Bridging the Ocean

Bridging the Ocean. . , Shortly after the first seaplane touched down on local waters in 1913, a fledgling industry was born, located just 15 miles from New York City. By the 1920s, Port Washington had become an early center of commercial and military aviation. Such legendary aviators as Charles Lindbergh, Glenn Curtiss, Amelia Earhart, Floyd Bennett, and Jimmy Doolittle tested prototypes and made flights from Manhasset Bay. Aeronautical companies including Grumman, the American Aeronautical Corp. and Pan American Airways built hangars, runways, and terminals on Manhasset Isle and Manorhaven. A group of aviation enthusiasts including J.P. Morgan, Rodman Wanamaker, Daniel and Harry Guggenheim who owned large estates in the area, saw the potential of commercial aviation and helped to finance the industry in the ’20s and ’30s., Pan American Airways had a special connection to Port Washington. In 1933, it based its operations on Manhasset Isle. The Clipper fleet, giant flying boats the size of Boeing 707s, flew from the bay to the Caribbean and Europe. The Yankee Clipper made the first European landfall on July 3, 1937 and the Dixie Clipper, the first commercial flight to France in 1939. Local departures lasted until 1940, when Pan Am moved its operations to La Guardia Airport, ending an era. After the war, manufacturing in Port Washington continued until 1958 when Republic Aviation closed its Port Washington plant., About the Artist, Aaron Morgan, a native New Yorker, was born 1943. He studied art at the High School of Art and Design and graduated from The Cooper Union. Morgan has worked all his life as a graphic designer and a fine artist. He has exhibited in numerous one-person and group shows and has been honored with many awards. In 2011, his work was selected by the U.S. State Department to represent American art overseas., For the “Bay Walk” public art project, Aaron created sketches memorializing the first transatlantic flight from Port Washington. He researched the history of the flight at the Port Washington Public Library and Nassau County’s Cradle of Aviation Museum. Months were spent refining his concepts and experimenting with glazes before making them into ceramic tiles. This art work (left) is the result. , (Captions), Images: Port Washington Public Library Local History Center , Flight of Memory, Long Island's Aeronautical Past, by Elly Shodell, PWPL 1992