Many of us who grew up in Hicksville during the 1950s got used to hearing loud, sometimes conversation-stopping, airplanes pass overhead. Prior issues of Ancient Hixtory put some of these noisy interruptions into historical context, by discussing the respective roles that Mitchel Field and Republic Aviation played as America in turn faced the demands of World War II, of Korea, of Vietnam, and ultimately, of aerospace.
If you wish, the links below will take you to those articles:
- A history of Mitchel Field appeared here in July 2018.
- The story of Republic Aviation was recounted in October 2018.
This third article offers a glimpse of Grumman Aircraft. That glimpse is of necessity incomplete, for the company's story is extensive, and continues today through Northrop-Grumman. It concerns itself only with the Grumman aircraft I knew best as a child in Hicksville - those which regularly left Bethpage and banked ever so low, over Lee Avenue School, and over my home on 7th Street.
