#278 Newark vs. LaGuardia: The Tale of Two Airports

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2018

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Newark Liberty International Airport or LaGuardia Airport? Which do you prefer? (Or is the answer -- none of the above. Give me JFK!) Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy history! In this episode, we present the origin stories of New York City's airports and airfields. The skies over New York have been graced with aircraft for almost 110 years. In fact the first 'flying machine' was flown by no less than Wilbur Wright, the man who (with his brother Orville) invented the airplane. Yet by the time the U.S. government began regulating the skies in the 1920s -- making way for commercial aviation -- the city had failed to develop an adequate airfield of its own. Meanwhile the thriving city of Newark, New Jersey, had just opened a glistening new airport, and in 1929 it was awarded the government's coveted airmail contract. Brooklyn's new Floyd Bennett Field didn't stand a chance because of it. This did not sit well with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who engineered a spectacular tarmac stunt in 1934, drawing attention to this deficiency. And then he began dreaming of a new airport in northern Queens, one poised to draw customers away from New Jersey. And thus began a decades-long tug-of-war for supremacy over New York City skies. boweryboyshistory.com CORRECTION: Near the end of this show, Greg says that 18 new gates have opened this month at LaGuardia Airport. It’s actually 11 gates in a concourse that will eventually have 18. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Bowry Boys episode 278 Newark versus LaGuardia a tale of two airports.
0:07.0	Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:09.0	Hey, support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:13.0	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
0:22.0	Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.
0:25.0	And this is Tom Myers.
0:26.0	And today's show is dedicated to those who are traveling this holiday season as we look at the story of American commercial aviation from the perspective of the areas two oldest major airports, LaGuardia airport and Newark Liberty International.
0:43.0	I think it's safe to say Greg that this is a story that has been at times rather turbulent.
0:49.0	Prepare for a host of airline related puns in this show that we will we will not overdo it.
0:55.0	But today's show will be filled actually with daredevils and with high stakes contest and cheering spectators and with airport intrigue.
1:04.0	Now many people when they're traveling, especially domestically, may often think Newark versus LaGuardia, which is better, which is worse.
1:12.0	Well, in this show, we're going to we're essentially going to give you the origins of the best and worst sides of both of those airports.
1:19.0	But that title is also a little bit of a play of Newark airport versus the mayor, Fiorola LaGuardia, who in 1934 pulls an outrageous stunt that affects the skies of New York City forever.
1:32.0	And we'll really be focusing in today's show on about a 20 or 25 year period where this show takes place mostly in the 1920s and 1930s, which saw the opening of both of these airports.
1:46.0	And really gave way to the subsequent need for a third airport.
1:51.0	So listener, fasten your seat belts, put your tray tables up.
1:56.0	And prepare as we start our descent into Newark and LaGuardia and the dramatic tale of two airports.
2:16.0	So before we begin, we'll be centering our conversation around the origins of Newark Liberty International Airport.
2:32.0	Today's name.
2:33.0	Yes, which is located in Newark, New Jersey and LaGuardia Airport, which is located in the borough of Queens on Flushing Bay.
2:43.0	But in order to get to those two airports, we actually have to dial back to flights arriving for the very first time in New York City.
2:52.0	And actually flights taking off, if you will, for the very first time anywhere.
	...

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