2 historic murals depicting Long Island's aviation legacy coming to Cradle of Aviation Museum
The Cradle of Aviation Museum has found a new home for this large mural depicting Long Island's aviation history, created by pilot and artist Aline Rhonie. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
A 1,250-square-foot mural painted in the 1930s by groundbreaking pilot Aline Rhonie, chronicling the earliest history of Long Island aviation, and a World War II-era mural that once adorned the lobby of Grumman Plant 2, will soon be on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City.
Painted by different artists a decade apart, both murals convey Long Island's enduring aviation legacy, officials said Tuesday.
"How exciting that the two most important murals depicting early Long Island aviation both find their way to the museum at the same time after a journey of many decades," said Joshua Stoff, the curator of the Cradle of Aviation Museum.
"The comprehensive Rhonie mural is one of the very few surviving artifacts from Roosevelt Field — at one time the most famous airport in the world," Stoff said. "The Grumman Plant 2 mural is the only known World War II mural painted from life and depicting an aircraft assembly line with figures based on actual people."
Rhonie's fresco-style artwork was originally set to go into storage pending construction of an annex building at the museum.
But Cradle president Andrew Parton said the museum determined the mural, which measures about 12½ feet tall and about 100 feet wide, fit the wall space in the existing ground-floor cafe.
"We did the measurements and it just fit," Parton said, adding: "We hope to now have it installed by the end of summer."
A Manhattan socialite, Rhonie learned to paint frescoes under the guidance of famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, husband of artist Frida Kahlo.
Having earned her pilot’s license in 1930 at 21, Rhonie was the first woman to fly solo from New York to Mexico City and was one of the original members of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, which later became the Women Airforce Service Pilots, (WASPs)— created by the pioneering pilot Jackie Cochran at the outbreak of World War II.
Rhonie painted the mural in a hangar at the old Roosevelt Field airfield complex between 1934 and 1938. It features more than 600 aviators and 260 aircraft that flew through the famed airport between 1908 and 1927. The personalities include Glenn Curtiss, Harriet Quimby, Thomas Sopwith, Roland Garros, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, who, in 1927, became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, departing Roosevelt Field for Paris.
The historic Grumman Plant 2 mural, painted in 1945 by noted muralist Victor White, was created for the lobby of the old Grumman plant in Bethpage. It depicts famed Grumman combat aircraft built on Long Island between 1943 and 1945 — including the F6F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat and the TBF Avenger.
A native of Cedarhurst, White was known for public works art projects across New York, including murals in the Rockville Centre post office, North Shore estates and New York City hotels — as well as work shown at the Museum of the City of New York.
The Grumman mural will be unveiled next month in conjunction with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
"Together these two murals document a time when Long Island was the center of the aviation world," Stoff said.
A 1,250-square-foot mural painted in the 1930s by groundbreaking pilot Aline Rhonie, chronicling the earliest history of Long Island aviation, and a World War II-era mural that once adorned the lobby of Grumman Plant 2, will soon be on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City.
Painted by different artists a decade apart, both murals convey Long Island's enduring aviation legacy, officials said Tuesday.
"How exciting that the two most important murals depicting early Long Island aviation both find their way to the museum at the same time after a journey of many decades," said Joshua Stoff, the curator of the Cradle of Aviation Museum.
"The comprehensive Rhonie mural is one of the very few surviving artifacts from Roosevelt Field — at one time the most famous airport in the world," Stoff said. "The Grumman Plant 2 mural is the only known World War II mural painted from life and depicting an aircraft assembly line with figures based on actual people."
Men working on an assembly line, as depicted in this portion of a Depression-era mural by Aline Rhonie chronicling the roots of Long Island aviation. Credit: Cradle of Aviation Museum
Rhonie's fresco-style artwork was originally set to go into storage pending construction of an annex building at the museum.
But Cradle president Andrew Parton said the museum determined the mural, which measures about 12½ feet tall and about 100 feet wide, fit the wall space in the existing ground-floor cafe.
"We did the measurements and it just fit," Parton said, adding: "We hope to now have it installed by the end of summer."
A Manhattan socialite, Rhonie learned to paint frescoes under the guidance of famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, husband of artist Frida Kahlo.
Having earned her pilot’s license in 1930 at 21, Rhonie was the first woman to fly solo from New York to Mexico City and was one of the original members of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, which later became the Women Airforce Service Pilots, (WASPs)— created by the pioneering pilot Jackie Cochran at the outbreak of World War II.
Rhonie painted the mural in a hangar at the old Roosevelt Field airfield complex between 1934 and 1938. It features more than 600 aviators and 260 aircraft that flew through the famed airport between 1908 and 1927. The personalities include Glenn Curtiss, Harriet Quimby, Thomas Sopwith, Roland Garros, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, who, in 1927, became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, departing Roosevelt Field for Paris.
The historic Grumman Plant 2 mural, painted in 1945 by noted muralist Victor White, was created for the lobby of the old Grumman plant in Bethpage. It depicts famed Grumman combat aircraft built on Long Island between 1943 and 1945 — including the F6F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat and the TBF Avenger.
A native of Cedarhurst, White was known for public works art projects across New York, including murals in the Rockville Centre post office, North Shore estates and New York City hotels — as well as work shown at the Museum of the City of New York.
The Grumman mural will be unveiled next month in conjunction with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
"Together these two murals document a time when Long Island was the center of the aviation world," Stoff said.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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