Vanderbilt Cup Races

Cradle of Aviation curator Josh Stoff has challenged you to identify this busy day at Curtiss flying field.

Identify;

• The flying field

Curtiss Flying Field.

The Hempstead Plains Aerodrome originally encompassed 900–1,000 acres east of and abutting Clinton Road, south of and adjacent to Old Country Road, and west of Merrick Avenue with a large bluff down the center making two large fields side-by-side.. In April, 1917 as the U.S. entered WW1 the entire field (both sides of the bluff) were taken over and renamed 'Hazelhurst Field'. On September 24, 1918, the Army dedicated the eastern portion of Hazelhurst Field No. 1 as Roosevelt Field in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt's son, Quentin, who was killed in air combat during World War I. 

In 1920, once in civilian hands after the war, the owners sold portions along the southern edge of the field and split the remainder of the property into two separate areas. Curtiss Field, a 300-acre airport on the original site of Hazelhurst Field, occupied half of the western portion along Clinton Road. Roosevelt Field occupied the remainder, consisting of seven hangars and a large parking ramp adjacent to Curtiss Field, and an east–west packed clay runway 5,000 feet in length on the bluff.

Both fields were bought in 1929 by Roosevelt Field, Inc. The western field, called "Unit 2", and the runway atop the bluff, called "Unit 1", were connected by a broad earthen taxi ramp and the consolidated property was named Roosevelt Field. Unit 1 was sold in 1936 and became the Roosevelt Raceway, while Unit 2 continued to operate as an aviation center under the name Roosevelt Field. At its peak in the 1930s, it was America's busiest civilian airfield.

• The event

The American Legion Air Circus, a major aviation event drawing 12,000 spectators to Roosevelt Field and Curtiss Field for races, formation flying, parachute jumps, and skywriting, featuring Army pursuit planes all to raise funds for local veterans. Key moments included Otto Miller catching a baseball dropped from a plane and demonstrations by the Army's First Pursuit Group. 

• Date

September 26, 1926

• The large airplane to the right

Remington Burnelli RB-2

• Kudos: Identify as many automobiles as possible

Certainly many model T's as this was a year before the introduction of the Model A, with the rest of the cars still open for guesses.

Comments (5)

Congrats to Joseph Oesterle, Steve Lucas, James King, and Frank Femenias for identifying Curtiss (Later Roosevelt) Field.

Greg O.