This open space was an airfield. In 1919 the Army purchased the Vanderbilt Farm, removed trees, fences and shrubbery, and laid one sod runway diagonally across the cleared pasture. The base became part of the New York harbor defense system. Out of the hangar, down a concrete ramp now buried in sand, seaplanes roared off on reconnaissance patrols. Yet, in those toddler days of aviation, Miller Field was more important as an assembly and testing site. Amphibious planes were tested here for the first Pan American flights in 1926 and for Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s exploration of the Antarctic. In World War II the surveillance (ILLEGIBLE). The current (ILLEGIBLE) the parachute drying tower, a (ILLEGIBLE) station was constructed to (ILLEGIBLE) coastal guns. Bur development of (ILLEGIBLE) armament made Miller Field (obsolete?).
