1.This Act may be cited as the
Long Island Aviation History
Act
.
2.The Congress finds the following:
(1)Long Island has played an indispensable
role in the development of the aviation industry in the United States. In
particular, the Hempstead Plains, Suffolk County Air Force Base, and parts of
Bethpage, Port Washington, and Farmingdale contain notable landmarks of
aviation history.
(2)The Hempstead
Plains encompass approximately 950 acres east of Clinton Road and south of Old
Country Road in Garden City, New York, and have been called the Cradle of
Aviation.
(3)In the early 20th
century, the Hempstead Plains had 3 major airfields, all of great historical
significance: Roosevelt Field, Curtiss Field, and Mitchel Field.
(4)During World War
I, the airfields of Hempstead Plains were an important training center for
United States military pilots, as well as a major hub for military aircraft
research, development, and production.
(5)The first
transatlantic flight, carried out by the U.S. Navy Curtiss NC–4 in 1919, took
off from Rockaway, New York, and cemented the United States leading role in
aviation innovation. This aircraft was built at the Curtiss factory in Garden
City—a building which still stands.
(6)Roosevelt Field in
Garden City, New York, was the point of departure for Charles Lindbergh’s
famous transatlantic flight aboard the Spirit of St. Louis completed on May 20,
1927.
(7)In 1929, Amelia
Earhart and other pioneering women pilots founded the International
Organization of Women Pilots, or the Ninety-Nines, at Curtiss Field.
(8)Curtiss Field also
served as the terminus for transcontinental airmail from 1918–1929.
(9)In the 1930s,
Roosevelt Field was the busiest civilian airfield in the United States, and
played a role in many other historic transcontinental, transatlantic, and
record-setting flights.
(10)Port Washington,
New York, once known as the Plymouth Rock of American aviation,
was Pan American World Airways’ trans-Atlantic hub on Manhasset Isle from 1934
to 1940.
(11)During World War
II, Long Island was a crucial center of military aircraft production. These
aircraft, produced in huge numbers for the Army, Navy, and foreign governments,
were of excellent quality and had a major impact on the course of the war in
all theaters.
(12)Most notably, the
Grumman Aircraft Company, based in Bethpage, New York, and the Republic
Aviation Corporation, based in Farmingdale, New York, manufactured innovative
planes that proved highly valuable to the U.S. military such as Grumman’s F6F–3
Hellcat and Republic’s P–47 Thunderbolt.
(13)Mitchel Air Force
Base, located on the Hempstead Plains, served as the original location of the
Air Defense Command upon its inception in 1940, and was integral to the defense
of the main-land United States during World War II and thereafter.
(14)In 1951, the
Suffolk County Air Force Base, located in Westhampton, New York, became the
prime Air Defense Command base responsible for defending the New York City
metropolitan area from all air attacks.
(15)In 1962, Grumman
won the contract to build the Lunar Module as part of the Apollo Program, and
in 1969 the first men traveled to the moon aboard a spacecraft built with the
expertise of Long Island’s aviation industry.
3.
(a)The Secretary of the Interior shall conduct
a special resource study of the study area.
(b)In
conducting the study under subsection (a), the Secretary shall—
(1)evaluate the national significance of the
study area based on an assessment of Long Island’s aviation history;
(2)determine the suitability and feasibility
of designating parts of the study area as a unit of the National Park System
commemorating Long Island’s aviation history;
(3)consider other
alternatives for preservation, protection, and interpretation of the study area
by Federal, State, or local governmental entities, or private and nonprofit
organizations;
(4)identify properties related to Long
Island’s aviation history that could meet criteria for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places or criteria for designation as National Historic
Landmarks;
(5)consult with
interested Federal, State, or local governmental entities, private and
nonprofit organizations, or any other interested individuals;
(6)consider the
appropriate management options needed to ensure the protection, preservation,
and interpretation of the study area;
(7)evaluate appropriate ways to enhance
historical research, education, interpretation, and public awareness of Long
Island’s aviation history; and
(8)identify cost
estimates for any Federal acquisition, development, interpretation, operation,
and maintenance associated with the alternatives.
(c)The term study
area means Long Island with a particular focus on the Hempstead Plains,
the areas surrounding Suffolk County Air Force Base, the hamlet of Bethpage,
the hamlet of Port Washington, and the village of Farmingdale.
(d)The study required under subsection (a) shall be conducted in
accordance with section 8 of National Park Service General Authorities Act (16
U.S.C. 1a–5).
(e)Not
later than 3 years after the date on which funds are first made available for
the study under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources of the Senate a report containing the results of the
study and any conclusions and recommendations of the Secretary.