This is the terminal building. Through the Great Depression, it greeted the very few people who could afford to fly.
But Newark Airport proved much more convenient, and Floyd Bennett lost business.
When the military took over, the beautiful art deco interior was ignored. The National Park Service restored it to match old photographs.
Artists recreated scenes from the history of transportation around the ceiling ...
... and even the floor is a thing of beauty.
The stained glass skylight contains only one original panel; the rest had to be recreated.
Here's a portrait of Floyd Bennett. He and his partner, Richard Byrd, were the first to fly to the North Pole. After returning, both men were awarded the Medal of Honor.
The original control tower will be restored next, which will involve removing quite a bit of lead paint.
The helicopters flying overhead are part of the first police aviation unit in the world. They've been based at Floyd Bennett since 1929, when they were brought in to combat high-speed boats smuggling alcohol during prohibition.
All of that glass means that in the summer, the "cab" gets very hot. So hot, in fact, that during the Second World War male and female air traffic controllers would only work for short shifts — and usually wearing only their underwear, Hallowell said.
A tunnel leads under the tarmac to keep passengers away from moving propellers. It's a sort of precursor to the modern jetway. The National Park Service hopes to restore the tunnel one day.
After commercial operations left, the Air National Guard used one of the tunnels as a pistol range.
As the paint chips and fades away, the markings of past air services, airlines, and navy squadrons on the hangars reveal layers of history.
It's enjoyable to try to decode them.
The terminal building is also loaded with artifacts from the field's past.
Using the engraved serial number and some help from Hamilton Standard, a propeller manufacturer still in business today, Hallowell traced this wooden propeller, found on a nearby island, to an aircraft which crashed shortly after takeoff from Floyd Bennett Field.
It's hard to believe that just forty years after this propeller was used, men would walk on the moon.
The taxiways are now used as public roads, which makes for an odd sight. Today, all of this wonderful concrete is often used for cycling and RC car races. Much of the field has "returned to nature," Hallowell said.
The doors of Hangar B. When built during the second world war, the Navy intended the structure to be temporary. That was the case with hangars built to the same designs at Naval Air Stations around the world.
It's big. In fact, it makes the aircraft inside look like toys.
Inside is a paradise of old aircraft. Like this Beechcraft C-45, most are from the legacy of Navy and Marine aviation.
A Douglas A-4, an attack aircraft once used by the Navy and Marines.
Current senator and former naval aviator John McCain flew one.
This PBY Catalina has an interesting history. The US Navy lent the aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force, which used it to patrol the Amazon River until eventually leaving it to rot.
It was later flown back to the USA in (questionable) condition, Hallowell said. HARP plans to return it to WWII spec.
A Lockheed P-2 Neptune, another patrol and anti-submarine aircraft from the Cold War era.
A replica of 'Winnie Mae' created by HARP volunteers. The real aircraft, piloted by famous aviator Wiley Post, once flew around the world in a record 8 days. Some of the most famous pilots of the "Golden Age of Flight" — including Post, Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, and Roscoe Turner — landed at the field.
Engines like this 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 "Double Wasp" powered a huge variety of aircraft, from fighter-attack planes such as the Vought F4U Corsair and Republic P-47 to civilian airliners such as the Lockheed Constellation.
A Grumman S-2E, once a carrier-based submarine hunter, bakes in the sun outside.
The aircraft was a given to HARP for free ... provided they could transport it home themselves.
This Boeing C-97, the military version of the Boeing 377, is currently under restoration by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation.
The four massive 28-cylinder radial engines were started this year, and a return to the air is likely in the near future. It will then tour the country.
Over time, the National Park Service will find ways to use more and more of the field's facilities.
... and hopefully attract more visitors to this incredible place of history.
