Floyd Bennett Field was New York's first municipal airport, where long-distance flight was perfected by aviators including Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and Jackie Cochran. During World War II, the airfield became a naval air station, and career opportunities opened for women and African Americans in the fight against German submarines off the Rockaway Peninsula. At Floyd Bennett Field during World War II, the U.S. Coast Guard first invented and perfected rescuing sailors from the sea using a helicopter and a hoist. The Jamaica Bay Greenway is a 19-mile multi-use loop that links the city to more than 10,000 acres of federal, state, and city parkland, including destinations such as Floyd Bennett Field, Fort Tilden, Jacob Riis Park, Canarsie Pier, Rockaway Beach, and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, New York City's only wildlife refuge, has been a managed natural area since fresh water ponds were created in 1951 and is a key stop for migrating birds on the Atlantic flyway, with more than 330 bird species seen there.
