Vanderbilt Cup Races

Identify the airfield and its location.
Aviation Country Club, Hicksville, along the motor parkway

What was the approximate year of the photo?
1937

What is the building in the background?
Beyond the hangars (one still exists) is the clubhouse.

Identify the airplane
Fairchild 24H

Long Island Aviation Club perhaps in the early 1930s along the LIMP in Levittown (or Hicksville back then)...the building in the background is the clubhouse and I have no idea whose plane that was or its make but i’ll bet it belonged to somebody important. I believe the hangar roof was recycled and moved to cover a warehouse along the central ave LIRR tracks in Bethpage.

1.  Country Club Airport, Hicksville
2.  1937 or later
3.  Club House and pool
4.  Fairchild 24H, first built in 1937

Thanks for the great website.  When I was a kid we lived on Edna Avenue - I remember hearing the AC engines being run up at Grumman before take-off and also the pilots waving at me as they made their final over our back yard.

1937 photo of a Fairchild 24h in front of a hangar at the Aviation Country Club in Hicksville.

Mitchell Field about 1937. building is now Nassau C.C. Stearman. And the hangers might now be Aviation Museum.

Mitchell Field in Garden City,

Too easy!  Long Island (a.k.a. Hicksville) Aviation Country Club, Hicksville, NY, at 40.74N/73.53 W.  It wasn’t just near the LIMP, it was directly adjacent to it and Blyman’s farm, between Woodbury Road & the L. I. Rail Road.  1937.  The 60’ x 200’ hangar, dissasembled and re-erected in downtown Bethpage, still standing between the LIRR and the intersection of Schneider Lane and Revere Avenue, opposite the southern end of Lexington Avenue.  Fairchild 24H.  ‘Nuf?  Sam, III

This photo is a 1937 image of the hangars at L. I. Aviation Country Club located right off the Motor Parkway in what was then Hicksville. Now the area is part of Levittown. The plane in the foreground is a Fairchild 24H. The plane inside the hangar appears to be a Stinson Gullwing. I think the building in the background could be Meadowbrook Hospital.

Howard;
      Thank You for today, for an enjoyable, educational,, interesting afternoon.
To answer the questions, starting with the last. The airplane is a Fairchild UC-61 Forwarder with a Ranger inverted inline 6. If You want to see that same model airplane, come to the Bayport aerodrome.  That airplane was also available with Warner Radial engines.
      I do not know what the building in the background is.
      I would guess 38 or 39. Location, Roosevelt Aviation school at Roosevelt Field.
    Stay Well.  Paul Emmert

Long Island Aviation Country Club, Hicksville
1937
Clubhouse
Fairchild 24H

It looks like the Long Island Aviation Country Club and clubhouse (1929-1948) in now Levittown, with the two taxiways accessing the dual hangar, once located besides and north of the LIMP and right across the Levittown Grand Stand site, just west of the Jerusalem Avenue Motor Parkway highway bridge. If so, Motor Parkway in the photo would be running east-west right behind that hangar through the glass windows. That single prop could give a closer estimate in year. Guessing 1930s
http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/the_long_island_aviation_county_club_and_the_motor_parkway/

Mitchell Field, approx. 1938. Looks to be NCC current Union Hall.

From Gary Hammond:

Airfield - Long Island Aviation Country Club - opened June 29, 1929, closed May 1948
Year - 1937, part of a large series of photographs taken by Alfred Eisenstadt for Life Magazine

Building in the background - Clubhouse of the LIACC

Aircraft - Fairchild 24-H Deluxe, registration NC16871, c/n 3200, built by Fairchild Airplane Manufacturing Corp. at Hagerstown, Md., in 1937.  One of 25 aircraft built, powered by a 150 hp in-line Fairchild Ranger 6-390 engine (built in Farmingdale).  The Deluxe model included plush upholstery, roll-down windows, wing flaps, and extra instrumentation, however the added weight of the extras resulted in it being a three-place aircraft (seats only 3).
One of the Life photos taken inside the building shows a blackboard with the listing of all the aircraft and owners at the field - NC16871 is listed, however the owner’s name is blocked out by someone standing in front of the listing - only “...er, Jr” can be made out.

The above photos are part of the Life photos series.  Shows clubhouse, hangers, aerials w/LIMP, the actual Life photo, 2 closeups of mechanics with a/c showing Ranger engine & LIACC logo on back of coveralls.

Gary Hammond

I would never even guessed it was on Long Island,had no idea,until I saw these pictures

Great pics and vid! Thank you gentlemen.

From Joel Friedman:

Airfield: Aviation Country Club Location: Hicksville, now Levittown
Date: probably 1938 or 1939
Aircraft: Fairchild model 24H with 150 hp. Ranger Engine introduced 1937 Bldg. in Background: Club House

We have 75 photos of the Aviation Country Club but not this one.  We would welcome a high res. digital copy for the collection.  I have attached an aerial view, and a later picture of the same aircraft.