Newark Airport

Henry M. Holden

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780738565224
• eBook ISBN: 9781439637470
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Newark Airport was the first major airport in the New York metropolitan area. It opened on October 1, 1928, occupying an area of filled-in marshland. In 1935, Amelia Earhart dedicated the Newark Airport Administration Building, which was North America's first commercial airline terminal. Newark was the busiest airport in the world until LaGuardia Airport, in New York, opened in 1939. During World War II, Newark was closed to passenger traffic and controlled by the United States Army Air Force for logistics operations. The Port Authority of New York took over the airport in 1948 and made major investments in airport infrastructure. It expanded, opened new runways and hangars, and improved the airport's terminal layout. The art deco administration building served as the main terminal until the opening of the North Terminal in 1953. The administration building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

One

THE WORLD’S BUSIEST AIRPORT 1928–1938

NEWARK METROPOLITAN AIRPORT LOGO. The Pulaski Skyway, which stretches above the meadowlands from the Holland Tunnel to the airport, opened in 1932. It was the last part of the Route 1 Extension, and the New York Times said it allowed an air traveler to reach New York City under normal conditions in nine and a half minutes. It was the reason the postal service choose Newark over Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn for its airmail base. (NJAHOF.)

HADLEY FIELD. Hadley Field was used as an airmail depot beginning on December 15, 1924. In 1925, the first night airmail flew from there, which was about 45 miles south of Manhattan Island. The postal service used Hadley Field until October 1928. It took over an hour to get the mail to Manhattan from Hadley. From Newark it took only 35 minutes. (NJAHOF.)

HELLER FIELD. Heller Field was located in the North Ward of Newark and began operations in December 1919 as a U.S. mail airfield. Landing at Heller Field was dangerous because a canal, a tall factory chimney, and a railroad surrounded it. There were so many accidents and 26 fatalities that the postal service closed the field in May 1921. Here a mechanic is checking the windshield of a Curtiss Condor, and another is retrieving a mailbag from the forward part of the fuselage. (NJAHOF.)

FOKKER PLANT, TETERBORO AIRPORT, 1920S. After World War I, Anthony Fokker brought his aircraft company to the United States and settled in Teterboro Airport. His airplanes played a major role in early airmail. The airport acquired airmail contracts in November 1925 to carry mail between the New York area and Boston. (NJAHOF.)

GOODYEAR AIRSHIP. On September 29, 1928, a Goodyear airship visited Newark Airport. It made 11 sightseeing trips carrying passengers, the press, and city officials. Some passengers received a thrill when on one of the trips, a crew member climbed out on the side of the ship and onto the port engine nacelle to adjust the carburetor. (NJAHOF.)

FOKKER F.VII TRIMOTOR. This wood-and-fabric Fokker F.VII trimotor replaced some of the single-engine mail planes at Newark because the Fokker could carry passengers and more mail. Notre Dame legendary football coach Knute Rockne died on Flight 599 in 1931 in a Fokker trimotor when its wing broke off. That resulted in the public shunning the aircraft, and the fledgling airlines abandoning the aircraft type. (Author’s collection.)

TRIMOTOR INTERIOR. The Fokker trimotor was considered comfortable because its cabin was enclosed from the elements. Note the wicker chairs, absent seat belts, the fashionable leggings on the men, and the secretary at her typewriter. The gentleman on the right facing the camera is Anthony Fokker. Through the window in the door is the cockpit with the control pedestal and throttles for the airplane. (NJAHOF.)

UNIDENTIFIED POLITICIANS. Surveying the airport construction are some of Newark’s politicians. It was not until 1927 that people began to notice Newark’s easier access to New York City. Studies had been ongoing to find the best site in the metropolitan area for an airport. On August 3, 1927, Newark’s mayor Thomas Lynch Raymond announced plans to provide $6 million for a commercial airport at Port Newark. (NJAHOF.)

FILLING THE MARSHLANDS. While machines lifted the dirt, the horse and wagon moved it. To build the runway, four miles of creeks were divert...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• One - THE WORLD’S BUSIEST AIRPORT 1928–1938
• Two - WORLD WAR AND POSTWAR COMMERCIAL AVIATION 1939–1960
• Three - THE JET AGE AND DEREGULATION 1961–PRESENT