Dates: IPTW 2001

IPTW 2001 is scheduled for October 26, 27 & 28, 2001. This is a Friday,
Saturday and Sunday. At Floyd Bennett Airfield, Jamaica Bay Unit,
Gateway National Recreation Area, Brooklyn, NY. For this event PTN is
partnering with the National Park Service, Jamiaca Bay Unit. There will
also be an interface with the HARP (Historic Aircraft Restoration
Project), which is an ongoing aircraft restoration project, comprised
mainly of WW2 volunteers, located in a hanger at FBA. There is are
plans in discussion for restoration of a very nice room at the Ryan
Center control tower, as
well as an offer for use of a building on site for PTN long-term
educational purposes. There is in the works a plan for the timber
framers to build a driftwood shelter for the ecological camp on site.
FBA is host to 17,000 urban youth per year who therefore have an
opportunity to experience nature within the city that they reside.

Please stay tuned as the PTN website updates, which are still in
construction, will include further information and news on IPTW 2001, as
well as photos from IPTW 2000. http://www.ptn.org

Tentative planning discussion includes two separate one-day workshops to
occur on Thursday, October 25, 2001 at Ellis Island and Historic
Richmond Town on Staten Island.
(http://www.nyc-arts.org/nyc-arts/name/name_by_borough/staten/historichm.html)

Tentative plans for the Ellis Island activity focus on a
behind-the-scenes workshop involving preservationists, both in the
design and hands-on phases, who have been working on the island for many
years, in order to highlight their work.

Tentative plans for Historic Richmond Town include hands-on learning
experiences similar to the IPTW 2000 Hay Barrack Restoration at Landis
Valley. There is a very nice brick fireplace that needs work as well as
a barn full of historic artifacts to catalog.

If you wish to become more involved in planning for IPTW 2001, the chair
of the IPTW 2001 Local Planning Committee is Jim Hicks [log in to unmask]

Historical information on FBA:
http://www.aero-web.org/history/fbennett/cgasb_fb.htm
http://www.mindspring.com/~jaytee/blimp.htm

Map of FBA:
http://www.nps.gov/gate/ppmaps/gate%2Dwe1%2Epdf

Floyd Bennett Airfield, unlike airfields that have remained in active
usage, is in many respects an historic site frozen in time. There has
been minimal alteration of the buildings from their original
construction. The National Park Service has been slowly restoring and
rehabilitating the site of Hanger Row and the control tower to their
original configuration. As a site with historic fabric intact Floyd
Bennett Airfield offers a wealth of partnering opportunities for PTN to
work with the National Park Service to bring public attention to this
location.

Floyd Bennett Airfield, located at the south end of Brooklyn, NY, in
Jamaica Bay, is a small portion of the 26,000-acres known as Gateway
National Recreation Area that extends through three New York City
boroughs and into northern New Jersey. Floyd Bennett Airfield, which was
a salt marsh complex before it was filled and paved, was the first
municipal airfield for New York City.
The field was opened in 1931, and at the time, was rated as the best
airport in the country, due to its long, paved runways, landing lights,
and directional radio beam. When the US Postal Service selected
competing Newark Airport in New Jersey for postal service for the
metropolitan area, combined with the distance from the urban
concentration of Manhattan, the commercial viability of Floyd Bennett
Airfield was severely diminished. The Navy took over the airfield in
1941, and the site became an important embarkation point for the
European Theater during World War II. Aircraft built on Long Island by
Grumman were flown to Floyd Bennett Airfield, a short flight that was
considered a test run. If the aircraft made it to the airfield then it
was considered worthy of service. The U.S. Coast Guard was based at
Floyd Bennett Field from 1936 to 1998. After 1945, the airfield became a
Naval Reserve Station that played an active role during the Korean and
Vietnam conflicts. In 1972, it was decommissioned and transferred to the
National Park Service as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area,
one of America's first Urban National Parks.

I look forward to seeing everyone at IPTW 2001.

Best,
Ken Follett, PTN Executive Coordinator [log in to unmask]