Fitzmaurice Flying Field

Fitzmaurice Flying Field was open from 1929 to 1953 in Massapequa. Brady, Cryan, and Colleran bought large tracts of land north and south of the Long Island Rail Road east of the preserve. They advertised throughout Irish neighborhoods in New York City, enticing customers with inexpensive land and houses, open spaces, and easy access to New York City. The airfield was an added enticement to purchase homes in that area.

They settled on a location for their airfield, relying on the recommendations of famous aviatrix Elinor Smith, who selected the area bounded by Second Avenue on the east, Roosevelt Avenue on the west, Spruce Street on the north, and Smith Street on the south. The 21-acre field had two runways, the longer one only 1800 feet in length, which made it one of the smallest fields on Long Island.

The airfield was named after James Fitzmaurice, who had achieved fame as the commander of the Irish Air Corps after World War I and as one of the three-man crew that crossed the Atlantic from east to west in 1928, the first to perform that arduous feat.

Sometime during World War II, Ken Tyler, a Hollywood stunt pilot, bought the field and operated Tyler Flying Services. He sold it in 1947 to Tom Murphy Jr., who ran the Skywriting Corporation of America.

Massapequa Park developed quickly after World War II and the proximity of houses to the airfield spurred concern among its new neighbors, who became fearful of crashes and felt inconvenienced by planes taking off and landing so close to their backyards. The School Board also needed to build schools and the Field was a perfect location. After several months of negotiation, they signed a contract with Murphy, who agreed in April 1953 to accept $600,000 in exchange for the property. The board built Hawthorn School in 1954 at the southeast end of the field and McKenna Junior High School at the north end in 1958.

The Historical Society of the Massapequas highlighted Fitzmaurice Flying Field's importance by erecting a marker on Spruce Street, just east of Roosevelt Avenue, in 1995.

Sources:

-, George Kirchmann, et al. “Fitzmaurice Flying Field: Pt. 2.” Massapequa Observer, 23 Sept. 2015, https://nassauobserver.com/fitzmaurice-flying-field-pt-2/

Kirchmann, George. “Fitzmaurice Flying Field.” Massapequa, NY Patch, Patch, 8 Aug. 2013, https://patch.com/new-york/massapequa/fitzmaurice-flying-field