Aviator Arena

Super middleweight boxers Lennox Allen and Darnell Boone battle to an eight round majority draw at Aviator Arena Sports and Recreation Facility, on Saturday, August 7, 2010.

Aviator Arena Sports and Recreation Facility is located on the site of the former Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York. Aviator Arena hosts sporting events and shows throughout the year, and the occasional air show. The field outside the arena is still used as an official heliport by the New York Police Department (NYPD). Once inside the indoor entrance to Aviator Arena, an entire inner wall tribute several stories high is dedicated to the history of Aeronautics which took place on the site of the sports facility and the people of flight who made the former Floyd Bennett Field famous, including: Wiley Post, the first pilot to solo around the world, who flew around the world from the field and returned to it in 7 days 19 hours and 49 minutes in July 1933; and billionaire Howard Hughes, who flew 14,791 miles (23,804 km) around the world from Floyd Bennett Field in July 1938 and returned to it with a crew of four men in 3 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes, 10 seconds to collect important navigational data. ^[1][2] Aviator Sports and Recreation is the private 501(c)(3) operating the 25-acre (100,000 m²) concession with the National Park Service. With construction in 2003, the 170,000-square-foot (16,000 m²) Aviator sports complex was built over four former airplane hangars. The 800-acre (3.2 km²) Floyd Bennett Field geographical area ^[3] is part of the 25-mile (40 km) Gateway National Recreation Area within the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Aviator Arena Historical Footage

• Howard Hughes rare airplane silent black and white video footage taking off with his team on his historical round the flight from Floyd Bennett Field ^[4]
• Howard Hughes rare silent black and white video footage landing at Floyd Bennett Field and being interviewed after a 10½ hour nonstop transatlantic flight^[5]

References

Coordinates: 40°35′23″N 73°53′57″W / 40.58972°N 73.89917°W / 40.58972; -73.89917