1. Farmingdale’s Aviation Origins:

Located in Farmingdale, Long Island, Republic Airport is an historically significant airfield to the region and the world, having played both military and civilian roles. But long before it became an airfield, it gave rise to the manufacturers that built airplanes.

“The Industrial Revolution and airplane manufacture came to Farmingdale during World War I when Lawrence Sperry and Sydney Breese established their pioneering factories in the community,” wrote Ken Neubeck and Leroy E. Douglas in their book, Airplane Manufacturing in Farmingdale (Arcadia Publishing, 2016, p. 9). “They were drawn by the presence of two branches of the Long Island Railroad… the nearby Route 24, which brought auto and truck traffic to and from the Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge in Manhattan; the level outwash plain, which provided land for flying fields; and the proximity to skilled workers… “

The area’s first aviation roots, however, were planted as far back as 1917. The Lawrence Sperry Airplane Company, incorporated that year with $50,000 of capital and located on Rose and Richard streets in the village of Farmingdale, produced its first aircraft in the form of the Messenger.

Designed by Alfred Verville of the US Army’s Engineering Division at McCook Field, the minuscule, 17.9-foot-long, all-wood biplane was intended for “aerial motorcycle” missions, alighting in small clearings to drop off and pick-up messages from field commanders, thus earning its name. Farmingdale’s aviation roots were equally cultivated by Sydney Breese, whose Breese Aircraft Company, located on Eastern Parkway, designed the Penguin. Resembling the Bleriot XI, the mid-wing airplane, powered by a two-cylinder, 28-hp, roughly-running Lawrence engine, was a non-flying, preflight trainer intended to aid US Army pilot transition from primary to operational types. Deployed on the open prairies of Texas, it sported a wingspan too short to produce lift, but allowed fledgling aviators to gain the feel of pre-departure aerodynamic forces on their horizontal tails. Of the 301 produced, only five were ever used for this purpose; the remainder were placed in storage.

2. Fairchild Aviation Corporation:

If Lawrence Sperry and Sydney Breese laid Farmingdale’s aviation foundation, then Sherman M. Fairchild cemented it.

Initially interested in aerial photography equipment, he founded the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation in 1920, selling two such devices to the Army, and further developed the company into Fairchild Aerial Surveys to engage in map-making when he had received a contract for an additional 20.

Seeking to replace the myriad of airplane types he operated with a single, specifically- designed camera platform, Fairchild devised the required specifications for one, but could not locate a manufacturer able to build it at a reasonable cost. Forced to do so himself, he established his third aviation company, the Fairchild Aviation Corporation, and moved into the Sperry factory in South Farmingdale, vacated as a result of founder Sperry’s tragic death in December of 1923.

The high-wing, strut-braced, single-engine utility aircraft, designated FC-1 and first flying in prototype form in 1926, featured an enclosed and heated cabin to protect the pilot and his camera equipment, but its original OX-5 engine proved inadequate. Retrofitted with a higher-capacity Wright J-4, it was redesignated FC-1A.

The FC-2 production version, supported by wheels, floats, or skis, featured increased cabin volume. Powered by a 200-hp Wright J-5, the aircraft, intended for commercial operations, sported a 31-foot overall length and 44-foot wingspan. Accommodating a single pilot and four passengers, or up to 820 pounds of cargo, it had a 3,400-pound gross weight and could attain maximum, 122-mph speeds and operate 700-mile segments.

Demand at the South Farmingdale factory soon eclipsed capacity. After aerially surveying the region, Fairchild himself chose a 77,967-acre alternate on the south side of Route 24 and Conklin Street in East Farmingdale, a site which offered prevailing, South Shore winds and multiple-mode ground access by means of a railroad line and the major, Route 110 corridor, which would facilitate both personnel and raw material transport to the new field. Repackaged into airplanes, the latter could then fly out.

“The 77,967-acre Fairchild Flying Field was developed in the late winter and early spring of 1928 and was originally owned and operated by the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Manufacturing Company,” according to the Long Island-Republic Airport Historical Society. “The first flights from (it) took place in (the) late spring of 1928 after the Fairchild Airplane and the Fairchild Engine factories were completed and aircraft were produced (there). Fairchild built Model 41, 41A, 42, 21, 100, and 150 airplanes… “

Wings, like those of the Hempstead Plains to the west, once again rose from the farm fields of Long Island, built, propelled, and supported, respectively, by the Fairchild Airplane Factory, the Fairchild Engine Factory, and the Fairchild Flying Field, after Faircam Realty, Inc., purchased the land and its initial layout was established on November 3, 1927.

Although Fairchild produced multiple models at its new Long Island aviation center, its roots would quickly prove tenuous. Moving its headquarters to Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1931, after only three years, it vacated its facilities, which were almost immediately reoccupied by the American Corporation, or AVCO, whose Airplane and Engine divisions produced the Pilgrim 100 transport for American Airways. But the Depression, taking too large a bite out of the economy, severely diminished demand for it, since aircraft acquisitions were high on a company’s cost reduction list, and its presence proved shorter than Fairchild’s. By mid-1932, it had equally disappeared.

3. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation:

Initially located in Valley Stream, where it designed floats, the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation moved further east, to the Fairchild Flying Field, and took up residence in the former Fulton Truck Factory, where it hatched its first production fighter, the FF-1. Powered by a single, 750-hp Wright engine, the biplane, with a retractable undercarriage, was also offered in scout configuration, as the SF-1.

The most significant aircraft to emerge from the East Farmingdale production line, however, was the Duck. Tracing its origins to the Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation’s XO2L-1, it had been submitted to the US Navy in 1931, but, since Loening himself lacked the required facilities to build it, he turned to Leroy Grumman, his former colleague, who re-submitted it in modified form. Accepted on April 25, 1933, the biplane, called XJF-1, was powered by a 700-hp Twin Wasp engine, which drove a three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller. Its bracing, consisting of one set of struts outboard of the fuselage and a second one, of wires, between the two wings, was minimal for its day. Water operations were supported by a centerline, under-fuselage float, into which the undercarriage retracted.

In all, 632 JF and J2F Ducks were produced, pressed into global, multiple-role service.

Although Grumman’s Farmingdale presence exceeded that of all others, it nevertheless ended after a half-decade, in 1937, when it relocated to larger headquarters in Bethpage, Long Island.

4. Seversky Aircraft Corporation:

Seversky Aircraft Corporation next took center stage in Farmingdale when it relocated there from College Point in Queens, occupying the former American Corporation factory.

A decorated World War I ace, Alexander P. de Seversky, like Igor Sikorsky, immigrated to the US from Russia, and in 1923, developed the first gyroscopically-stabilized bombsight at the Sperry Gyroscope Company, before establishing his own Seversky Aero Corporation, which focused on aircraft instruments and parts.

Injected with fresh capital, it initially occupied the EDO Corporation’s floatplane factory.

His first major design, the SEV-3, was both aerodynamically sleek and progressive, reflecting Seversky’s aviation-intuitive nature. Powered by a single, 420-hp, nose-mounted, Wright J-6 Whirlwind engine, the all-metal, low-wing aircraft, accommodating a pilot and two passengers in sliding, tandem canopied cockpits, was either supported by a wheeled undercarriage or floats, and in 1933 established a world speed record for piston amphibians. Two years later, on September 15, it sustained a 230-mph airspeed.

The foundation of many subsequent versions, which externally exhibited only minor variations over the basic design, it evolved into the next major iteration, the BT-8. As the first all-metal, enclosed cockpit design operated by the US Army Air Corps, it featured a 24.4-foot length and 36-foot wingspan. Powered by the 400-hp Pratt and Whitney R-985-11, the 4,050-pound airplane, accommodating two, had a 175-mph maximum speed. Thirty were built. It led to the definitive version.

Originally occupying Hangar 2 on New Highway and today used by the American Airpower Museum, Seversky Aircraft Corporation took over the Grumman factory in 1937 when it had relocated to Bethpage, thus maintaining two facilities. But, echoing the short history of the East Farmingdale airfield’s tenants, it came to an abrupt end: although Seversky, like many other aviation-minded “geniuses,” possessed the necessary design skills to create progressive airplanes, he lacked the necessary managerial flip-side of the equation needed to devise a proper, and profitable, business plan to market them, resulting in a $550,000 loss by April of 1939. While conducting a European sales tour six months later, on October 13, he was ousted by his own board of directors, who voted for his removal from the very company he had founded.

Reorganized, it was rebranded “Republic Aviation Corporation.”

5. Republic Aviation Corporation:

Fairchild Flying Field’s fortune was about to change. Fueled by World War II, the fledgling Republic Aviation Corporation would explode in size and its roots would become so deeply implanted in Farmingdale soil that it would be decades before they could be unearthed.

Instrumental in that war was the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

Succeeding the Seversky P-35, it was the result of Army Air Corps requirements, which included a 400-mph airspeed, a 25,000-foot service ceiling, at least six.50-caliber machine guns, armor plating protection, self-sealing fuel tanks, and a minimum fuel capacity of 315 gallons.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, which dwarfed all other aircraft, was the world’s largest, heaviest, single-engine, single-seat strategic World War II fighter, offering unequaled dive speeds.

War-fed growth of the officially-renamed “Republic Airport” resulted in the expansion of the company’s existing factory on the south side of Conklin Street, as well as the construction of three additional buildings, the installation of a control tower, and the lengthening of its existing runways, all in an effort to support P-47 production, which totaled 9,087 units in Farmingdale alone and required a work force of 24,000 to accomplish by 1944. Employees filtered in by the thousands every day. A round-the-clock production line spat a completed aircraft out of the factory every hour, and these were then ferried by the Women Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs. Republic Aviation, one of the country’s primary defense arteries, pumped man-and-machine into the agricultural plains of Farmingdale and transformed them into an arsenal of democracy within an 18-month period.

“By 1945, Republic was contributing more than 30 percent of the Army Air Force fighters to the war effort against the Luftwaffe in the skies of Europe,” wrote Leroy E. Douglas in his “Conklin Street Cut-Off” article published in the September 1984 issue of Long Island Forum (p. 182). “Thus, Republic, Ranger, and its 23,000 plus workers-more than half of whom were women-did their part to win the war.”

When World War II’s doors closed, so, too, did those of the Thunderbolt factory, and Republic was forced to diversify its product range in terms of purpose and powerplant, converting military Douglas C-54 Skymasters into commercial DC-4 airliners, producing 1,059 civilian Seabee amphibian aircraft, and attempting to design a passenger transport of its own.

The resultant aircraft, the Republic XF-12 Rainbow–along with the competing, and identically-powered, Hughes XF-11–both received a contract for two.

Emulating the graceful lines of the Lockheed Constellation, the Rainbow, featuring a 93.9-foot overall length and incorporating design experience amassed during Republic’s fighter aircraft development, exuded an appearance quintessentially captured by Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine when it reported, “The sharp nose and cylindrical cigar shape of the XF-12 fulfills a designer’s dream of a no-compromise design with aerodynamic considerations.”

Peace proved the aircraft’s enemy. The close of World War II obviated its (and the comparable Hughes XF-11’s) need. Nevertheless, because of its long-range, high-speed and -altitude, day and night, limited-visibility photo-reconnaissance capability, it was ideal as a territory-mapping platform. Indeed, on September 1, 1948, the second of only two aircraft built photographed its transcontinental flight path from the Air Force Flight Test Center in Muroc, California, to Mitchell Field in Garden City, Long Island, during Operation Birds Eye.

Returning to its military roots, Republic entered the pure-jet era with a P-47 Thunderbolt successor.

Featuring a 37.5-foot length, the design, conceived shortly before the end of the war in 1944, retained the straight wings associated with propeller airplanes. These spanned 36.5 feet.

First flying on February 28, 1946, the 19,689-pound fighter-bomber, designated F-84 Thunderjet and able to climb at 4,210-fpm, established a national speed record of 611 mph, as powered by the 3,750-thrust-pound J35-GE-7. Its range was 1,282 miles and its service ceiling was 40,750 feet. Its production totaled 4,455 units.

Development of its successor began in 1949. Because of an Air Force funding shortage, Republic reduced development costs by retaining commonality, to the tune of 60 percent, with the F-84, but introduced swept wings. The aircraft, powered by a 4,200 thrust-pound Allison XJ35-A-25 engine and initially designated YF-96A, first flew on June 3 of the following year, three months before it was renamed F-84F Thunderstreak.

Korean War-sparked fund increases enabled Republic to complete a second prototype, which first flew on February 14, 1951 with a YJ65-W-1 engine, and it was followed by the first production example, which took to the skies on November 22, 1952. The type was deployed by NATO countries during the Cold War.

F-84F Thunderstreak production totaled 2,713 airplanes.

Nevertheless, Ken Neubeck and Leroy E. Douglas summarized Republic-based aircraft manufacturing by stating in their book, Airplane Manufacturing in Farmingdale (pp. 7-8). “While aviation started in Farmingdale with cloth-covered triplanes and biplanes and prop engines, after World War II Republic helped moved the United States into the jet age with the F-84 and F-84F, which assisted US forces in Korea and NATO nations in the 1950s.”

6. Fairchild Republic Corporation

Although Fairchild departed the very airport it had created in 1931, that absence was short-lived. Reappearing three years later, it took up residence in its former engine factory as the newly formed Ranger Aircraft and Engine Corporation and remained there until 1948. But, for a second time, history was to come full cycle.

Acquiring Hiller Helicopters nine years later, it became Fairchild Hiller, and in July of 1965, it purchased the majority of Republic stock, resulting in the Republic Aviation Division of Fairchild Hiller. Fairchild had thus returned to the soil in which it had planted its first seeds. In 1971, it continued its buying spree, purchasing Swearingen and producing and marketing the 19-passenger, twin-turboprop Fairchild-Swearingen Metro commuter airliner. The following year, the company adopted the official title of “Fairchild Republic.”

Its principle design, conceptualized before the Republic acquisition, was given birth by the Air Force requirement for a close air support aircraft incorporating simplicity, ease of maintenance, and short-field performance, in order to operate from small forward air bases close to the battle line.

Designated A-10 Thunderbolt II and enjoying a production run of 733, it was instrumental in the Gulf War and during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

7. Post-War Manufacturing:

Although Republic Airport and its aviation companies had been associated with mostly-military aircraft design and manufacture, several diverse commercial and space components also emerged from its doors.

Integral to the Boeing 747, for instance, were the leading edge slats, trailing edge flaps, spoilers, and ailerons built by the Republic Aviation division of Fairchild Hiller, while it was also contracted to provide a similar role in its proposed, but canceled, supersonic 2707 airliner.

Equally integral to the Space Shuttle were the Fairchild Republic components manufactured in Farmingdale.

After awarded a $13 million contract by Rockwell International of Los Angeles on March 29, 1973, Fairchild Hiller designed and developed six aluminum vertical tail stabilizers, which sported 45-degree leading edges and measured 27 feet high by 22 feet long, in Hangar 17, along with their associated rudders and speedbrakes. The first, installed on test vehicle Enterprise, facilitated its atmospheric launch from a piggy-backed 747 platform over Edwards Air Force Base on February 18, 1977, while the others were mounted on Space Shuttles Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor.

Expanding the commuter airliner involvement initiated with the Swearingen Metro, Fairchild Republic signed an agreement with Saab-Scania of Sweden on January 25, 1980 to launch the SF-340, in what became the first fully collaborative venture between a US and European aviation manufacturer. Fairchild Republic was contracted to design and build its wings, engine nacelles, and vertical and horizontal tail surfaces, with final assembly occurring in Sweden.

Fairchild Swearingen was assigned North American marketing responsibility, while a jointly owned Swedish company, Saab-Fairchild HB, established an office in Paris to fulfill this function elsewhere.

Powered by twin turboprop engines, the aircraft accommodated 34 passengers in a four-abreast configuration with a central aisle.

After completing some 100 wing sets, however, Fairchild terminated its contract work on the regional airliner, withdrawing from all civil projects, and the aircraft was redesignated the Saab 340.

8. Changing Roles:

Passed the ownership torch on March 31, 1969, Republic Airport was thereinafter operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which continued to transform it into a public-use entity by acquiring 94 adjacent acres from the US government and purchasing an additional 115 privately owned ones to the south and southwest.

“The Metropolitan Transportation Authority took title to Republic Airport as a first step in converting it into a general aviation (field),” according to the Long Island-Republic Airport Historical Society.

Initiating a modernization program, it made several improvements. High-intensity lights were installed on 5,516-foot Runway 1-19 and 6,827-foot Runway 14-32, for example, the latter of which was also equipped with an instrument landing system (ILS). The Fulton Truck Factory, the airport’s original structure dating from 1916, was razed, while Flightways transformed a ten-acre site on the north side of Route 109 into a complex of new hangars, administration buildings, fuel storage tanks, and aircraft tie-downs. A dual-level Administration, Terminal, and Maintenance building opened in 1983, not far from, and shortly before, the operational phase-in of a 100-foot, $2.2 million FAA control tower.

In order to promote economic development of the surrounding region, New York State legislature transferred ownership, for a third time, to the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) on April 1, 1983, which was advised by a nine-member Republic Airport Commission. It hardly curtailed the modernization momentum.

Indeed, eight years later, a $3.5 million, 25,600-square-foot Grumman Corporate Hangar, replacing the aircraft storage facility previously maintained at its now-closed Bethpage airfield and housing a Beechcraft King Air, a Gulfstream I, and two British Aerospace BAe-125-800s, opened.

In April of 1993, ground was broken for a $3.3 million, 20,000-square-foot SUNY Farmingdale Aerospace Education Center on the east side of Route 110.

Million Air, a subsidiary of Executive Air Support, constructed an 11,700-square-foot Executive Air Terminal and corporate hangar on the airport’s south end, and, by 2001, Air East commenced operations in its own, new, radiant-heated, 10,000-square-foot hangar, which also featured a 2,500-square-foot shop and 4,500-square-foot office and flight school. Yet another hangar-and-office complex, located in the Lambert area, opened its doors in June of 2005 when Talon Air, a charter company, began operations from it.

In order to provide increased clearance needed by the latest-generation of business jets, such as the Gulfstream V and the Bombardier Global Express, taxiway B (bravo) was relocated.

Indeed, more than $18 million in capital improvements were made since 2000 alone.

These enhancements, provisioning the airport for its new, general aviation role, had perhaps been a premonition of things to come.

In 1982, Fairchild Republic won a contract to build two new-generation Air Force T-46A training jets; but, the milestone, initially envisioned as a monetary lifeline, only provided the reverse effect: although the prototype was first rolled out three years later, it lacked some 1,200 parts, and although the second made a successful, 24-minute maiden flight in July of 1986, the contract for the program, fraught with controversy, was canceled, resulting in the layoffs of 500 employees.

Like so many companies dependent upon military contracts for survival, Fairchild Republic, without choice, ceased to exist the following year, leaving its sprouting factories and a legacy, which had begun six decades earlier. Ironically, the two names which had been the most instrumental in the airport’s beginning and growth-Fairchild and Republic-were the same two which had been involved in its demise. The doors of the Farmingdale airfield’s primarily-military aircraft manufacturing and testing chapter thus closed, and those to its general aviation one opened.

“With the company experiencing major financial problems in 1986-1987 and with the loss of support for the T-46A program in Congress, Fairchild terminated both the SF-340 and T-46A production after building only four aircraft,” according to Ken Neubeck and Leroy E. Douglas in Airplane Manufacturing in Farmingdale (p. 99). “Thus, by the fall of 1987, seventy years of airplane manufacturing in Farmingdale ended with employment and economic loss to the community and the New York metropolitan area.”

9. Airline Service:

In 1966, a year after ownership of Republic Airport was transferred from Fairchild Hiller to Farmingdale Corporation, it was officially designated a general aviation (civil) facility, fielding its first landing, of a twin-engine Beechcraft operated by Ramey Air Service from Islip, on December 7. In order to transform it into a gateway by facilitating airline connections at the three major New York airports, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority contracted with Air Spur to provide this feeder service four years later, assessing $12 one-way fares.

Although Republic was never envisioned as a major commercial airport, its central Long island location, proximity to the Route 110 corridor, and considerable infrastructure poised it for limited, scheduled and charter service to key business and leisure destinations within neighboring states. Yet its inherent operational limitation was succinctly stated in the 2000 Republic Airport Master Plan Update.

“At Republic Airport,” it explained (Chapter 3, p. 8), “the New York State Department of Transportation implemented an aircraft weight limitation of 60,000 pounds in 1984. This weight limitation restricts the operation of aircraft over 60,000 pounds actual gross weight without the written consent of the airport operator.”

“Forecasts indicate that there will be an increase in the number of jet aircraft based at Republic Airport,” the Master Plan Update stated, “as well as an increase in jet operations,” as ultimately proven by annual pure-jet operation statistics: 2,792 in fiscal year 1986, 4,056 in 1990, 4,976 in 1995, and 6,916 in 1998. And, of its average annual number of based aircraft-about 500-this segment was also the fastest growing: 10 jet aircraft in 1985, 15 in 1995, and 20 in 1998. That number has since more than doubled.

One of the first scheduled airline attempts was made in 1978 when Cosmopolitan Airlines, operating an ex-Finnair Convair CV-340 and two ex-Swissair CV-440 Metropolitans in single-class, four-abreast, configurations, offered all-inclusive, single-day, scheduled charter packages to Atlantic City from its Cosmopolitan Sky Center. Its flyer had advised: “Fly to Atlantic City for only $19.95 net. Here’s how it works: Pay $44.95 for a round-trip flight ticket to Atlantic City, including ground transportation to and from the Claridge Hotel and Casino. Upon arrival at the Claridge, you’ll receive $20.00 in food and beverage credits good at any restaurant except the London Pavilion. You will also receive a $5.00 flight credit good for your next fight to the Claridge on Cosmopolitan Airlines.”

The carrier also briefly attempted to offer two daily scheduled round-trips to Boston on its 52-passenger CV-440s in 1980.

Facilitating this scheduled service growth was the construction of a passenger terminal.

“The terminal building, completed in 1983, has approximately 50,000 square feet of useable floor space and houses airport service vehicles, maintenance, fire protection, public terminal space, and rental areas on the first floor, plus administration offices on the second floor. Approximately 70 employees work in the building,” according to the 2000 Republic Airport Master Plan Update (Chapter 1, p. 17).

Attempting to establish a link between Farmingdale and the major New York metropolitan airport of Newark International in order to feed its departures, PBA Provincetown Boston Airline commenced shuttle service with Cessna C-402 commuter aircraft, connecting Long Island by means of a 30-minute aerial hop with up to five daily round-trips and coordinating schedules with PEOPLExpress Airlines. It advertised avoidance of the excessive drive-times, parking costs, and longer check-in requirements otherwise associated with larger-airport usage, and offered the convenience of through-fares, ticketing, and baggage check to any PEOPLExpress final destination.

According to its June 20, 1986 Northern System timetable, it offered Farmingdale departures at 0700, 0950, 1200, 1445, and 1755.

Demand soon necessitated replacement of the C-402 with a larger, 19-seat Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante.

All of these brief, unsuccessful scheduled attempts, nullifying local residents’ ill-founded concern that Republic would ultimately develop into a major commercial airport and inflict its noise on close-proximity ears, failed to attract the needed traffic to render them self-supporting, emphasizing several airport-specific factors.

1). Republic was consistently associated with general, and not scheduled, operations during the latter part of its history.

2). Long Island MacArthur had already established itself as the island’s principle commercial facility, and carriers, as demonstrated by Precision/Northwest Airlink, gained no revenue advantage by diluting the same market, yet incurring increased airport and operational costs to do so.

“Republic Airport has had service by various commuter airlines and each has ceased service… ,” according to the 2000 Republic Airport Master Plan Update. “The commuter service market area is limited, geographically, taking into account the larger airports, such as La Guardia, Kennedy, and MacArthur and the service they offer.”

“Since 1969, Republic Airport has accommodated the region’s need for an airport devoted to private and business aircraft, as well as charter and commuter operations,” it also stated (Chapter 1, p. 1). “Because Republic is situated in the midst of residential, commercial, and industrial development, its role is inconsistent with that of a scheduled air carrier airport for commercial jet transport.”

With the number of annual passengers having consistently increased-from 13,748 in 1985 and 30,564 in 1990 to 33,854 in 1995-its future commuter role could not be entirely ruled out.

“While past efforts by commuter airlines have not been successful, the potential for future service exists and is to be considered in the planning for the airport,” it concluded (Chapter 2, p. 10).

10. The Future:

Unlike Roosevelt and Glenn Curtiss fields, which succumbed to modern-era pressures and swapped their runways for shopping malls, 526-acre Republic only surrendered a small portion of itself to the Airport Plaza Shopping Center. Instrumental in early-aviation development and in the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, and Iraq wars, it transformed itself into a general aviation facility, peaking with 546-based aircraft and becoming the third-largest New York airport in terms of movements after JFK International and La Guardia.

Billing itself as “the corporate airbridge for Long Island’s 21st-century economy,” this westernmost Long Island general aviation facility accounts for 1,370 jobs and $139.6 million of economic activity, supporting 60 on-airport businesses. The 110,974 movements recorded in 2008 encompassed 52 by non-rigid airships, 7,120 by rotary wing, 76,236 by single-engine pistons, 6,310 by twin-engine pistons, 5,028 by turboprops, and 16,228 by pure-jets. The latter, its second-highest total, emphasizes its increasing role as the “Teterboro of Long Island,” perhaps pointing the way to its future. Indeed, companies considering the area for their corporate locations cite the airport as a major asset, since it provides close-proximity aerial access for personnel and materials.

Toward that end, the State of New York approved funding in April of 2009 for a Vision Planning process to collect data from residents, employees, businesses, and users, and then plot its future course. Specifically, the program had a three-fold purpose-namely, to define the airport’s role, to determine how it will fill that role, and, finally, to ascertain how it will work with the community to attain the desired operational and economic goals.

“As part of the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS), Republic Airport is designated as a reliever airport with commercial service,” according to the 2000 Republic Airport Master Plan Update (Chapter 1, p. 1). “Under ownership by the New York State Department of Transportation, there are specific state development and policy procedures which are followed.”

Although it may never eclipse its current general aviation role, its importance was not to be underestimated.

“”Republic Airport is an important regional asset,” it stated (Chapter 1, p. 1). “It provides significant transportation and economic benefits to both Suffolk and Nassau counties. The policy of the New York State Department of Transportation and the Republic Airport Commission shall be that Republic Airport continue to better serve Long Island.”

Whatever the future holds for it, it has a nine-decade foundation upon which to base it, as acknowledged by the plaque hung in the passenger terminal by the Long Island-Republic Airport Historical Society, “honor(ing) the tens of thousands of men and women who labored here in East Farmingdale, contributing significantly to aviation technology and aircraft production.” Those men and woman turned the wheels of the 11 aviation companies based there.

Sources

Long Island Republic Airport Historical Society website.

Neubeck, Ken, and Douglas, Leroy E. Airplane Manufacturing in Farmingdale. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2016.

2000 Republic Airport Master Plan Update, New York State Department of Transportation.

It’s time for some wrist talking. Apple has rolled out its new line of Series 3 watches complete with cellular capability.

The new smartwatches are now on sale, just in the nick of time for holiday shopping.

Apple Watch fans will find the Series 3 is the full replacement for the Apple Watch 2. It features many upgrades including the ability to make calls from your wrist.

The watch enables cell calling on all major carriers in the U.S. The device supports both data and voice and uses the same number as your iPhone.

Calls do come at a price, it will add about $10 per month to your existing wireless fee, but imagine the fun and options of conversing like comic detective Dick Tracy.

Apple’s new W2 wireless chip helps make the calls work. It switches between Bluetooth, Wi-Fi networks and the watch itself always searching for your iPhone first.

Calls can be dialed directly with the keypad on the watch, or by tapping an existing contact. Actual message writing is limited to scribbling letters, tapping emoji, or dictation.

You can also have a voice conversation with Siri. She is no longer limited to just on-screen text responses. Engaging Siri without an iPhone nearby though can be troublesome.

While the watch is designed to free you up from your phone it does require your iPhone to help with setup and app installation. Calling will not work with Android phones.

Most use the Apple Watch as a fitness tracker. New with the Series 3 is an on-watch extra sensor barometric altimeter with GPS. The built-in GPS records the distance, speed and route of your outdoor workouts.

The altimeter tracks elevation during your hilliest rides and highest climbs. It is also “ocean proof” and safe at 50 meters.

Heart rate monitoring has been improved. More graphs are listed for all-day averages in resting heart rate and walking heart rate. Other graphs and averages for workouts are listed as well much like Samsung’s Gear watches fitness offerings.

Workouts are easier to start and stop, or switch on the fly. Runs can be auto-paused. Music controls show up in workouts with a quick swipe, and music playlists can be set to go automatically.

Those who wish to listen to music to accompany their workout will find improved synchronization with the WatchOS 4 operating system. Playlists can be added when the watch is charging. Most songs can be downloaded from your iTunes library.

Like most newer Apple products wireless headphones are required to enjoy the audio. AirPods are a good pairing for the watch.

While the Apple Series 3 has added capabilities it is not a full replacement for the iPhone. Responding to emails and messages is not easy and there is no camera. Your phone is still needed to set everything up and for adding apps and other information.

Battery life can be an issue. Due to limitations phone calls can be severely curtailed as can GPS-aided workouts. Costs for wireless service and Apple music add to the expense.

Users of Apple Watch 2 will find little difference in appearance between the old and new devices. The 3 features a red dot on the crown the 2 does not. Size is about the same. You can use your older bands associated with the previous models.

The cellular version of the Series 3 will run around $400. A stainless steel model will run near $600 and then there are the more luxurious Hermes and ceramic edition models priced at over $1,200.

Apple keeps improving its smartwatch offerings. While not revolutionary the Series 3 is first to offer cell capability with improved fitness applications. The tech giant is hoping consumers will find that now is the right time to purchase one.

Sometimes you have a new thought, an idea, or eureka moment, but it’s not gutsy enough to expand into a reasonable length article or essay. So, here’s a potpourri of thoughts on life and the human universe (even if not quite everything therein) that’s too good not to record, but with not enough meat available to flesh out.

* Life Defined: There are probably as many different definitions of “what is life?” as there have been and are biologists, life scientists, naturalists and philosophers, etc. Most centre on or around concepts like growth, reproduction, response to stimuli, metabolism, violations of the second law of thermodynamics (entropy), and related similar ilk. None have been entirely satisfactory otherwise we would have THE textbook definition. My take on “what is life?” is somewhat different. Life is some sort of complex organic structure that has a behaviour that is not absolutely predictable via classical (or even quantum) physics. Or, in other words, under the most tightly controlled and uniform set of laboratory conditions, the ‘structure’ will do as it damn well pleases!

* Life: Speaking of life, there is no such thing as ‘living matter’ vs. ‘dead matter’. All matter is ‘dead matter’ since all matter, from the ground up, is composed of electrons, protons (quarks and gluons), neutrons (more quarks and gluons), photons, neutrinos, etc. Few if any would ague that an electron, proton, neutron, etc. is ‘living matter’. And the atoms, hence molecules, even complex molecules they make up are not alive. No matter is alive or is ‘living matter’. What is ‘alive’ is the organisation, the overall structure of various bits and pieces of matter, in highly specific arrangements, such that – and this is the key point – entropy, at least temporarily, is thwarted. Entropy finally wins when the organisational structure breaks down, that is, life dies.

* Death: Death is not something to be afraid of. You experience dying, but not death since once dead, you have no existence and you need to have an existence, you have to be alive, in order to experience something, anything, even death. So you never experience death, only that up to but not including death.

* Afterlife: It is clear that the essence of what makes you, you – personality, knowledge, creativity, emotions, intellect, memories, etc. – can be and is altered by physical processes ranging from head injury to disease to aging to lack of sleep, food chemistry, alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs and other chemical substances inhaled, ingested or otherwise absorbed into the body. Therefore, the essence of what makes you, you is based on physical realities and therefore you are grounded in physics (and not just by gravity either). So unless the abode(s) of the afterlife supports physics and physical processes, and that there’s a physical mechanism that can transfer your physical-based essence from your physical body to an abode that supports a physical afterlife, then just forget about any life after death.

* Afterlife: You really don’t want to die, but you really don’t want an eternal afterlife either so be careful about what you wish for. I mean you’d be bored to ‘death’ after the first million years with billions and trillions of years yet to come and that’s just the beginning! Sounds a bit more like a hell to me! But since your afterlife must take place within the Universe, somewhere, what happens to your afterlife when the Universe finally hits its heat death or collapses back on itself in a Big Brunch (the opposite of the Big Bang). Regardless, it’s curtains for your afterlife. It’s also clear that your body, when it dies, doesn’t go to an afterlife. If you go to an afterlife, it’s your mind, your consciousness, the essence of what makes you, you that has to make the journey. But what kind of afterlife would that be for a one day old infant or for a 110 year old with severe dementia or for someone middle aged who was an ex-boxer or ex-gridiron player whose head and brain had been so pummelled as to now leave him just a fraction above a vegetative state. The same might apply to someone who had been starved of oxygen for a lengthy time, like a near drowning victim. What if your afterlife were pretty much the same as your life with a nine-to-five job, a rotten boss, bearing a heavy email galore and unproductive and worthless meetings burden, lots of bills, taxes and a lawn to mow, plus those in-laws and horrible relatives. Add to that mix now a supreme deity that’s cracking the whip at all hours. Now think back to pre-life. Wasn’t it peaceful and tranquil and tax free? What if your post-death were the same as your pre-life, wouldn’t that be ‘heavenly’, and as an added bonus, it’s all somebody else’s problem now.

* Meaning, Purpose & Existence: An oft asked question is “What is my purpose in life: why am I here?” People want some sort of meaning and purpose to their existence and often look to religion to provide it. That’s pure laziness. The Universe assigns you no meaning. The Universe assigns you no purpose. The Universe doesn’t care why you are here. The Universe doesn’t give a damn because the Universe can’t give a damn in the exact same way as a rock can’t give a damn about you and your quest. The cosmos doesn’t tap you on the shoulder or bring down from on high Ten Commandments style and tell you why you are here and what your purpose and meaning is. If you have meaning or purpose in answer to why you are here it is because you yourself have assigned yourself purpose and meaning, albeit perhaps via the nurturing of others like parents, teachers, your spouse, etc.

* Plants: Humans call them weeds. Mother Nature calls them plants. So-called ‘weeds’ too have their place in the natural scheme of things. Stupid humans!

* Evolution: If species A gives rise to Species B, it’s highly unlikely that in only ten million years Species B will anatomically look, and psychologically act, drastically different than Species A did. Evolution happens, but softly, softly, gradually, gradually. A species of cockroach isn’t going to morph into a species of ant or spider or fly in ten million years. A stegosaurus isn’t going to morph into a parrot in ten million years. So the human species needs a lot of explanation compared to a chimpanzee or a common chimpanzee-human ancestor. We look and act just a bit too far removed in the time available.

* Human Species: While it is true that some of the other primates can walk upright on two legs some of the time for brief intervals, only a bipedal human can climb up or down a staircase while balancing a tray in one hand while thinking of something else, like sex and not fall over. Only a bipedal human, relative to our primate cousins, can maintain balance while dancing or playing sports that require quick and rapid changes in direction. But a bipedal stance is almost akin to balancing a straw on its end. It’s very easy to fall down, go boom.

* Human Species: Despite the very popular but self-promotional conception, human beings are the least rational species on this planet. Any other animal that acts irrationally, say via a genetic defect or disease or the equivalent of dementia, is a dead animal. I have yet to witness any animal acting in any way, shape, manner or form that wasn’t rational for either its own survival or the survival of its genes, its community or its kind. I most certainly cannot say the same about the human species.

* Human Species: Humans and cycles go hand in glove. Though most are artificial constructions and therefore rather phoney, cycles are important to humans and human society. The Day-Night cycle is of the most prime importance, and it is a natural cycle. Humans put a lot of stock in the seven day week cycle, which is an artificial construct, and to a lesser extent the month (also a phoney cycle even if ever so loosely based on the lunar cycle). The year is a natural cycle (in terms of the seasons) and probably of greatest significance next to the day and week cycles. Decades and centuries rank fairly low in importance and are artificial constructs in any event. The millennia are only important when the calendar changes over from say 1999 to 2000 (though the new millennia actually began in 2001) and 1000 year cycles lie outside of the human lifespan in any event. And that should be pretty much it – except for some ancient societies who had cycles of apparent importance so long that predated the very existence of those societies (and concluded well after those societies went extinct), like the Mayan long count (recall that famous doomsday date of 21 December 2012). Other societies measure ongoing cycles of creation-destruction in such lengthy periods that they really have no imminent impact on the societies propagating them. When societies have cycles of significance that are of no immediate significance, then you have an anomaly and you have got to wonder where hence gave that particular cyclic concept.

* Human Language: Modern humans are one species, many breeds, but one species. Our single species has however thousands of languages, both in use and extinct. That’s an anomaly. Other animals, each a single species, whether of not they come in breeds like cats, dogs and horses, have one vocal language (supplemented, as in the case of humans too, by body/facial ‘language’). A Chinese cat can converse, that is making its intentions understood, with a French cat, or with an Egyptian cat or with an Australian cat. Why humans alone needed to or have developed a massive multitude of spoken languages is a bit of a mystery. Body/facial ‘language’ on the other hand is pretty universal, therefore singular.

* Human Organism: You probably think of yourself as one singular organism. The expression “me, myself and I” are all singular. Yet, you know perfectly well that you are really a colony of billions of organisms (cells) working in more often as not the case in total harmony. Yet, as things turn out, you play host to billions and billions more microbes. Nine out of ten of the microbes that make you up aren’t really a part of you at all, like say those bacteria that survive and thrive in your mouth. So, are you an organism, a colony of organisms or an environment for organisms? I’m quite astounded to learn that 90% of me isn’t me! So perhaps our real purpose in life is to serve as hosts for the greater multitudes. The needs of the many [microbes] outweigh the needs of the one [Human].

* Diet: We’ve all read and heard about how we consume way more salt than is necessary and that too much salt can cause high blood pressure and heart attacks and associated nasty conditions. What is never mentioned in all these health warnings about salt is the feedback mechanism that restores the proper balance. It’s akin to how many bars will put out free salted peanuts or salted chips for the customers. It’s not out of the pure kindness of the bartender. If you take in a lot of salt you get, surprise, thirsty. And so the bar makes up for the ‘free’ peanuts and chips by selling more drinks to quench the thirst you build up by eating all that ‘free’ salty stuff. In other words, if you over indulge in the salt, you’ll drink more fluids because you get extra thirsty, and the additional liquids will, when filtered through the kidneys, take the unnecessary salt with it (salty urine) and the proper balance is restored. So, if we consume way more salt than is necessary, we probably drink way more fluids as well.

* Archaeology vs. Mythology: There are numerous depictions of ancient rock carvings or petroglyphs and the like, of what appear to be dinosaurs, like that well known stegosaurus at Ankor Wat. Creationists use these images as evidence to suggest, indeed state categorically, that this proves dinosaurs and humans coexisted. Sceptics have a field day rubbishing that notion, but still those images remain and remain to be explained. My turn!

Now in the world of all things mythological, one will find depictions (carvings, paintings, rock art, statues, etc.) of literally hundreds upon hundreds of imaginary beasties, often human-animal hybrids like the mermaid and the centaur; animal-animal hybrids like dragons and griffins; and other just plain beasties like the thunderbird or some that are just plain bizarre, like those winged bulls with human heads and five legs from the Near East. These mythological beasties are often depicted in normal settings cheek-by-jowl with your standard everyday really real animals. You find griffins alongside of deer, foxes, horses, cattle, geese, even cats and dogs just as natural as you please – just like that stegosaurus has really real modern companion animals also carved in relief at Ankor Wat.

It would not be surprising, IMHO, that by chance, some of these mythological or imaginary beasties, inventions or constructs of the human mind, would just happen to end up resembling real, but long extinct, life forms. So if we see a rock carving of what appears to resemble a stegosaurus, it’s just coincidence.

* Archaeology: The Australian Aborigines: With respect to the Australian Aborigines, to me the one Big Mystery never addressed at all was why no Aboriginal civilization? I mean the Aborigines had the intelligence and the resources and certainly the time (50,000 years worth) to construct things. But there are no equivalences to the American Indian mounds or pueblos; no pyramids or temples (like the Egyptian or Central American), nothing akin to a Stonehenge or Newgrange or even something like an Easter Island statue or a great wall or a terracotta army and certainly nothing approaching ancient Greek/Roman constructions. In fact, the Aborigines never even came up with something as basic as pottery. Why? It strikes me as a major anomaly.

* Archaeology: The Wheel: When you think of the most important and fundamental inventions that humans are credited with only a select few really stand out. Taming fire is one. Cutting tools like stone flakes are another. Writing is a third. Coming up with the concept of nothing or the zero was a real breakthrough. And of course there is the wheel. However, there are a few anomalies when it comes to the wheel. In the ancient Americas for example, the wheel was both known, but unused. Translated, you find in the archaeological record children’s toys that have wheels. What you don’t find is that concept extrapolated into the adult world. Adults, be they Incas, Aztecs, Amerindians, etc. did tot make use of the wheel even though wheeled toys abound. Now the basic reason for that given is that they had no beasts of burden like oxen or horses to pull chariots, etc. so therefore no wheeled chariots. However, that doesn’t explain the lack of other practical adult applications like the wheelbarrow, or small wheeled wagons/carts/platforms or ‘shopping’ trolleys or even a primitive rickshaw that could be pulled by one person. Not everything wheeled has to be the size of a chariot, a covered wagon, a stagecoach. There’s not even a potter’s wheel and so on. The concept of round or rolling (as in logs) is obvious to the most basic of cultures, yet for the first half of their very lengthy empire, that super-civilization, at least for those times, the ancient Egyptians, didn’t make use of the wheel. The Australian Aborigines didn’t seem to have a wheel-eureka moment either.

* Archaeology: Orion’s Belt: It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintake The stars are more or less evenly spaced in a straight line, and so can be visualized as a belt. For some mysterious reason, several archaeological sites exhibit or mirror the positions of the trilogy of stars that make up the Belt of Orion. The most famous is the trilogy of those massive ancient Egyptian pyramids on the Giza plateau. The second is seen at Teotihuacán’s central pyramid complex in Mexico. The third is a trilogy of Hopi Mesas in Arizona. Okay, Orion’s Belt, that trilogy of stars, is fairly prominent in the night sky, but then too so is a lot of other star patterns. What makes these special to our ancient ancestors? A big deal of this is made by ‘ancient astronaut’ theorists. Somehow that trilogy of stars must be special, like perhaps home turf to ET. Alas, that doesn’t seem all that plausible. Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis) and Mintake (Delta Orionis) are very bright stars (to the naked eye), but they are also very, very far away. That alone suggests that they are very un-Sun like. Alnitak is 736 light-years away and 100,000 times our Sun’s luminosity; Alnilam is 1340 light-years distant and 375,000 times as luminous as our Sun; and Mintake is 915 light-years away as the crow flies and is a whopping 900,000 times the Sun’s luminosity. Mintaka is also a double star system. Translated, the trio of stars that make up Orion’s Belt don’t seem to be likely candidates for extraterrestrials that would come a-calling as ‘ancient astronauts’. I very much doubt SETI scientists would target these stars as likely candidates to point their radio telescopes at.

* Simulated (Virtual Reality) Universe: In the simulated universe scenario I (and many others) have suggested we exist inside a computer as a software program or subroutine within a larger software program. The un-stated assumption is that the Supreme Programmer was of flesh-and-blood (terrestrial or extraterrestrial). But why make that assumption? Why not suggest that the Supreme Programmer was/is an Artificial Intelligence in its own right just being creative. Silicon -and-steel (artificial) intelligence is a logical evolutionary successor to flesh-and-blood (natural) intelligence and is likely to not only evolve far more rapidly (Moore’s Law) than human evolution ever did but have an overall longevity vastly in extent of ours.

1. Amphibious Aircraft Development:

Water, not land, drew aviation to Port Washington, Long Island. Like the Hempstead Plains, the flat expanse of Manhasset Bay fronting it, evoking nautical images, became inextricably tied to aeronautical development during the first half of the 20th century. Its calm, deep waters– centrally located only 15 miles from New York City, yet at the threshold of the Atlantic Ocean and the European continent-proved the ideal breeding ground for craft which combined the buoyancy of the boat with the aerodynamics of the airplane.

Wealthy aristocrats, such as Guggenheim and Vanderbilt-engaging in yachting on the very waters which were overlooked by their opulent, North Shore mansions-and endowed with significant wealth for the activity, logically sublimated the sport to flying, transitioning from floating craft to air craft. Nautical designers, facilitating this change, equally progressed to this new technology, and Port Washington’s Manhasset Bay, like Nassau County’s Hempstead Plains, rapidly became the cradle of seaplane aviation.

Glenn Curtiss, soon to become synonymous with this branch, both designed and successfully tested the first dual-mode, sea-and-sky airframe, the “F” Boat, here in 1912, inherently expressed in its very name, the “Port Washington,” and its succeeding, larger and improved-performance “M” (for “modified”) version, met the US Navy’s specifications for such a seaplane and resulted in an order five years later, in 1917.

Having already constructed a seaplane base here the previous year, with workshops, hangars, and ramps, Curtiss was able to offer an array of related services, including floatplane testing, pilot training, and public familiarization rides, and this branch was officially established in July when 12 men from Yale University, forming the First Yale Aviation Unit, received Naval pilot training here from Curtiss School Instructor David McCulloch in an “F” Boat. The fleet later encompassed “M” Boat, N-9, and R-9 aircraft.

If Manhasset Bay had been a mirror, it would have reflected an increasing number of speed, altitude, and distance records written above it. In October of 1919, for instance, Caleb Bragg, a local resident, attained a 19,100-foot altitude in a Loening Monoplane, while David McCulloch himself climbed 400 feet higher two years later, in August, a record applicable to both land- and seaplanes because of the four people it carried.

Port Washington also served as the home base of an airline which, established in 1919 and operating four, six-passenger Curtiss flying boats, served the Long Island-Atlantic City route, long before casinos were ever envisioned there.

Continually using Manhasset Bay as an aquatic testing surface, Curtiss initiated a series of floatable, powerless glider flights on September 6, 1922. Towed by a speedboat back to its hangar after four unsuccessful attempts to attain sufficient lift off of Port Washington, the sailplane, a miniaturized version of the Navy-Curtiss NC flying boat with a 24-foot-long duralumin hull; a modified bow; 28-foot, silk-covered wings; spruce struts; and the Curtiss signature shoulder yoke control system; finally harnessed a hitherto absent breeze and surrendered to the air for a sustained, nine-second aerial interlude, permitting him to release his grasp of the tow rope for the first time that day. Formerly restricted to land and hilltop launches, gliding now expanded to the aquatic realm.

“This is the first step in sea soaring,” Curtiss proclaimed. Unlike the traditional, land-based gliders, which maintained balance by means of vertical currents, its nautical counterpart negotiated sea-air whose currents moved parallel with the water and needed to emulate the albatross bird, “which takes off from a wave and soars immediately,” according to him. In order to continue soaring, he needed to “have knowledge of the variations of air currents over the water,” the intended aim of his initial experiments.

Subsequent flights demonstrated that the absence of a breeze and not an inherent design deficiency, was the culprit of the first four failed attempts, which had exhibited optimum balance and control before having been released from their tethers.

Some of these aviation advancements were not without support and financial backing. In 1926, for example, Sands Point resident Daniel Guggenheim and his son, Harry, promoted air competitions and provided incentives to improve aeronautical safety and reliability.

2. Early Manufacturers:

Aside from Curtiss designs, those of the EDO Aircraft Corporation equally used Manhasset Bay as their acceleration surface.

Founded by Earl Dodge Osborn, whose initials provided his company’s name, in College Point on the shore of Flushing Bay with 14 employees, he designed his first aircraft, designated the “Malolo,” the following year. Powered by a 110-hp, twin-bladed engine mounted atop its high wing, the small, all-metal, hull-shaped seaplane, sporting a pontoon beneath it, proved too slow to attract any orders, but its novel aluminum floats, a radical departure from the heavy, water damage-prone wooden ones, were strong and durable, yet light weight.

Switching his focus from designing seaplanes to the pontoons which supported them, he was able to retrofit land-based aircraft, whose range was then insufficient for anything other than short sectors and whose required concrete runways were often inadequate in both length and number, thus provisioning them for long-range travel with the unlimited ocean expanses serving as potential aquatic airports.

First retrofitted to a Waco 9 biplane, whose power output was inadequate to lift the heavier, wooden types, the production aluminum floats improved, as would later occur with all aircraft, its performance, range, and payload.

EDO floats were further enhanced with fluted bottoms.

Employing some 100 people by 1929, the company, enjoying a virtual monopoly, designed eight different types mountable on 25 aircraft, and became the sole float supplier of the Army and the Navy during World War II.

Its floats also facilitated several notable flights, including those made by Charles Lindbergh’s Lockheed Sirius and Admiral Richard Byrd’s Curtiss Condor during his South Pole exploration.

The second significant operation to take root in Port Washington, after that of Curtiss’s, was the American Aeronautical Corporation.

Founded By Enea Bossi in October of 1928 to license-build Italian Savoia-Marchetti seaplanes in the United States, it temporarily established a base in Whitestone, New York, while seeking a more permanent location. It ultimately selected 16 acres on Manhasset Isle, chosen because of its level and sandy soil, favorable water conditions, and proximity to Manhattan, constructing a $1.5 million 235,000-square-foot factory, designed by Lockwood Greene Engineers and actually built by Commonwealth Industries. It encompassed a flying school and Army Air Corps-sponsored seaplane base. Officially dedicated on September 14 of the following year, it became America’s largest such combined complex, soon earning the name “New York Seaplane Airport,” and causing the hitherto quiet, countrified community to morph into an industrial site whose heart was pumped by mechanics, machinists, engineers, assemblers, and pilots.

Two versions of a single, amphibious design emerged through its hangar doors. The S-56, manufactured under ATC Approved Type Certificate A-287–awarded on January 4, 1930–sold for $7,300 and, powered by a 90-hp engine, had a production run of 36. It was the first low-cost seaplane available. The second, the S-56B-built under Approved Type Certificate A-336-featured a more powerful, 125-hp Kinner B-5 engine and was priced at $7,825.

The S-55, which failed to proceed into production, and its S-56 successor, were tested at Miller Army Air Field. The latter, of wooden construction, sported a 32.5-foot wingspan with significant clearance between its upper and lower ones to facilitate powerplant installation and its dual-bladed propeller. It had a 2,150-pound gross weight and accommodated up to three in open seats.

The type made two notable achievements. Piloted by W. B. Atwater, it made the first fight from Port Washington to Chicago and, in August of 1930, notched up an unrefueled endurance record of 22 hours, 19 minutes.

By May of 1929, the American Aeronautical Company attracted more than $400,000 of Savoia-Marchetti airplane orders, but, victim to the Depression, the license-manufacturing partnership was consumed by its bite the following year.

During the same year that it was established, so, too, was the Curtiss seaplane flying school on Manhasset Bay’s Orchard Beach with a fleet of float-equipped de Havilland Moth biplanes.

The first three decades on Manhasset Bay, characterized by seaplane-sprouting seedlings, experimentation, test flying, barnstorming, pilot training, flying school establishment, and ever-increasing performance and reliability, yielded to the era of the flying boat and international airline service.

3. The Flying Boat Era:

Long intending to inaugurate scheduled, transatlantic, mail and passenger flying boat service to complement its existing Pacific routes, Pan American Airways Corporation selected Port Washington as an interim departure point until its more permanent facilities were constructed in North Beach, acquiring the American Aeronautical Corporation’s cavernous hangar and seaplane ramp complex in December of 1933 under the “Marine Airport Corporation” aegis, once again injecting Port Washington with the promise of growth. The facility, at least temporarily, became the nautical equivalent of Idlewild International Airport, which, although located on Jamaica Bay, only became a landplane counterpart.

Service inauguration, contingent upon landing rights, was delayed for several years until a breakthrough occurred on February 22, 1937, when the British Air Ministry ultimately issued Pan American a permit to operate scheduled flights to, through, and beyond the United Kingdom, with similar route authorities subsequently obtained from Canada on March 5, Bermuda on March 25, Ireland on April 13, and Portugal on April 14. The service, however, could only be launched when Britain’s own, and competing, Imperial Airways’-predecessor of BOAC/British Airways– transatlantic operation began, and its empire Class flying boats were still in their final design phase.

Pan American, equally awaiting its Boeing B-314 Flying Boats, intended transatlantic aircraft type, elected to deploy two smaller Sikorsky S-42 amphibians on the partial, 770-mile oceanic crossing to Bermuda, but the British agreement extended to this route as well.

Both carriers commenced this abridged, but first, transatlantic sector with simultaneous, route-proving flights on May 25, 1937, Pan American operating the eastbound segment with the “Bermuda Clipper” and Imperial Airways serving the reciprocal, westbound route with its “Cavalier” flying boat. Although the agreement stipulated that the two points had to be connected with the same aerial suspension time, Pan American’s S-42s offered higher cruise speeds than those of Imperial Airways’ equipment.

After several trial flights, scheduled passenger operations began the following month, on June 18, to and from the Port Washington Marine Base, where Pan American itself provided the British airline’s maintenance, each operating a single weekly round-trip.

According to a 1937 document for “PAA Airport No. B-335-4,” that base offered the following facilities:

“Distance and Direction from Center of City: Adjacent to Port Washington.

“Area: Approximately 12 acres.

“Shape: Irregular.

“Landing and Take Off Areas: Unlimited in Long Island Sound.

“Marking and Identification: 2 hangars, 2 ramps, and floating walk – Plum Point.

“Remarks: Station operated by Pan American Airways. At present, used as port-of-entry for USA-Bermuda services by Pan American Airways and Imperial Airways.”

The Bermuda route was not without mishap. During one of its eastbound legs, the Cavalier Flying Boat operated by Imperial Airways penetrated icing conditions and its captain radioed of a potential, open-sea landing. But 49 minutes later, the virtually powerless behemoth, emitting a cough from the last of its four still-sputtering engines, descended toward the angry ocean surface, devoid of control.

Plunging into the crest of a mountain wave, it came to an abrupt stop, spitting the five crew members and eight passengers from its crushed carcass and exposing them to the churning elements with nothing but flotation packs to which to cling for salvation.

Struck by a piece of wreckage as he exited the fuselage, one passenger, unable to swim, drowned, while the steward, losing his grip of the flotation ring, succumbed to the sea’s swallow shortly after.

Although Pan American had tamed the Pacific with a fleet of ten Sikorsky S-42 and Martin M-130 flying boats designated “Clippers” to reflect the tall-masted sailing ships which had plied the seas during an earlier period, they failed to offer adequate speed or capacity for transatlantic operations, as demonstrated by the July 3, 1937 transatlantic survey flight operated by “Clipper III” to Foynes, Ireland. It required six days, by means of several intermediate stops, to complete. Nevertheless, it constituted the first time that a North Atlantic weather map had been consulted and witnessed the first aerial iceberg sighting from a commercial aircraft. Imperial Airways’ “Caledonia,” operating the westbound trip, landed on Manhasset Bay the same day that “Clipper III” had reached Ireland, but in the afternoon, having first circled Manhattan.

Despite the pre-existing service inauguration agreement, Pan American, finally taking delivery of the first of six Boeing B-314s intended for its Pacific and Atlantic divisions, could wait no longer and began a series of route-proving flights, which led to the actual passenger-carrying one.

“Like rigid airships,” according to Tom D. Crouch in his book, “Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age” (W. W. Norton and Company, 2003, p. 342), “the large flying boats represented a bridge technology, capable of covering intercontinental distances at a time when faster and more efficient land-based aircraft did not yet have the range or carrying capacity for the task.”

The first route proving service, occurring on March 26, 1939 and operated by aircraft “Yankee Clipper,” carried 11 crew members and nine operation-related employees from Boeing, Wright Aeronautical, and the airline itself, crossing the Atlantic to Horta, before continuing to Lisbon, Biscarosse, and Marseilles. One week later it returned to Port Washington.

The second, intended as the inaugural air mail flight and operated by the same aircraft, took place two months later, on May 20, the 12th anniversary of Lindbergh’s solo crossing in the Spirit of St. Louis, casting off at 1308 local time with 1,804 pounds of post on board and peeling its ship-like hull off the waters of Manhasset Bay. Piloted by Captain Arthur E. LaPorte, the colossal, high-winged, quad-engine, intercontinental flying boat circled the World’s Fair, whose Aviation Day celebration was attended by the thousands, before commencing its aerial Atlantic bridge and radioing that it sustained a 175-mph cruise speed and was 268 miles east of New York shortly after 1500. It then continued to the Azores, Lisbon, and Marseilles.

Returning seven days later with 2,025 pounds of mail, it successfully completed the US’s first scheduled, commercial, transatlantic round-trip, reciprocally mimicked by Imperial Airways, which had finally inaugurated its own ocean-spanning operation.

The long-awaited passenger service, with $375 one-way and $675 round-trip fares, began the following month, on June 28, with aircraft “Dixie Clipper.”

Amid the blare of a brass band and the quay thronged with friends, relatives, messengers, reporters, and photographers, the 22 passengers, having had their tickets, passports, and baggage checked (the latter restricted to a 15-pound maximum), filed down the long dock to which the B-314, immersed in Manhasset Bay, was moored, then the most mammoth and luxurious airliner, in- and externally reflecting the nautical heritage which had inspired it.

Based upon the design requirements submitted by Juan Trippe of Pan American to Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Sikorsky, in February of 1936, for a long-range, four-engine, transoceanic amphibious airliner capable of carrying a 10,000-pound payload on at least 2,400 statute mile routes against a 30-mph headwind and cruising at a 150-mph airspeed, the aircraft, as befitting a mixed-mode vehicle, employed ship construction techniques with a compartmented double bottom and full-depth, forward and aft, watertight bulkheads, producing a 106-foot overall length. The massive, three-section, high-mounted wing, which spanned 152 feet, was subdivided into a center, hull-integral section which extended beyond either side’s inner engine nacelle, and two outer, watertight sections. Its center wing spar, supported by the upper fuselage, featured both increased strength and internal volume, while its 4,200-gallon fuel capacity was distributed between wing center section and lower-fuselage extending sponson tanks. Appearing like mini-wings, they provided lateral, in-water stability, obviating the need for traditional floats, and alternatively served as passenger entry platforms leading to the cabin door. So cavernous were the main wings, that they contained interior catwalks to permit in-flight inspection and maintenance of both their structure and that of the engines’.

Powered by four, 14-cylinder, two-row, 1,500-hp Wright Cyclone R-2600-A2 piston engines housed in 69-inch-diameter nacelles and driving three-bladed, 14.9-foot-diameter, fully-feathering Hamilton Standard hydromatic propellers, the Boeing B-314 had an 82,500-pound maximum takeoff weight and a 23,500-pound payload capacity. Its service ceiling was 21,000 feet.

First flying on June 7, 1938 from Lake Washington on the West Coast, the aircraft exhibited yaw axis instability during the 38-minute trial and was subsequently retrofitted with its later-characteristic triple vertical tail, resulting in type certification on January 26 of the following year.

Piloted by Captain Rod Sullivan, who had previously operated the inaugural flight to Wake Island in the Pacific on board the S-42, the transatlantic B-314 “Dixie Clipper” inched away from the dock at 1500 local time with the 11 crew members, 22 passengers, and 408 pounds of mail. Lumbering through Manhasset Bay, it executed its acceleration run, cascading water by the drowning load behind it. Moving up on step, it disengaged itself from the surface which had provided its buoyancy-and the North American continent-hovering above it at a 120-mph airspeed. When a post-departure engine check revealed positive readings, the throttles were pulled back from the 1,550 to the 1,200-hp level, thresholding an initial climb to 750 feet, and then a secondary power reduction, to 900 hp, for a final ascent to altitude at 126 mph.

Reflecting oceanliner-standard service, white gloved stewards distributed the passenger list in a cabin, which equally could have doubled as that belonging to a nautical vessel.

Subdivided into two decks, the flying boat featured a carpeted and upholstered-chair upper level, which stretched more than six feet in height and extended 21 feet in length, and was provisioned with cockpit positions for the pilot, the copilot, the navigator, and the radio operator; a master’s desk; a meteorologist’s station; crew sleeping bunks; and a baggage compartment which was partially located in the wing. Cockpit and cabin crew consisted of between ten and 16 members. A starboard-positioned stairway provided inter-deck connection.

The sound-proofed cabin, itself subdivided, featured five, ten-passenger compartments; a single, special, four-passenger section; a deluxe bridal suite; a dining room; a full-service galley; a men’s restroom; and a ladies’ powder room. Passenger capacity included 74 by day and 34 by night, in convertible berths.

Moving through the cabin, the passengers introduced themselves, before partaking of the formal, multiple-course dinner served in the 10.5-by-12-foot dining room. Accommodating 14 per sitting, it sported terra cotta carpeting, white linen-covered tables, china, silverware, fresh flowers, and printed menus.

A 2030 position report indicated that it was leveled off at 7,400 feet over cloud and was 770 miles from its Port Washington origin.

Aerially connecting the North American and European continents, the “Dixie Clipper” alighted in Horta, the Azores, and Lisbon, Portugal, before terminating in Marseilles, France, after a successful, inaugural transatlantic crossing.

Port Washington served as the origin and destination of other amphibious, intercontinental services, both provided by Germany, but of short duration and, in one case, of particularly unique form.

The first of these was operated by the Dornier Do-X, an equally colossal flying boat. Designed by Dr. Claudius Dornier, the 131.4-foot-long aircraft sported porthole windows from bow to stern; high, elliptical-tipped wings with a 157.5-foot span and a 4,844-square-foot area; and 12 engines housed in paired, tractor-and pusher configured, tower nacelles extending above its leading edge. Of 524 hp, these Bristol Jupiter radials initially proved insufficient for its 123,460-pound gross weight, resulting in the later retrofit of 12-cylinder, water-cooled, 610-hp Curtiss Conqueror powerplants. It first flew on July 12, 1929.

Like the Boeing B-314 which followed it by almost a decade, the Do-X featured two internal decks, the upper containing the cockpit, the navigator station, the engine controls, and the radio operator, and the lower offering 66 berth-convertible seats in an equally oceanliner-luxurious cabin with a bar, a dining salon, an electric galley, and a smoking room. It once flew with 170 on board.

Despite its impressive power appearance, however, even the higher-capacity engines only produced a meager, 1,056-mile range and a 1,650-foot service ceiling. Nevertheless, it made experimental transatlantic flights and used Port Washington as its maintenance and repair base.

Greater success was achieved with a mixed-mode, air-and-sea operation undertaken in 1937 and 1938. Positioning the Schwabenland, a rebuilt freighter, near Long Island, and the Friesenland, a purposely-designed catapult ship near the Azores, the Germans inaugurated transatlantic service with two Blohm and Voss HA-139s respectively designated “Nordmeer” and “Nordwind.”

The low-wing, quad-engine, aircraft, powered by Junkers Jumo engines and supported by massive floats, carried four crew members and 880 pounds of payload, and were cordite-launched from their ships’ 110-foot-long catapults, enabling them to accelerate from zero to 95 mph in just two seconds, a force equaling 4.5 g’s. A third airplane, the “Nordstern,” later joined the fleet, and seven round-trips were altogether made, on which the aircraft completed the remainder of the Atlantic crossing.

As befitting a destination directly served by scheduled, international airline service, Port Washington was subjected to considerable development: paved roads now covered the agricultural foundation upon which it once rested; car and taxi service offered a surface link to New York City, to which most passengers were destined; and businesses expanded.

But Port Washington’s second prosperous aviation era promise lasted less than a year, with the Boeing B-314 flying boat fleet which had made it possible, the last operations entailing the landing of “Dixie Clipper” on the morning of March 28, 1940 and that of “Yankee Clipper” and “American Clipper” in the afternoon.

4. The Grumman Corporation:

Pan American’s scheduled, transatlantic service, transferred to the North Beach, and eventually-renamed, La Guardia, Airport, were almost as short-lived as that of the American Aeronautical Corporation which had preceded it, and, when World War II’s curtains opened, the Port Washington-associated airline operation’s closed, replaced by aircraft parts’ assemblers feverishly working to preserve freedom.

Active in the Grumman Corporation’s newly-opened Plant #5-which opened in 1943–they counted among a 4,000-strong team which built cowlings, wing panels, and turrets for Navy TBF Avenger torpedo-bombers and F6F Hellcat fighters, keeping the bay-located city abuzz 24 hours per day as they attempted to feed World War II’s need for aircraft and once again re-injecting it with economic stimulation. Like the earlier seaplanes and later flying boats that connected the world, these components, via the aircraft final assembly lines, linked other part manufacturers and the airplane itself with the very country which had created them.

But, equally like the Pan American abandonment, Grumman itself left the town in 1945.

5. Republic Aviation Corporation:

A second round of war-necessitating manufacture re-lit the six-year suspension between the end of World War II and 1951 when the Republic Aviation Corporation reoccupied Grumman’s Plant 15 in order to supply the Korean War’s insatiable hunger for aircraft.

Providing initial employment for 90 when it opened the following January, and peeking with 2,655 personnel in 1953, it witnessed the manufacture of wings for F-84F, RF-84F, and F-105 fighter jets, as well as the subcontracted production for other manufacturers, such as Boeing.

Preparing the local workforce for potential aviation careers, Republic offered paid training programs to Port Washington High School students.

But, like all the other curtains which had closed before it, Republic’s did so in 1956 for the final time, abandoning its factory two years later and unofficially terminating Port Washington’s five-decade, multi-faceted, civil and military aviation chapter. Although the hand-me-down Plant 15 was sold to Thypin Steel, it was subsequently demolished. Long-range, higher-speed aircraft no longer needed its waters, and wars no longer needed its manufacturing plants.

6. Full Cycle:

In 1994, the abandoned Republic Aviation Corporation factory, weather-worn, surrounded by rubbish, and peeling at its seams, was demolished-and deposited into history. The bay-fronting seaplane hangars, reflecting the life cycle, were reduced to the flat ground from which they had originally risen-and seeds from which bay-fronting condominiums later sprouted, perhaps illustrating the fact that the earth is nothing more than a blank slate on which is written whatever man determines are his present-time needs.

On a recent, frigid February day, Manhasset Bay, reflecting the silver, cloud-streaked sky, was a virtual ice sheet, the swirls on its water frozen before having had the opportunity to dissipate into the indistinguishable whole-somehow symbolic of its very aviation heritage. A four-sided sign, located on Manhasset Walk and sporting the silhouette of a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat, synopsized Port Washington’s principle past industries, indicating that the 11-acre site across the water, at Tom’s Point, had once been the center of a booming aviation business with factories and had been the departure point of the first Pan American seaplane flight to Europe.

The snow-covered walk led to a brown granite-affixed plaque, installed on the southwest corner of the North Hempstead town dock in 1969 by the Port Washington Wings Club, and overlooking Manhasset Bay next to a tall pole atop which the American flag, bombarded by winter’s icy whip, determinedly waved. “To commemorate the achievement of the first commercial survey flights made across the North Atlantic jointly by Pan American Airways and Imperial Airways, forerunner of British Overseas Airways Corporation,” it read. “Piloted by Captain Harold E. Gray, the Pan American Sikorsky S-42B Clipper flying boat departed from Port Washington and arrived at Foynes, Ireland, July 9, 1937. Piloted by Captain Arthur S. Wilcockson, the Imperial Airways Short ‘G’ Class flying boat ‘Caledonia’ arrived at Port Washington on this date from Foynes. Thus was pioneered the beginning of a new era in communications between the peoples of the world.”

A blur of seagulls took flight from the snow-covered ground, creatures which man had initially attempted to emulate, while an MD-80 soared overhead, crossing the bay before banking left in order to begin its final approach to La Guardia Airport. But it did not alight here, for that airfield, originally named “North Beach,” had quickly replaced Port Washington’s waters. Other than the plaque itself, the birds and the modern jetliner constituted the only-and fleeting-flight-related movement. The pinnacle of its aviation activity, with nary a reminder, now seemed just as fleeting.

Cocooned in their white, protective, hibernation coats, the boats across the bay, once the gateway to the Atlantic and Europe, were again the only vessels to occupy it, as they had before Curtiss had first landed here in his “F” Boat, indicating that all things do, indeed, begin anew.

Article Sources:

Crouch, Tom D. “Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age.” New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2003.

Urala is a village near Galle in the south of Sri Lanka. Its existence might be fiction, but equally it might have been, or be reality. Everyday life there, just like anywhere, is a mixture of the expected and unexpected, change and tradition, ritual and experiment, received values and new directions. In fact, Urala is pretty much like anywhere in that folk live their lives, set up homes, get married, have children, perhaps, grow up and die, for sure. So what is special about Urala? Well, on the face of it, nothing. But this village does have the distinction of having its day-to-day life described in some detail by J. Vijayatunga in his book, Grass For My Feet.

This is not a novel. Neither is it a factual account, a social study of a community. And these cannot easily be called short stories. There are no obvious plots. Grass For My Feet is rather a collection of occasional or descriptive pieces, coming near in style to a regular newspaper column, of the “letter from” genre. Sometimes something typical is featured. Sometimes it’s an event, and sometimes the focus is merely inter and intra-family relations. But the reader should not expect drama, or even anything like a linear story to unfold. And perhaps these pieces are best approached one or two per sitting, rather than as a collection to be started and finished.

The tales cover many aspects of village life. There are burglaries, weddings, even a murder, funerals and births. There’s an argument or two. There are inheritances, ceremonies, religious festivals and visits to the doctor, traditional remedies alongside potions from the apothecary. We entertain Bikkhus and then do it again. We visit temples, prepare food for feast days and celebrations, and then we eat it. We describe foods, grow them, praise the family’s cattle, harvest fruits, winnow grain, plant trees, climb them and chop them. And we also walk through the forest, memorably.

This, then, is village life in the middle of the last century, writ as small as it was and as large as it felt. Sri Lanka is Ceylon in much of this text and there are still English colonials in administrative office. There is a reverence for things European (at least white and English) alongside an assumption that anything local is better. But there is also change in the air, despite its progress being almost imperceptible.

The style is unconventional in that Mr Vijayatunga’s paragraphs are often long and meandering, often without focus or point. But again life in Urala is probably like that, and these pieces are offered as impressionistic record of that life and the culture that underpins it. By the end we feel that we have been there, to this village in Sri Lanka, felt its warmth, wandered through its forest, tasted its food and been grateful for our invitation. But we are also conscious that this is a past remembered and, to an extent, an ideal reconstructed. The experience is rich enough to convince us that we can never, as literary tourists, understand the true significance of these recollections for the villagers, themselves. We are outsiders and remain so even at the end of the book. Between the covers of Grass for My Feet, however, we are invited in and allowed to share the life of a village in Ceylon. So, if this is tourism, it is of the richest, most enlightening kind.

Mount Kenya is Africa’s second highest mountain, after Kilimanjaro. It is estimated to be 2.5 million years old, and Kilimanjaro at 750,00 years of age is really an upstart. Time has really taken its toll, and the peak is thought to have dropped from 6,500 m those millions of years ago to 5,199 m today. The mountain is an extinct volcano, whose plug forms what is today the peak area. The crater was long ago, done to death, by nature’s untiring erosion agents.

Mount Kenya is an awe-inspiring spectacle that dominates the central Kenyan highlands. It is perhaps understandable that the Kikuyu people who reside on its lower slopes thought it fit for Gods’ abode. And it inspires people in strange ways. In 1943, Felice Benuzzi, an Italian prisoner of war held at Nanyuki at the base of the mountain, and two companions, escaped and attempted to scale the summit. With just a few handmade climbing tools, he managed reach Point Lenana, the mountain’s third highest peak.

But Benuzzi was at least an accomplished mountaineer. In 1988, the Mount Kenya Rescue Team discovered and retrieved an elder of the Meru people way up at the chilly heights of Peak Nelion (5,188 m). Only experts, with proper equipment and guides reach Nelion. He appeared unaware of the feat he had accomplished and was perturbed by the fuss his rescuers raised. He explained his mission was “going to God”. He was kitted in a manner you will not see recommended in any guide book- in a single blanket and open sandals. The animals do weird things too: a few years ago, the frozen bodies of a leopard and colobus monkey were discovered at Nelion.

Mount Kenya is located 180 km to the north of Nairobi. The mountain falls within Mount Kenya National Park. The park is made up of a protected area above 3,200m altitude, together with two small salients reaching to 2,450 m along the Naro Moru and Sirimon trails. It was set up in 1949 and covers an area of 715 sq km. It is further surrounded by the Mount Kenya National Reserve, which extends over 2,075 sq km. The park has the distinction of being simultaneously a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.

The mountain is made up of three main zones: the rocky peak region, the afro-alpine moorland with its scattering of giant vegetation, and the extensive lower slopes covered in mountain forest and bamboo. The astonishing ecological diversity is one of the attractions of this giant. The ecological processes that have brought about the afro-alpine flora in particular intrigue scientists. There are 81 species of plants here that are found nowhere else in the world.

In the lower forest zone, there is plenty of wildlife including buffalo, elephant, sykes monkey and bushbuck. The animals are however generally difficult to see. Further up, the animals are even scarcer though hyena, leopard, buffalo and civet cats have been sighted. The only animal you are likely to see in the upper

alpine zones is the rock hyrax. Though it is the size of a domestic cat, it resembles a rat more. The seemingly humble rock hyrax has some powerful relatives in the animal kingdom and it counts the elephant as its biological kin.

The mountain attracts over 30,000 enthusiasts every year. Point Lenana (4,985 m), the so-called trekkers peak, can be reached by any reasonably fit and suitably prepared person. The summit has the twin peaks of Batian (5,199 m) and Nelion (5,188 m), and is accessible to only those with technical mountaineering and rock climbing experience. This mountain is not an easy one to conquer and each year not more than 100 climbers make it to the twin summit peaks. Mount Kenya is in fact considered to be more technically challenging than the higher Kilimanjaro (5,894 m). But those who make it to the top experience some of Africa’s finest rock and ice climbing.

The mountain has very many fans and especially fascinates technical climbers. The author and mountaineer, Rick Ridgeway – author of the Seven Summits, declares that of all the worlds’ mountains this is his favourite. Halford Mackinder planned and led the first expedition on record to reach the summit in 1899. But if the Meru elder mentioned above is anything to go by, the locals must have long ago been to the mountaintop. The Mackinder trip was a great success and his party discovered many species of animal and plant life then unknown in Europe. A new species of eagle owl, for example, was first recorded by this expedition and subsequently named after Mackinder.

Though Mount Kenya is practically on the equator, you will find snow and ice and even glaciers. However, in the one hundred years since Mackinder conquered the mountain, the number of glaciers has dropped from 18 to only 7 that remain today. The culprit for this is the global climate change that has accelerated in recent years. Scientists tell us that during the ice ages large glaciers reached below 3,000 m. Today the largest glacier is the Lewis Glacier at 4,600 m. The continuing retreat of glaciers is expected to have a negative impact on downstream eco-systems, not to mention the scenic appeal of the mountain.

Mount Kenya is the source of Tana River- Kenya’s biggest river- and was for many years seen as an inexhaustible water fountain. Not any more- the loss of glaciers and forest cover has brought this assumption into disrepute. The loss of forest cover is particularly worrying, because it is avoidable. How to save the forests of Mount Kenya has long engaged environmentalist Wangari Maathai-the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was born on the lower slopes of the mountain and has in her lifetime witnessed the changes up at the mountain.

You can reach the peak area by taking one of three routes: Naro Moru, Sirimon and Chogoria. Good roads will get you form Nairobi to Naro Moru, Nanyuki and Chogoria – the base towns for each of the trails. There are alternative routes but most have fallen into disuse and you need superior navigation skills and stamina to attempt them. This includes: Burguret, Meru, Kamweti, and Timau. It is highly recommended that you stick to the three popular routes. But if you have a good reason for doing otherwise, or indeed for pioneering your own route, you are required to register with the park authorities.

The Naro Moru route approaches the mountain from the west and is easily the most popular. The trail is well serviced with rest huts and is the fastest way to the peaks. It is however the steepest and climbers vulnerable to AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) may experience difficulties. The hike will take 4 days, though you may opt for an additional day at the summit. You start with a fairly steep 5-hour walk from Park Gate to Met Station (3,050 m). This is where you spend the first night and acclimatize to the thinning mountain air.

The next day is the longest and you will walk, under varying terrain, for anywhere between 8 and 10 hours. You spend the night at Mackinders Camp (4,200 m), in the vicinity of the peak area. You really should have an early night on this day. Very early the next morning -2.00 a.m is the usual time- you set out to attempt Point Lenana. The mountain is generally clear in the morning and stormy in the afternoon- so, the idea is for you to ascend and descend the peak when you have good traction. This is the part of the hike where some experience symptoms of altitude related ailments.

It will take you about 5 hours to reach Lenana. Here you must take some photos, to show the folks back home how you fared at the top of God’s Mountain. Afterwards, you descend in 3 hours to Mackinders Camp for breakfast. Then ascending back to Teleki Valley via Camel Rocks, you reach Met Station in about 4 hours. The night rest is at Met Station, before the final descent to Park Gate.

The Sirimon route has its base at Nanyuki to the north of the mountain. The route offers easier climbing than the Naro Moru trail and is also more scenic. It normally takes 5 days up and down the mountain. You start with a 3-4 hours walk through rain forest to overnight at Old Moses camp (3,300 m). Next day after breakfast you hike through the moorland and the Liki and Mackinder valleys. You reach Shipton’s camp (4,200 m) after a 6-7 hour hike. You spend the night here before setting out very early the next morning to attempt Point Lenana.

The Chogoria route begins at the town of the same name to the west of the mountain. This is the by far most beautiful and scenic of the popular routes. You will enjoy dramatic views of waterfalls, valleys, tarns and rugged rock formations. But the trail is not so popular because it is also the longest and therefore toughest. It will take you 6 days to ascend and descend the mountain. There are no usable service huts along the route and you must carry a tent along. Whichever route you use, you can prolong your enjoyment of these heights by taking a day to do the Summit Circuit Path.

It is important that you take enough water – about 4 to 6 litres daily- to keep dehydration at bay. Dehydration makes you more vulnerable to altitude sickness and hypothermia. Hypothermia is lowering of body temperature and symptoms include clumsiness and disorientation. Victims of the condition need to be quickly provided with a warm and dry environment. At heights above 3,000 m, oxygen levels reduce and altitude sickness stalks the trekker. That is why a fast climb is not advised, as you have no opportunity to acclimatize. The symptoms for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) are nausea, headache, fatigue and general malaise. You should always descend to lower altitude with the onset of symptoms.

Other more severe medical conditions that can arise are High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). The coming of HAPE is betrayed by a dry cough and difficulty in breathing. HACE is marked by slurred speech, severe headache and disoriented behaviour. HACE and HAPE are both potentially fatal and you should always descend to lower altitude and seek treatment. To reduce chances of mountain sickness, it is advisable to acclimatize by spending an extra night near Park Gate or at the mountain huts above 4,000 m. If you temper your zeal for the peaks and take a slow sensible hike you will enjoy the adventure and will be all right.

You will generally need a guide and porters so that you can concentrate on the hike. Always go for those who have high altitude experience and are accredited by the park authorities. They will know the routes, and a good one is worth his weight in gold, in event of sickness and other contingencies. The porters shoulder the heavy stuff while you carry a daypack with essentials such warm clothing, fire making capability, some food and drinks, a flashlight and first aid kit.

The stuff you must bring along includes: warm clothing, waterproof hiking boots, rain suit, sleeping bags, flashlights, sunglasses and hand gloves. Many climbers find it expedient to buy a Mount Kenya climbing package in order to take advantage of those with local knowledge. Such a package will include transport, accommodation in the mountain huts, meals while on the climb, park entry fees, services of an experienced mountain guide and porters and cooks.

The main rainy season in the Mount Kenya region falls from late March to June, with secondary rains appearing from late October to December. You can climb the mountain at any time of year but the most comfortable climb is achieved in the dry months of January and February and from July to October.

After your climb, you can relax at some of the excellent hotels and resorts in the Mount Kenya area. Before you leave the country, take to heart the sentiments of the Italian climber Carlo Spinelli, who said: “I consider myself a nature lover more than a mountaineer, and for this reason Kenya has the best of both mountain and wilderness”. Take time to see wildlife on a Kenya safari in this region or in other parts of the country.

When you take delivery of a Siromer Tractor, you will find a not-quite-flat pack consisting of 1,200kg of metal, fibreglass, rubber and hundreds of nuts and bolts. In addition to this, you will also find various strange looking black lumps. If you look closely enough, you will also see what looks like an engine plus a steering wheel, lurking in there somewhere.

The question is, how on earth can this seemingly mountainous array of parts ever do the nitty-gritty jobs on the farm. Will it ever spread muck or climb up that steep hill whilst I attend to my sheep?

When my old John Deere was failing, I just didn’t have the money to buy a new one. I’d looked at a couple of clanky old Masseys and spoke to a few people at the Great Yorkshire show and this is when I was first told about the Siromer Tractor.

At first I scoffed. I mean, a tractor you build yourself?

Well the prices seemed almost too good to be true. In fact I was quoted about a third of the price of a similar tractor from Europe or America. So, my arm twisted by my wife who was somewhat concerned that I was going to succumb to a terrible misfortune on my old Deere, I somewhat skeptically made an order and, before me now, was the Siromer Tractor…or at least the pile of components were!

I looked at the pile and laid them out on the grass. I took out the battery box, roll bars, mudguard, weight bars, wheels, electrics, fuel tank, hosepipes, air filter and what seemed like a whole myriad of other “bits”. Actually, it was easier than I thought to identify the parts and pretty soon I had a fairly organized array on my lawn.

I sat down with a cup of tea next and read the instruction manuals. Now if you thought a flatpack from Ikea was bad-you’ve seen nothing! With this, I got a parts list which was 105 pages long, a 25 page maintenance manual and a 70 page instruction manual-They were obviously taking no chances here!It was very much like having a giant Meccano set.

First of all, I fastened the wheels onto the chassis. Job done!

Over the next 2 and a half days, I worked methodically through the manual and bit by bit, the tractor came together. Apparently, a mechanic can put a Siromer tractor together in around a day. The record is supposedly 2 hours. For others, the process might take longer but Siromer are proud to proclaim that they have not yet had anyone who could not put one together.

My final job was to, rather proudly fasten on the pristine looking seat. I then rather nervously filled it up with diesel and water. I don’t know what I was expecting when I turned it on, but I wasn’t expecting to be chugging round my farm within minutes-amazing!

The Siromer tractors have proved extremely popular and there are thousands in everyday use in the UK. As well as farmers and smallholders, there are some rather unusual uses. A window cleaner in Liverpool does his round on one. Glider clubs have them,as do helicopter companies and schools. There’s even a farm college who has bought them for the sole purpose of giving students practice building them.

I was in a mad dash for my car.

Thunder roared through the sky, rain and wind whipped around me, and I desperately wanted to be inside my tiny red Toyota so that I didn’t have to keep squishing around in my rain-soaked shoes.

But suddenly, a bright green mermaid logo peered out of the mist on the other side of the parking lot. And I found myself strutting past my car toward the Starbucks beacon.

When coffee’s siren song calls to a caffeine addict like myself, well… not even a monsoon will stop me.

And as an investor, it might make you consider coffee’s supply-demand story if you weren’t already.

That’s a smart move right now.

Yes, coffee has a jittery history: It’s one of the most volatile commodities to trade on the U.S. and global futures markets. Every year, sentiment and price are shaped by the weather conditions in key growing regions. When the forecast is just right, and there are no fungal plagues ravaging crops, prices are lower.

But then a critical area of coffee growth is hit by, say, a devastating drought, like Brazil – the world’s biggest producer, accounting for more than one-third of all coffee supply – in 1986. And coffee’s price rockets. (There are additional volatility drivers, by the way, such as persistent currency fluctuations.)

In the end, this type of unpredictable, jerky movement scares investors.

But the fact is, global coffee demand is expected to double by 2050.

Meanwhile, we’re on the back of a three-year supply shortage, since critical growing regions like Brazil continue to experience severe and erratic dryness.

To top it off, the genetic diversity of the Arabica coffee bean – the highest quality bean and the main one consumed – is extremely low. That means the plant can’t adapt to changes in the environment quickly enough, underscoring the crop’s fragile grasp on survival.

Unsurprisingly, inventories are struggling. The International Coffee Organization expects coffee production to reach a record 153.9 million bags globally for the now-ending 2016 to 2017 season. But demand is forecast at 155.1 million bags. That’s a difference of 1.2 million bags.

Yes, much of this knowledge has been priced into coffee. But it’s clear that the crop is facing an “existential crisis” as Ric Rhinehart, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association said.

And that’s the long-term supply-demand story.

I know you’re probably thinking: “That’s all well and good, Jess. But what does this mean for investors in the short term?”

The price of coffee is heating up. The consensus estimate is a climb of another 5% for Arabica coffee prices over the next year. But that’s being conservative.

As one expert says: “The short-term volatility should give us a double-digit move. This isn’t a slam-dunk, huge gain, but the sentiment extreme and the traders’ forecasts line up for a solid gain.”

And there are two ways to invest in it: the iPath Bloomberg Coffee ETN (NYSE: JO) and the iPath Pure Beta Coffee ETN (NYSE: CAFE), launched in 2008 and 2011, respectively. If you pick up one of these, cash out after a 10% or 20% gain.

With all that said, I think it’s time for me to go hunt down my next cup of coffee. (Hopefully not in the rain.)

Narc that Car MLM Opportunity

No! This is not the latest Disney movie though it sounds like one. Narc That Car is one the most recent MLM opportunities to hit the market and it’s already found quite a few takers. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already been contacted by friends or relatives who swear by the fact that you just need to “narc” a few cars each month to make money. So what’s this narcing all about? Is this MLM opportunity a scam or legit? What’s the income potential and what are the hitches? Let’s find out in this review.

About Narc That Car

2009 saw the launch of Narc That Car at Dallas by William Forrester, an integrative technology expert. This business is all about using network marketing to create a database of license plates that can be used for various purposes. The most important purpose is to help lien holders identify the location of vehicles that have been placed under lien.

How Is This Database Created?

The database is created by distributors of the network marketing company. So when you become a distributor (or detective?); you’ll have to key in license plate details of at least ten cars a month. These details are mapped so that people who want to locate these cars just have to buy this information from Narc.

The Network Marketing Home Business

A consultant’s job doesn’t end with just keying in license plate details. They also have to recruit a minimum of three people into the business and get them to narc cars. The cost to join the venture is $75; but this is reimbursed almost instantly when you key in car numbers. Other than this, you’d have to pay a monthly fee of $24.95 for your business website. This website will track your MLM downline and keep a record of your transactions.

Compensation

The commission for narcing cars ranges between $0.25 and $2.36 depending on your level with a mandatory requirement to narc at least ten cars a month. Income for recruiting reps range between $25 and $75. You can also bring in clients to buy the marked car details; earn 5 to 10% of the sale price for this.

Plus Factors To This Business

– This is a pretty simple business to deal in; no hassles of inventory, product campaigns or quality control. The company even allows duplicate entries. – This is an innovative business concept that’s sure to find many takers. There aren’t any competitors; so you don’t have to worry about that. – Since this is a very new MLM business with limited representatives, now’s the time to join to make money and climb high in the hierarchy.

My View On Narc That Car

Personally, I feel a Park That Car MLM would have been much more profitable given the parking problems we face now; however, this business seems to be legitimate and an easy way to make money. If you want to get back your one time and monthly investment, it’s not enough if you simply narc cars; you’ll have to proactively build your MLM downline. You get paid much more for recruiting people than to key in car details.

Narc That Income

We’ve established the fact that improving on one’s MLM downline is the best way to make income in this business. To achieve this, it’s just not enough if you get your friends or relatives into the business; it’s better to target people who’ll be more interested in this kind of opportunity and who’ll work better at extending your downline. One of the best ways to do this is to set up an online MLM lead generation system that’ll help spread the word about your business and get interested people to contact you. The internet’s an affordable and efficient tool to get MLM leads to boost your business.

In the distant arid desert grows a wholesome fruit on date palms that nourishes everyone from the toughest athletes to the most delicate infants. Whether you fancy Sukkari, Saggae, Ajwa or Medjool, the variety of dates is as vast and diversified as the ocean. With over 500 kinds of dates, Sukkari is our most prized possession when we seek moist, sweet and caramel-like flavour, whereas Ajwa is the go to for its medicinal healing. Saggae dates are a recent addition for those who prefer a less sweet date than the Sukkari date, and for those who love a fibrous, dense yet moist date.

The origin of dates is unknown due to ancient cultivation but they are believed to have been cultivated in the Middle East region from around 6000 B.C. Fossil records show that the date palm has existed for at least 50 million years.

Since their discovery, dates have widely spread in many regions and were spread by Arabs to Spain, Italy, South West Asia and North Africa. Then they were further spread by Spaniards to Mexico and California.

The Date Palm

The date palm has separate male and female plants. Only fifty percent of seedlings will be female that are grown from seed but because they grow from seed their seedling plants are often of lower quality. Most industrial plantations use cuttings of heavily cropping cultivars. Medjool is the main cultivar that produces particularly high yields of large, sweet fruit. Plants grown from cuttings will fruit 2 to 3 years earlier than seedling plants.

The date palm productive life is limited to the years when the tree is smaller and the fruit is easier to harvest. Although the date palm is capable of living up to 100 years or more and can reach height between 15-30 metres. Their crown of green leaves grow between 3 to 6 metres in length.

The Date Pollination Method

In a natural setting, dates are pollinated by wind. However, in the commercial orchards they are pollinated manually. Natural pollination occurs with about an equal number of male and female plants. On the other hand, one male can pollinate up to 100 females. The male date palm is valued as a pollinator, this allows the farmers to use their resources for many more fruit producing female plants. Some farmers do not even maintain any male plants as male flowers become available at local markets at pollination time. Manual pollination is carried out by skilled labourers using ladders, or in some areas such as Iraq or Saudi Arabia they climb the tree using a special climbing tool that wraps around the tree trunk and the farmers back to keep him attached to the trunk while climbing. Less often, the pollen may be blown onto the female flowers by a wind machine.

The Date Seed & How Dates Grow

Dates contain a single seed about 2-2.5 cm long and 6-8 mm thick. The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose content. The seed of Sukkari is much larger than the seed of Saggae or Ajwa.

Dates grow in large clusters that develop beneath the leaves and can weigh as much as 40 pounds. Large trees will yield more than a 1,000 dates each year, although they do not all ripen at the same time so several harvests are required. In order to get fruit of marketable quality, the bunches of dates must be thinned and bagged or covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits grow larger and are protected from weather and pests such as birds.

The Stages of Date Ripening

Dates, as well as having different colours, tastes and textures throughout their ripening stages, they also have different names in Arabic for each stage.

Stages Weeks English Arabic Description

First Stage 1 week – Hababook – The dates are small round and light green with horizontal stripes.

Second Stage 5-17 weeks – Green Date Kimri – The dates become oval, greener and are bitter.

Third Stage 19-25 weeks – Red/Yellow Date Khalal – The next stage is the early ripening stage where the dates are yellow or red, have grown to their full size and taste crunchy but dry with a slight sweet taste.

This is where you would get a barhi date with a crunchy outer shell.

Fourth Stage 20-28 weeks – Wet Date Rutub – This stage the date is ripe, soft and moist. At this stage you are enjoying the delightful sukkari dates.

Final Stage 29 weeks – Dried Date Tamar – Final stage of ripening. At this stage you will find the saggae, ajwa and medjool date.

The last three stages of ripening are when the dates are picked, fumigated, cleaned, separated, packaged and then sold to the consumer. Barhi dates are the yellow clusters that are often found in grocery stores which are crispy and a bit astringent because they are in the Khalal stage. Once the crispy yellow flesh begins to soften, it sweetens and becomes a Rutub like our famous Sukkari Dates. Rutub require refrigeration to prolong this stage, before they transform to their final stage of a dried date. Saggae, although it is a dried date, is very soft and moist in comparison to other dried dates.