Vanderbilt Cup Races

Most Motor Parkway fans know our favorite parkway surrounded one of the world's most famous airports -Roosevelt Field. But, many LIMPers do not know that the Motor Parkway also bordered on another airfield- the Long Island Aviation Country Club. (Remember to click on the photo to enlarge the image).

The club was formed in June 1929 by a group of mostly affluent flyers based on Long Island. Instead of a country club with a golf course, the club had a field for airplanes. As shown in this map, the club was located just west of Jerusalem Avenue with the parkway being the southern border. The address was then Hicksville and later became Levittown, when William Levitt bought the property in the late 1940s.

This early 1930s aerial looking east shows the Long Island Aviation Country Club (left in the middle) and its relationship to the Motor Parkway. The Jerusalem Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge can be seen just east of the club.

A closer look of this aerial reveals the club's hangar, clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis court which were located in the same place as the Vanderbilt Cup Race press box and officials' stand (1908-1910). Even more fascinating, looking across the Motor Parkway, you can see the outline of a long-abandoned road that was used to reach the grandstand. The remnants of the race "pits" are visible as the long rectangular black box slightly to the west.

Click on this photo and you will see the most spectacular photo of the club and a sampling of its private planes.

Here was a gathering of flying enthusiasts at the Long Island Aviation Club for an annual air show. Among the members was William K. Vanderbilt Jr. In the 1930s, the club requested permission to open an entrance to the adjacent parkway. To their surprise and dismay, Vanderbilt refused, not wanting to set a precedent. One of the concrete posts that held twisted wire keeping club members off the Motor Parkway can be seen at the 1 minute 12 second mark of this film.

Members of the club including the flying elite of Long Island. Their 1940 club membership book listed; Col. Charles Lindbergh, Sherman Fairchild, L.R. (Leroy Randle) Grumman and several DuPonts. As described in the biography: Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Between the Sea and Stars, Charles Lindbergh taught his wife how to fly at the Long Island Aviation Country Club..

This is a rare photo of the hangar of the Long Island Aviation Club taken from the Motor Parkway looking west. While researching the Motor Parkway at the archives of the Cradle of Aviation, I found a note that the hangar was taken down in the late 1940s by Levitt & Sons. The note added that the hangar's roof was used for a new building in Bethpage to manufacture pre-fabricated sections of the Levitt homes. Of course, I started searching all over Bethpage to see if this building was still standing.

The building was not difficult to find. The former hangar was later used to manufacture sails for sailboats around the world. Several articles on the club also mentioned that the clubhouse was taken down and reassembled as sections of several Hicksville homes. So far, I have found several homes that look like the wings of the clubhouse. But, I am still not 100% sure that they are the halls where Willie K, Grumman and Lindbergh mingled.

For more information and photos of the Long Island Aviation Country Club, follow this link: