By Cyril and Kyle Bradford Smith

This year, Garden City celebrates the 90th anniversary of two important aviation milestones in which the Village was directly involved.

Both concerned that early aviation dream of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. This achievement was first accomplished in May, 1919 by the famed NC 4, a seaplane made by Curtiss Aircraft in Garden City.

Less than two months later, the second event came with the landing of the huge British dirigible, the R 34, at Garden City's Roosevelt Field. Whereas NC 4 went from New York to Europe, R 34 had made the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic.

This article will cover the NC 4 saga and will be followed by one on R 34. It is a supplement to the military history and heritage exhibit, which has been granted an extended showing at the Garden City Public Library until August 31.

During WWI, the U.S. Navy had the aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss build four very large seaplanes to help patrol the East Coast shipping lanes. The German U Boat menace was seriously jeopardizing Allied shipping. The cruiser USS San Diego had been sunk directly off Fire Island.

Curtiss, considered the father of naval aviation, designed and built these large flying boats in his Garden City plant, which opened in 1918 and still exists at Stewart Avenue and Clinton Road. The building now houses BOCES offices and FedEx.

The name Curtiss Engineering can be seen on the front portal and the smokestack. Glenn Curtiss and his family were also living in Garden City. They first rented the Hubbell house at the northwest corner of Cathedral and Second Street, and then they bought the large Tarbell mansion at Stewart and Nassau, which is now a church. Curtiss commuted to work along Stewart Avenue on a bicycle.

These flying boats, (nicknamed "the Nancys") were the largest of their kind. Once finished, the seaplanes were engine/airframe ground tested in the current Stewart School fields. The roar of the huge Liberty engines reverberated throughout town and drew many residents to watch.

The flight crews stayed at the Garden City Hotel, coming to the plant to note the progress. By the time the aircraft were finished, the War had ended. However, the Navy decided to see if they could be the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic.

Too large to move by rail in one piece, the flying boats were disassembled and shipped by LIRR, from the line the circus train now uses, to Rockaway Naval Air Station. There they were flight tested and entertained visitors. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of the Navy, had his first airplane flight in NC 2. In an ignorance-is-bliss scenario, FDR's flight was very bumpy, given on-shore wind gusts and an open cockpit, but he loved the flight, thinking that all airplanes jounced around.

Training and preparation complete, on May 8th 1919 three NC aircraft took off on their quest (the fourth aircraft had been cannibalized for parts). Of the three remaining, NC 4 had experienced more teething problems and was considered the least likely to complete the journey. Their route was to take them first to Cape Cod and Newfoundland, then to the Azores (the hardest leg consisting of 15 hours over the ocean) and onto Portugal.

Lady luck is fickle. Before radar and other instruments now common to aircraft, ocean flying and fog was the bane of airplanes and their crews. The Navy had positioned eight destroyers across the ocean to serve as beacons, emitting smoke and flares. However, the fog was dense and NC 1 went astray, realized they were lost and put down on the ocean. Fortuitously, a freighter spotted them, evacuated the crew, but NC 1 sank in 20-foot waves. NC 3 encountered serious engine problems and also ocean landed. They motor-sailed the seaplane some 250 miles into the Azores but were out of action.

Triumphantly, NC 4 arrived in Portugal on May 27, 1919. The crew joyously wired the Navy Department that they were "first across the pond." Enormous international acclaim followed. The party at the Garden City Hotel by the Curtiss plant personnel was legendary.

Days later, NC 4 flew onto England for more commendation. While an extraordinary achievement, NC 4's flight has become somewhat lost in history as other non-stop flights soon followed.

An interesting episode of "The History Detectives" (PBS, season 6, episode 8) has the NC 4 saga. This episode also covers the NC 4 post-flight, when it was shipped back to Garden City, refitted and used on a U.S. Navy aviation recruiting tour. The NC 4 is now in the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

After the war, Curtiss Engineering went into receivership but survived, becoming Curtiss-Wright Aircraft in 1929. Glenn Curtiss relocated his main production back to Buffalo and Hammondsport, NY and moved from Garden City.

The National Parks Service will be giving a lecture/slide show on the NC flight at Riis Park in Rockaway, Queens on July 19 and August 16 at noon. Call (718) 318-4300 for more information.

At the first lecture given on May 8th, which marked the actual 90th anniversary, Rome Polanski from Connecticut, a descendant of one of the NC 4 crew, related many anecdotal stories of the flight. These included how the crew, in Navy tradition, shaved while in flight with straight razors in open cockpits and during a very bumpy ride.

A leading expert on NC 4, Lt John Bayer of the U.S. Navy, who visited Garden City over Memorial Day weekend to see the Curtiss Plant and the Cradle of Aviation Museum, also spoke. He mentioned that Charles Lindbergh complimented the crew of NC 4 upon his own transatlantic flight, stating that he had a more advanced plane and engine (Spirit of St Louis), and while NC 4 had to find a speck in the open Atlantic Ocean (the Azores), he only had to find a continent.

The military history exhibit at the library has a number of photos of the NC planes, their journey and a picture of the Curtiss plant in its heyday. A collection of photos and film clips of NC 4 can also be found at the Cradle of Aviation Museum.