Zahn's Airport was a private airfield in

North Amityville North Amityville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York. The population was 18,643 at the 2020 Census. Geography According to the United States Cen ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. It operated from 1936 to 1980, eventually becoming one of the busiest

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airfields in the United States.

History

The first airfield was created at the site north of Amityville by farmer Joseph Zahn, who cut a dirt strip from his apple orchard. He returned the land to agriculture during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but reopened the airfield after the war. One of the largest post-war tenants was the Amityville Flying School (AFS), which was created to train pilots on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. AFS was founded by aircraft mechanic Jack Looney, operations manager Walter Hoffman, and pilot Ed Lyons. Lyons (a New Yorker born Edwin Leibowitz) had flown for the Republicans during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and in 1939 had helped to establish the Palestine Flying Service in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

; the PFS became a precursor of the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

. In 1950 Joe Zahn sold the airfield to AFS, which continued to improve it through that decade. When

Roosevelt Field Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazel ...

closed in 1951, Zahn's became the busiest

airfield in the State of New York. For a time it was the largest privately owned airport in the United States. During the 1950s it was the home of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

' private

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

, a

Grumman G-73 Mallard The Grumman G-73 Mallard is a medium, twin-engined amphibious aircraft. Many have been modified by replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Wasp, Pratt & Whitney Wasp H radial engines with modern turboprop engines. Manufactured from 1946 to 1951, p ...

owned by the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', and dozens of privately owned light aircraft. It featured two paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s, with the longer one (in a north–south orientation) being long. The aviation section of the 42nd Infantry Division (part of the

New York Army National Guard The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the United States Army's available combat forces and approximat ...

) was based at Zahn's Airfield from 1951 (moving from Roosevelt Field) until 1963. It also hosted a detachment of the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

; from 1961 to 1970 Ed Lyons was Colonel commanding the CAP's Northeast Region. As its popularity increased through the 1960s, the condition of the airfield deteriorated. When

Republic Aviation The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island, New York, Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and produc ...

allowed other aircraft to use their factory airfield (

Republic Airport Republic Airport is a regional airport in East Farmingdale, New York, located one mile east of Farmingdale village limits. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation ''reliever airpo ...

, half a mile north of Zahn's) in the late 1960s, much of Zahn's traffic moved there. Scenes for the 1957

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

movie ''

The Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlanti ...

'' were filmed at Zahn's, taking the place of Roosevelt Field.

References

External links

1947 USGS Topo map showing Zahn's Airport and surrounding airfields

The Zahn's Airport project

Footage of Zahn's Airport
Defunct airports in New York (state) Babylon (town), New York Airports in Suffolk County, New York {{NewYork-airport-stub