Lakefront Site Witnessed Several Test Flights

A longstanding feud over an eight-acre parcel of land in Hammondsport, NY has come to an end, after two anonymous benefactors kicked in $900,000 to purchase the site where aviation legend Glenn Curtiss tested his earliest aircraft designs.

The Associated Press reports the lakefront property will need to be cleaned up a bit, to make it a park honoring Curtiss. The site now consists of an abandoned railroad property, and numerous overgrown shrubs and trees. One hundred years ago, however, it was largely open... which made it the optimum place for Curtiss to fly his creations.

The aviator flew his "June Bug" biplane for one minute, 42.5 seconds in Hammondsport in July 1908, the first officially recognized flight over one kilometer in length. Later, Curtiss tested the world's first seaplane there.

Plans to revitalize the land have come and gone over the past decade. In 2004, a bond referendum authorizing $1.3 million to create an 11-acre Glenn Curtiss Memorial Park was voted down, and things looked bleak.

A compromise was ironed out late last year, however. A California charity delivered a $500,000 check to real estate developer Michael Doyle, with another $400,000 offered by a local resident. With cash in hand, Doyle lowered his $1.1 million asking price.

"I consider this a miraculous 12th-hour turnabout," said part-time Hammondsport resident Geoffrey Grimsman, who kicked off the 2004 effort to acquire the land for a park named after Curtiss.

FMI: www.earlyaviators.com/ecurti05.htm