Volunteers restoring aircraft at Floyd Bennett
Field shut out due to suspected retaliation
BY JESSICA PARKS
A fl eet of volunteer seniors
helping to restore antique warplanes
at Floyd Bennett Field
haven’t been able to return
to their posts since the onset
of the pandemic — and now
they’re fearing that the lack of
communication may be retaliation
since they reported ongoing
racial discrimination at
their hangar.
“What the Parks service
has done is a disgrace. Not too
long ago some of the volunteers
had to get in touch with
the Department of Interior in
regards to abuse and racist harassment
at the hanger which
caused problems for the National
Parks Service at Floyd
Bennett Field,” Mario Aponte,
a 70-year-old volunteer at the
hangar, told Brooklyn Paper.
“It is possible the powers that
be are being spiteful.”
Before the pandemic, Hangar
B at Gateway National
Recreation Area’s Floyd Bennett
Field was the workshop
for the volunteers, who worked
to preserve and rehabilitate
retired military aircraft as
part of the National Parks Service’s
Been Told You Have to “Live with the Pain?”
COURIER L 16 IFE, OCTOBER 15-21, 2021
Historic Aircraft Restoration
Project.
The crew restored attack
jets, seaplanes from the Korean
War, anti-submarine aircraft,
and a number of other
vintage planes to their nearoriginal
state through meticulous
research and volunteering
skills cultivated from
their various backgrounds
that include military, tradesmen
and law enforcement.
They also worked to memorialize
the Hangar B’s place in
the history of aviation — creating
an exact replica of the
“Winnie Mae,” the Lockheed
Vega jet fl own by famed aviator
Wiley Post when making
the world’s fi rst solo trip circumnavigating
the globe in
1933, for which the pilot disembarked
from Brooklyn’s Floyd
Bennett Field.
“There is an enormous bit
of aviation history from Brooklyn,”
Dante Dimille, one of the
replica’s builders, said. “Wiley
Post took off from Floyd Bennett
Field, and he was the fi rst
person to fl y solo around the
world. He did it an airplane
called the Winnie Mae.”
The hangar’s restored
planes and replicas were also
open to the public prior to the
pandemic, for which volunteers
would trade in their mechanic
roles to that of a tour
guide, teaching visitors of all
ages the rich history of the
hangar and of the planes that
were stationed there.
In addition to the tours,
the seniors offered hands-on
experience to children with
disabilities, youth doing community
service and students
from grade school to college
in the regular maintenance of
the historic aircraft — sometimes
witnessing the spark of
passion in the eyes of a future
pilot, which they said made all
of their work worthwhile.
“The beauty in this is the
work on the airplanes but there
is a certain joy in seeing a 5, 6,
7-year-old kid show interest in
aviation,” Dimille said. “That
is what it is all about.”
While they loved the work
they did, Aponte said the volunteers
were subject to mistreatment
by a volunteer who
was tasked with supervising
their hangar — particularly
Volunteers in front of the hangar they are unsure they will ever return to. Photo by Jessica Parks
Continued on page 28
!"
# $
!"
#$
%
&'
()(*"+,,
-.%
!
& '#( )
*
#$
NEUROPATHY BREAKTHROUGH!
'/0#1
-$2 , /3
, %
0 %5###"5
6
Brooklyn, NY – Breakthrough for
Peripheral Neuropathy Sufferers!
, 5+
7
$ 2
$2
,- *
"" "
*
"$ .$/$
$,/,01/2#/12,13
,-7
"
+ 4546#(
7 *!
In this Cutting-edge FREE
Seminar You’ll Learn:
$
"
! (
$ 8 9
( (
7/$!
8
"
# ( 8##
"
6
(
" (
#(
"
8
#
( 8
7
8
"
"
%5####8#&"#55#"#%5"/# 3
3#8&#"#9""%#53# 5:3
3#7 8"/(;)<)(
=7<<$
3#5#7"
#$
'&'
()(*"+-./
7 %5##6&' $ 2 +,
5>7
5>2"(?
$,
@7
,
. 28 ,
' &$,@#+
"&&7 *=;ABC?A<B(D"/6
REGISTRATION IS FREE, BUT SEATING IS LIMITED DUE
TO COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS.
(
"