Kleiner’s Korner: The Motor Parkway’s Contribution to Military War Games
The various military installations on the island including Fort Totten, Mitchel Field, Camp Mills and Camp Upton also provided support.
Here are newspaper accounts of training exercises conducted in 1917, 1922 and 1926. Several familiar places near the Motor Parkway were also included in the plans. I haven't been able to locate photos depicting the exercises so only written accounts are provided. Sources include "The New York Times", "The Brooklyn Daily Archives", the "Pensacola News Journal Sun", Aerial Age" and "The Coast". The latter was a publication produced by the US military.
Art Kleiner
At the time that this hypothetical map was drawn the US was still neutral in WWI. Perhaps it conjured up strong feelings for the need for military involvement, and thus the need for training to defend our homeland. (Life, 1916)
1917: An Aerial Blockade
Patrolling the skies from Rockaway Point to the Hempstead Plains . . . to counter the bombing of hangers on the Hempstead Plains (and the Motor Parkway lodges)!
Done so "for the aerial protection of New York".
Success!!! Unless you were an estate owner whose property bore the brunt of "hostile craft" crashing down (hypothetically, of course)!
This account includes the Motor Parkway as a meeting place.
1917: The First "Flying Bomb"
In May of 1917 the US Navy contracted with Elmer A. and son, Lawrence Sperry to build and test the first guided "missile" with testing occurring in the fall.
Secret sites near Amityville were used to launch these missiles in the air above Long Island.
Missiles were also projected from the top of Marmon roadsters barrelling down the Motor Parkway at 90 mph. With the signing of the armistance ending WWl the missiles were classified as secret and not heard about until the Germans used similar missiles in WWII with the US plans revealed in 1951.
1922
In 1922 a joint effort was conducted . . .
between the Artillery and Air Services to protect Mitchel Field, Garden City and Mineola from falling under a "foreign monarch".
As the enemy amasses and moves towards the Motor Parkway the plan of defense includes digging in around the Meadow Brook Club!
Will the defenses hold?
The enemy is defeated before reaching the Motor Parkway!!!
1926
A test of training procedures for antiaircraft artillery was conducted over a 5 week period in 1926 from Fort Totten to Camp Upton.
Several roads, including the Motor Parkway were designated for troop movements.
The Corps Train Motor Column followed the 2nd Division on the Motor Parkway.
1937
This drawing from 1937 was part of a hypothetical pictorial from "The Los Angeles Examiner" titled "If We Enter a World War -- and LOSE!" and depicted the US having been divided among its conquerors! Here Manhattan is being bombed by the enemy. The training exercises that our military undertakes certainly ensures this will never happen.
Today
More modern aircraft protecting the skies over Long Island. Thank you to all veterans and their families for allowing us to live our lives the way we see fit. Happy 2024!!!
Comments
From Greg O.
Art-
Here’s a bit more on Sperry’s ‘Flying bomb’ from a post 11 years ago.
https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/the_role_of_the_motor_parkway_in_the_development_of_the_cruise_missile
As always, great info Art. Funny how the LIMP is described as the old motor parkway in 1917. Only 9 yrs old then, and didn’t extend to Horace Harding Blvd yet lol. Remember reading here and there that the need for highways was originally intended ( still now really ) for military purposes. Wether it’s military, law enforcement and emergencies; we make clear for those vehicles that require quick passage.
Thanks for the additional info!.
Art, Could never figure out the concern about foreign planes attacking the U.S. prior to WW 11. Up until then bombers had a range of 600 miles round trip which meant only Canada and Mexico were within striking distance of the U.S.
Al, perhaps as the hypothetical map shows once a foreign power(s) made inroads into the western hemisphere, bombers could be assembled and launched from the barbarians to the north (Canada) and the Province of Mexico in the south.