches
in diameter, emptying into the river and the two bays through fourteen outlets around the
perimeter of the field.
The storm water drainage system is designed for a run-off of one inch per hour, a
capacity about double that required for most hard storms in this neighborhood. Brick catch
basins with cast iron covers, the basins from 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 6 inches inside
diameter and from 4 feet to 12 feet deep, are located about 200 feet apart along the edge
of the apron and roadways. These drain into the same pipes that carry the ground water to
the river. With the corrugated iron crossover pipes already installed under the runways,
at a depth of from 8 to 10 feet, and the large diameter pipe already installed at the
18
sides of all runways as a part of the subsurface drainage system, brick catch basins can
readily be put in anywhere in the field as needed.
Sanitary sewers connect all buildings with the new city sewer running across the
southwest corner of the field and emptying into the new disposal plant being built by the
city to the west of the airport.
High and Low Pressure Water Supplg
Water supply is furnished by one 12-inch and one 16-inch main feeding a 24-inch main
for the landplane base and two 12-inch mains feeding a 12-inch main for the marine base.
The two systems are interconnected by a 16-inch main so that if one fails, the other can
supply both bases.
At the landplane base, the 24-inch low pressure line continues to the administration
building and from this point is decreased to an 18-inch main for the hangars to the east.
The 24-inch low pressure line branches at a pumping station located between Hangars Nos. 3
and 5, to feed tanks and pumps by an 18-inch line. From the pumping station, a 24-inch
high pressure line, with a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch, feeds to all buildings
in both landplane and marine bases for fire protection.
At seven points along the line, steamer connections are provided so that in case of
failure of the pumping station the New York City Fire Department can connect to both high
and low pressure lines and build up the high pressure line.
Plumbing arrangements include shower rooms in each hangar for the use of pilots and
other employees and men's and women's toilet rooms on each floor of both the landplane ad¬
ministration and the marine terminal buildings.
Automatic Sprinkler Sgstem
All of the buildings are fully equipped with the latest automatic sprinkler systems,
the hangar areas with a deluge system which is operated by a rate of rise method, the of¬
fice and shop areas of the hangars with a standard wet pipe system, controlled by a vari¬
able pressure alarm valve. The operation of any sprinkler valve will sound a code number,
indicating the building, on all fire alarm gongs, will record and time-stamp the code num¬
ber on the register in the Port Manager's office, and sound a bell in the building in
which the operated valve is located. There is a city fire alarm box in each administration
building.
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