Ruth Nichols & the Long Island Aviation Country Club

 Ruth Nichols, a member of the Junior League gained notoriety in 1928 by making the first non-stop flight from New York to Miami. That same year, she planned to create the first flying country club with Fairchild Aviation. It became known as the Long Island Aviation Country Club and ran until 1948.

She was appointed to be Sales Manager for Fairchild Aviation in 1928.  Her job was to promote the idea of aviation to the people. Her plan was to make contact with other women to get them interested in aviation and the desire to purchase a plane. This made her the first woman executive of an aircraft company in the country. 

In 1930, she broke the transcontinental speed records in both directions. In 1931, she made the women's altitude record by reaching 28,743 feet. That same year, she beat Amelia Earhart's speed record. Earhart had reached 181 miles per hour. She reached 210. She hoped to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but those hopes were dashed when she crashed twice.  She became the first woman to pilot a twin-engine jet in 1955, and set new speed and altitude records in 1958 by flying a jet aircraft at more than 1,000 miles per hour at 51,000 feet

The club was formed with a group of mostly affluent flyers based on Long Island. Instead of a country club with a golf course, the club had a field for airplanes. Members of the club including the flying elite of Long Island. Their 1940 club membership book listed; Col. Charles Lindbergh, Sherman Fairchild, L.R. Grumman, and several DuPonts. Charles Lindbergh taught his wife how to fly at the Long Island Aviation Country Club.

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, private flying was restricted for security concerns. After the war, the country club resumed activities, but eventually succumbed to other forces. It had fewer members, and demand for housing for young veterans was high. In March 1950, as mass-produced homes closed in, the country club was sold to Levitt & Sons for $175,000.

 

Source:

"Flying Country Club is Planned at Farmingdale." Nassau Daily Review. February 15, 1928

“Ruth Nichols.” Ruth Nichols | Pioneers of Flight, pioneersofflight.si.edu/content/ruth-nichols.

"Ruth Nichols: Her Career of Thrills." Nassau Daily Review. June 15, 1931

Striegel, Lawrence. “Hicksville Hosted Swanky Aviation Club before Suburbs Prevailed.” Newsday, Newsday, 15 Mar. 2021, www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/hicksville-long-island-aviation-country-club-1.50177503.

“Vanderbilt Cup Races.” Vanderbilt Cup Races - Blog - Then & Now: The Long Island Aviation Country Club on the Motor Parkway, www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/saturday_march_6_2010_then_and_now_the_long_island_aviation_club_on_the_mot.

“Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia.  Encyclopedia.com. 16 Apr. 2021.” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 5 May 2021, www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nichols-ruth-1901-1960.