The Cradle of Aviation Museum is an aerospace museum located in Uniondale, New YorkonLong Island, established to commemorate Long Island's part in the history of aviation. It is located on land once part of Mitchel Air Force Base which, together with nearby Roosevelt Field and other airfields on the Hempstead Plains, was the site of many historic flights. So many seminal flights had occurred in the area that, by the mid-1920s, the cluster of airfields was already dubbed the "Cradle of Aviation",[1] the origin of the museum's name.
1917 – First flight of pilotless aircraft, the Sperry Aerial Torpedo.
1919 – First transatlantic flight by any aircraft, via airplane (US Navy NC-4 (flying boat)) from NAS Rockaway, Long Island, and arrived at Plymouth England, via stops in Massachusetts, Newfoundland, the Azores, and Portugal.[4]
1927 – First transatlantic passenger flight by Clarence D. Chamberlin from Roosevelt Field to Eisleben, Germany.
1929 – First "blind" instrument flight by Jimmy Doolittle at Mitchel Field. Instruments developed by the Sperry and Kollsman companies of Long Island.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum's first curator, William K. Kaiser, participated in an aviation first as one of the pilots on the first transatlantic crossing of non-rigid airships in 1944 as a young ensign in the United States Navy.[5][6] For his educational contributions and curatorial work at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Kaiser was named a Jimmy Doolittle Fellow and an Ira Eaker Fellow by the Air Force Association Aerospace Education Foundation in 1986.[7]
The first Cradle of Aviation Museum Newsletters were published periodically by the Friends of Nassau County Museum when the air museum itself was still just a dream of Kaiser and George C. Dade, the museum's first director. Along with Henry Anholzer of Pan American Airlines and a team of volunteers, they acquired and restored numerous aircraft. These aircraft reflected some of Long Island's aviation firsts and its local aerospace industry. The first acquisition was a World War I Curtiss JN-4D discovered in an Iowa pig barn by Dade in 1973. Apparently, Lindbergh later confirmed that this was his very first airplane.[8] According to their Spring 1979 newsletter, the museum also had a Ryan Brougham (sister ship of the Spirit of St. Louis), Republic P-47N Thunderbolt, Republic Seabee, Grumman F-11A Tiger, and a Grumman Lunar Module spacecraft.[9] These aircraft were destined to occupy hangars 3 and 4 of Mitchel Air Force Base which was acquired by Nassau County when the base closed in 1961. The museum originally opened with just a handful of aircraft in the un-restored hangars in 1980. A major renovation and expansion program in the late 1990s allowed the museum to re-open in a state-of-the-art facility in 2002.
Lobby of the Museum with Grumman F-11F and Fleet Model 2 biplane
Many of the tour guides and restoration workers formerly worked at Grumman, which contributed much to the museum.[12] The museum consists of eight chronological galleries with an approximately equal number of aircraft in each gallery. It is one of the only museums in the United States to cover all aspects of aviation/space history including pioneer aircraft, Golden Age aircraft, warbirds, civil, general, commercial and jet aircraft as well as spacecraft
The museum is one of the more popular Air and Space museums in the United States and has installations that include audio-visual, and unique hands-on and interactive exhibits, including a 'cockpit trail' where visitors can sit in an aircraft cockpit from each era. The museum's longtime curator (1985–present), Joshua Stoff, is a respected aerospace author and active member of the aviation museum community.[13]
In addition to the museum itself, the complex houses the JET BLUE DOME theater featuring digital format films as well as a digital planetarium, and an onsite cafeteria/catering venue
Within the same building, the Cradle of Aviation Museum houses the Nassau County Firefighter's Museum and Education Center. It is a nearly 10,000 square foot interactive facility. Visitors can also trace the history of firefighting in Nassau County with hands-on exhibits that feature antique and contemporary fire apparatus and gear.
^Kaiser, William K., Ed., The development of the aerospace industry on Long Island, 3 vols., Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y., 1968, LC Control No: 67030029.
^Grumman changed its name to Grumman Aerospace Corporation in 1969, and was sold to Northrop in 1994, after which the company's Long Island facilities were closed down.
