Editing Floyd Bennett Field (section)

====Need for an airport====
Floyd Bennett Field was New York City's first municipal airport, built largely in response to the growth of commercial aviation after [[World War I]].{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=1}}<ref name="Davies 1964"/> During the 1920s, air travel in Europe was more popular than in the United States because, although Europe had a surplus of airplanes, the United States already had a national railroad system, which reduced the need for commercial aircraft.{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|pp=1–2}}<ref name="Davies 1964"/>{{sfn|Porcelli|2015|p=7}} While other localities (such as [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], and [[Cleveland, Ohio]]) had municipal airports, New York City had a multitude of private airfields, and thus did not see the need for a municipal airport until the late 1920s.{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=3}}<ref name="Davies 1964">{{cite book|last=Davies |first=R.E.G.|title=A history of the world's airlines|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1964|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52qmAAAAIAAJ|pages=39–55}}</ref>

The [[New York City Board of Estimate]] submitted a recommendation for a New York City municipal airport in 1925, but it was denied. Two years later, the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]] announced a similar recommendation, which was largely ignored.{{sfn|Kaufman|1950|pp=149–150}} By this time, the city urgently needed an airport. This was underscored by the construction of the [[Newark Liberty International Airport|Newark Metropolitan Airport]] in 1928, as well as several transatlantic flights from the New York area that were piloted by such figures as [[Charles Lindbergh]], [[Clarence D. Chamberlin]], and [[Charles A. Levine]].{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=5}}{{sfn|Porcelli|2015|p=7}} Most of the nation's air traffic around this time was from [[airmail]] operations, and the [[United States Postal Service]] designated Newark Airport as the airmail terminal for the New York City area, since Newark was the region's best-equipped airport for airmail traffic.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=49}}{{sfn|Porcelli|2015|p=7}} New York City officials decided that an airport in the city itself was necessary, because placing the airmail terminal in Newark represented a missed opportunity to put New York City on the aviation map.{{sfn|Porcelli|2015|p=7}}

In mid-1927, [[Herbert Hoover]], the [[United States Secretary of Commerce]], approved the creation of a "Fact-Finding Committee on Suitable Airport Facilities for the New York Metropolitan District".{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=4}} The Hoover committee, composed of representatives from New York and New Jersey,{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=12}} identified six general locations in the metropolitan area where an airport could be built.<ref>{{cite news |title=Long Island Sites for Airports Recommended |page=5 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |via=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]; [[newspapers.com]] |date=December 31, 1927 |url=http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/83362954/ |access-date=December 20, 2017 |archive-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228171737/http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/83362954/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The committee recommended [[Middle Village, Queens|Middle Village]], in Central [[Queens]], as the first location for an airfield. Its second choice was an existing airstrip on [[Barren Island, Brooklyn|Barren Island]] in southeastern [[Brooklyn]].<ref name="DailyStar-Airport-Disfavored-1928">{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252015%2FBrooklyn%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Star%2FBrooklyn%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Star%25201927%2FBrooklyn%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Star%25201927%2520-%25204891.pdf |title=Barren Island Airport Disfavored – Aviation Lines Cite Fog Conditions |work=Brooklyn Daily Star |page=6 |date=February 9, 1928 |access-date=December 15, 2017 |via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> Another site in the eastern part of the bay, near the present-day [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|JFK Airport]], was also recommended.{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=17}} At the time, the report listed three "Federal or State Fields", three "Commercial Fields", and seventeen "Intermediate Fields" in the New York metropolitan area.{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=12}} Chamberlin was appointed as the city's aeronautical engineer to make the final decision on the airport's location.{{sfn|Porcelli|2015|p=7}}

There was much debate over where the airport should be located. U.S. Representative and future New York City mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]], himself a former military airman,{{efn|La Guardia had been commissioned into the [[United States Army Air Service]], rising to the rank of major in command of a unit of [[Caproni Ca.44|Ca.44]] bombers on the [[Italian Campaign (World War I)|Italian-Austrian front]] in [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Profiles in World War I Immigration History: Fiorello La Guardia | website=USCIS | date=April 6, 1917 | url=https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/profiles-world-war-i-immigration-history-fiorello-la-guardia | access-date=November 5, 2018 | archive-date=November 6, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106004935/https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/profiles-world-war-i-immigration-history-fiorello-la-guardia | url-status=live }}</ref>}} advocated for a commercial airport to be placed in [[Governors Island]], as it was closer to [[Manhattan]] and located in the middle of [[New York Harbor]]. He left open the possibility that the outer boroughs could also build their own local airports.<ref>{{cite web |last=LaGuardia |first=Fiorello |title=A Governors Island Airport Again is Urged – Representative LaGuardia Calls This Harbor Site Just Off the Battery the Logical Place for the Commercial Flying Station That New York Seeks |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |date=August 7, 1927 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/08/07/95016757.pdf | access-date=December 20, 2017}}</ref> La Guardia, along with Representative [[William W. Cohen]], introduced a motion in the [[70th United States Congress]] to establish the airport on Governors Island, but it was voted down.<ref>{{cite web |title=Acts on Governors Island – House Defeats LaGuardia – Cohen Motion Looking to Airport There |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |date=December 9, 1927 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/12/09/96683364.pdf | access-date=December 20, 2017}}</ref>