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Community Corner

Plane Presented to Garden City Post Office

Assembled model of vintage French airmail plane can be seen at Post Office.

A scale model of the first plane used for mail delivery was presented to representatives of the Garden City Post Office July 24.

The model was of the French-designed Bleriot XI, the plane used by Garden City resident Earle Ovington to make the first airmail delivery on Sept. 24, 1911.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of this historic event Postmaster Annette D’Amato will display the model plane in the lobby showcase of the Garden City Post Office, located at 600 Franklin Avenue.

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Several members of the Garden City Retired Men’s Club built the model, including Paul Chiarelli, Joe Leto, Caesare Lucano and Tom McDonald.

“I enjoy doing things with my hands and this project was a great opportunity to do that," Chiarelli said. "I built [plane] models as a boy and even flew them. I didn’t need any arm-twisting to do this project! We are in the middle of building the same model for the library [which will be used for the September display.]"

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Leto was equally enthusiastic in contributing his time and energy to the project.

“I was very excited when I received Cyril Smith’s phone call explaining the history of the first airmail flight, its association with Garden City and his desire to present a model of the plane to the post office and the library," he said. "I wanted to be a part of this project. When I presented it to the members of the Garden City Retired Men’s Club the response was equally enthusiastic."

"The model kit…parts were tiny and intricate," Leto added. "It was a real test for unsteady fingers…With the help of tweezers, a donated surgeon’s clamp and the steady hands of our junior member, Caesare Lucano, we managed to stumble through.” 

They more than stumbled through, since the 1:20 scale balsa and tissue plane looks very authentic.

The idea to construct the expert-level models was Cyril Smith's, who is in charge of the September exhibit at the library, the “Centennial of Air Mail Flight.” He commented that they’re a “great bunch of guys” to take on the complicated project that took a month to complete.

“It looks like something one would be scared to even get in much less fly in. The full size Bleriot was a tricky plane to fly,” he said.

“At the time of the International Aero Meet in Garden City, Ovington was living at 7 Nassau Boulevard," Smith added. "This was a huge aero meet. The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss and most of the world's top aviators competed. This included the first two women pilots in America, Harriet Quimby, fashion model and newspaper reporter who was later killed in a Boston air meet, and Mathilde Moisant of ‘The Magnificent Moisants.' They too lived in Garden City.”

Ovington is the first in aviation history to drop off the first bag of airmail. He started in the area of Stratford School and flew a short distance to the Mineola Post Office.

“Stratford School sits epicenter on what was Nassau Boulevard Airfield, then one of the largest fields in America," Smith explained. "[It] went from Roxbury Road to New Hyde Park Road, from Stewart Avenue to the LIRR Huntington line, and was surrounded by a 15-foot high wood board fence. [The airfield] had 30 large hangers, a grandstand and a hotel. In 1911 this event was a huge deal. That week over 200,000 came out to see the flyers.”

The plane model can be seen during regular business hours at the post office. The early aviation exhibit will be on display during September at the library. Call the library at (516) 742-8405 or visit www.nassaulibrary.org/gardenc.com.

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