Harvard Aviation Field was an airfield operational in the early-20th century in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

History

In 1910 the Harvard Aeronautical Society leased an undeveloped parcel of marshland and upland located on the Squantum Peninsula from the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and named it Harvard Aviation Field. It used the airfield to hold the 1910 and 1911 Harvard-Boston Aero Meets. In addition, other groups used the Harvard Aviation Field for the first Intercollegiate Glider Meet in 1911, as well as for the ill-fated 1912 Boston Air Meet.Thayer, William Roscoe; Castle, William Richards; et al.
''The Harvard Graduates' Magazine''
Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association, 1911, v.19 (1910-1911). Cf. "The Harvard Aviation Meet", pp. 196-199. The airfield's location on the Harvard 1910 meet posters was given as Atlantic, Massachusetts, and the railroad station nearest the field was also called Atlantic. This station was just after the old Neponset station on the New Haven Railroad line ( Old Colony Railroad branch) and right before the modern day Red Line

North Quincy Station North Quincy station is an MBTA subway Red Line station in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is located in North Quincy, off Hancock Street ( Route 3A). A major park-and-ride stop, it has over 1200 parking spaces for commuters. It also serves as a mino ...

. In 1915, after the lease expired with the Harvard Aeronautical Society, the New Haven Railroad rented the former Harvard Aviation Field to Harry M. Jones, who used the site to provide flight instruction. W. Starling Burgess also made occasional use of the former Harvard Aviation Field around this time for flight testing purposes and to provide flight instruction to buyers of his company's aircraft. In 1916, Sturtevant Aeroplane Company of

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

in Boston took over the former Harvard Aviation Field for flight testing and flight instruction purposes. The Sturtevant Company, which later in 1945 became part of Westinghouse, was the first builder of airplane engines in Massachusetts, the first to produce all-metal fuselage planes for the US Navy and Army, and the only large scale aircraft manufacturer in the Boston area.Sturtevant Company World War I Aviation history
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Accidents and incidents

* Harriet Quimby and William A.P. Willard were killed there in a plane crash on 1 July 1912.

References

{{Reflist Defunct airports in Massachusetts Airports in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Quincy, Massachusetts Harvard University