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Transatlantic flight

A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Latin America, or vice versa. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, balloons and other aircraft.

Early aircraft engines did not have the reliability nor the power to lift the required fuel to make a transatlantic flight. There were difficulties navigating over the featureless expanse of water for thousands of miles, and the weather, especially in the North Atlantic, is unpredictable. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, transatlantic flight has become routine, for commercial, military, diplomatic, and other purposes.

History
The idea of transatlantic flight came about with the advent of the hot air balloon. The balloons of the period were inflated with coal gas, a moderate lifting medium compared to hydrogen or helium, but with enough lift to use the winds that would later be known as the Jet Stream. In 1859, John Wise built an enormous aerostat named the Atlantic, intending to cross the Atlantic. The flight lasted less than a day, crash-landing in Henderson, New York. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe prepared a massive balloon of 725000 cuft called the City of New York to take off from Philadelphia in 1860, but was interrupted by the onset of the American Civil War in 1861.

Powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle 360 hp engines, the Vickers Vimy flown by British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919. The first successful transatlantic flight in a balloon was the Double Eagle II from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, near Paris in 1978.

First transatlantic flights
In April 1913, the London newspaper The Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 (£ in ) to

"the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the United States of America, Canada or Newfoundland and any point in Great Britain or Ireland' in 72 continuous hours."

The competition was suspended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 but reopened after Armistice was declared in 1918. The war saw tremendous advances in aerial capabilities, and a real possibility of transatlantic flight by aircraft emerged.

Between 8 and 31 May 1919, the Curtiss seaplane NC-4 made a crossing of the Atlantic flying from the U.S. to Newfoundland, then to the Azores, and on to mainland Portugal and finally the United Kingdom. The whole journey took 23 days, with six stops along the way. A trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic gave the aircraft points to navigate by. This flight was not eligible for the Daily Mail prize since it took more than 72 consecutive hours and also because more than one aircraft was used in the attempt.

Four teams were competing for the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic. They were Australian pilot Harry Hawker with observer Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve in a single-engine Sopwith Atlantic; Frederick Raynham and C. W. F. Morgan in a Martinsyde; the Handley Page Group, led by Mark Kerr; and the Vickers entry John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. Each group had to ship its aircraft to Newfoundland and make a rough field for the takeoff.

Hawker and Mackenzie-Grieve made the first attempt on 18 May, but engine failure brought them down into the ocean where they were rescued. Raynham and Morgan also attempted on 18 May but crashed on takeoff due to the high fuel load. The Handley Page team was in the final stages of testing its aircraft for the flight in June, but the Vickers group was ready earlier.

During 14–15 June 1919, the British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight. During the War, Alcock resolved to fly the Atlantic, and after the war, he approached the Vickers engineering and aviation firm at Weybridge, which had considered entering its Vickers Vimy IV twin-engined bomber in the competition but had not yet found a pilot. Alcock's enthusiasm impressed Vickers's team, and he was appointed as its pilot. Work began on converting the Vimy for the long flight, replacing its bomb racks with extra petrol tanks. Shortly afterwards Brown, who was unemployed, approached Vickers seeking a post and his knowledge of long-distance navigation convinced them to take him on as Alcock's navigator.

Vickers's team quickly assembled its plane and at around 1:45 p.m. on 14 June, while the Handley Page team was conducting yet another test, the Vickers plane took off from Lester's Field, in St John's, Newfoundland.

Alcock and Brown flew the modified Vickers Vimy, powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle 360 hp engines. It was not an easy flight, with unexpected fog, and a snow storm almost causing the crewmen to crash into the sea. Their altitude varied between sea level and 12000 ft and upon takeoff, they carried 865 imperial gallons (3,900 L) of fuel. They made landfall in Clifden, County Galway at 8:40 a.m. on 15 June 1919, not far from their intended landing place, after less than sixteen hours of flying.

The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presented Alcock and Brown with the Daily Mail prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in "less than 72 consecutive hours". There was a small amount of mail carried on the flight making it also the first transatlantic airmail flight. The two aviators were knighted one week later by King George V at Windsor Castle.

The first transatlantic flight by rigid airship, and the first return transatlantic flight, was made just a couple of weeks after the transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown, on 2 July 1919. Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force flew the airship R34 with his crew and passengers from RAF East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, New York (on Long Island), covering a distance of about 3000 mi in about four and a half days.

The flight was intended as a testing ground for postwar commercial services by airship (see Imperial Airship Scheme), and it was the first flight to transport paying passengers. The R34 wasn't built as a passenger carrier, so extra accommodations were arranged by slinging hammocks in the keel walkway. The return journey to Pulham in Norfolk, was from 10 to 13 July over some 75 hours.

The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic was made by the Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922. Coutinho and Cabral flew from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in stages, using three different Fairey III biplanes, and they covered a distance of 8383 km between 30 March and 17 June.

The first transatlantic flight between Spain and South America was completed in January 1926 with a crew of Spanish aviators on board Plus Ultra, a Dornier Do J flying boat; the crew was the captain Ramón Franco, co-pilot Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant), Juan Manuel Durán, and Pablo Rada.

The first transpolar flight eastbound and the first flight crossing the North Pole ever was the airship carrying Norwegian explorer and pilot Roald Amundsen on 11 May 1926. He flew with the airship "NORGE" ("Norway") piloted by the Italian colonel Umberto Nobile, non-stop from Svalbard, Norway to Teller, Alaska, USA. The flight lasted for 72 hours.

The first night-time crossing of the South Atlantic was accomplished on 16–17 April 1927 by the Portuguese aviators Sarmento de Beires, Jorge de Castilho and Manuel Gouveia, flying from the Bijagós Archipelago, Portuguese Guinea, to Fernando de Noronha, Brazil in the Argos, a Dornier Wal flying boat.

In the early morning of 20 May 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, Mineola, New York, on his successful attempt to fly nonstop from New York to the European continental land mass. Over the next 33.5 hours, Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis encountered many challenges before landing at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, at 10:22 p.m. on 21 May 1927, completing the first solo crossing of the Atlantic.

The first east-west non-stop transatlantic crossing by an aeroplane was made in 1928 by the Bremen, a German Junkers W33 type aircraft, from Baldonnel Airfield in County Dublin, Ireland.

On 18 August 1932 Jim Mollison made the first east-to-west solo trans-Atlantic flight; flying from Portmarnock in Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick, Canada in a de Havilland Puss Moth.

In 1936 the first woman aviator to cross the Atlantic east to west, and the first person to fly solo from England to North America, was Beryl Markham. She wrote about her adventures in her memoir, West with the Night.

The first transpolar transatlantic (and transcontinental) crossing was the Transpolar flight of Chkalov, Baydukov and Belyakov piloted by the crew led by Valery Chkalov covering some 8811 km over 63 hours from Moscow, Russia to Vancouver, Washington from 18–20 June 1937.

Commercial airship flights

On 11 October 1928, Hugo Eckener, commanding the airship Graf Zeppelin as part of DELAG's operations, began the first non-stop transatlantic passenger flights, leaving Friedrichshafen, Germany, at 07:54 on 11 October 1928, and arriving at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 15 October.

Thereafter, DELAG used the Graf Zeppelin on regularly scheduled passenger flights across the North Atlantic, from Frankfurt-am-Main to Lakehurst. In the summer of 1931, a South Atlantic route was introduced, from Frankfurt and Friedrichshafen to Recife and Rio de Janeiro. Between 1931 and 1937 the Graf Zeppelin crossed the South Atlantic 136 times.

The British rigid airship R100 made a successful return trip from Cardington to Montreal in July–August 1930, in what was intended to be a proving flight for regularly scheduled passenger services. Following the R101 disaster in October 1930, the British rigid airship program was abandoned and the R100 scrapped, leaving DELAG as the sole remaining operator of transatlantic passenger airship flights.

In 1936 DELAG began passenger flights with LZ 129 Hindenburg, and made 36 Atlantic crossings (North and South). The first passenger trip across the North Atlantic left Friedrichshafen on 6 May with 56 crew and 50 passengers, arriving at Lakehurst on 9 May. The fare was $400 one way; the ten westward trips that season took 53 to 78 hours and eastward took 43 to 61 hours. The last eastward trip of the year left Lakehurst on 10 October; the first North Atlantic trip of 1937 ended in the Hindenburg disaster.

Commercial aeroplane service attempts
It would take two more decades after Alcock and Brown's first nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1919 before commercial airplane flights became practical. The North Atlantic presented severe challenges for aviators due to weather and the long distances involved, with few stopping points. Initial transatlantic services, therefore, focused on the South Atlantic, where some French, German, and Italian airlines offered seaplane service for mail between South America and West Africa in the 1930s.

Between February 1934 and August 1939 Lufthansa operated a regular airmail service between Natal, Brazil, and Bathurst, Gambia, continuing via the Canary Islands and Spain to Stuttgart, Germany. From December 1935, Air France opened a regular weekly airmail route between South America and Africa. German airlines experimented with mail routes over the North Atlantic in the early 1930s, with flying boats and dirigibles.

In August 1938 a Deutsche Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor long-range airliner flew non-stop from Berlin to New York and returned non-stop as a proving flight for the development of passenger-carrying services. This was the first landplane to fulfil this function and marked a departure from the British and American reliance on flying boats for long over-water routes. Operators of the Fw 200 focussed on other routes, though.

Flying boats

In the 1930s a flying boat route was the only practical means of transatlantic air travel, as land-based aircraft lacked sufficient range for the crossing. An agreement between the governments of the US, Britain, Canada, and the Irish Free State in 1935 set aside the Irish town of Foynes, the most westerly port in Ireland, as the terminal for all such services to be established.

Imperial Airways had bought the Short Empire flying boat, primarily for use along the empire routes to Africa, Asia and Australia, and had established an international airport on Darrell's Island, in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (640 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina), which began serving both Imperial Airways, subsequently renamed British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and Pan American World Airways (PAA) flights from the United States in 1936, but began exploring the possibility of using it for transatlantic flights from 1937. PAA would begin scheduled trans-Atlantic flights via Bermuda before Imperial Airways did, enabling the United States Government to covertly assist the British Government before the United States entry into the Second World War as mail was taken off trans-Atlantic PAA flights by the Imperial Censorship of British Security Co-ordination to search for secret communications from Axis spies operating in the United States, including the Joe K ring, with information gained being shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The range of the Short Empire flying boat was less than that of the equivalent US Sikorsky "Clipper" flying boats and as such was initially unable to provide a true trans-Atlantic service.

Two flying boats (Caledonia and Cambria) were lightened and given long-range tanks to increase the aircraft's range to 3300 mi.

In the US, attention was at first focused on transatlantic flights for a faster postal service between Europe and the United States. In 1931 W. Irving Glover, the second assistant postmaster, wrote an article for Popular Mechanics on the challenges and the need for a regular service. In the 1930s, under the direction of Juan Trippe, Pan American began to get interested in the feasibility of a transatlantic passenger service using flying boats.

On 5 July 1937, A.S. Wilcockson flew a Short Empire for Imperial Airways from Foynes to Botwood, Newfoundland and Harold Gray piloted a Sikorsky S-42 for Pan American in the opposite direction. Both flights were a success and both airlines made a series of subsequent proving flights that same year to test out a variety of different weather conditions. Air France also became interested and began experimental flights in 1938.

As the Short Empire only had enough range with enlarged fuel tanks at the expense of a passenger room, several pioneering experiments were done with the aircraft to work around the problem. It was known that aircraft could maintain flight with a greater load than is possible to take off with, so Major Robert H. Mayo, Technical general manager at Imperial Airways, proposed mounting a small, long-range seaplane on top of a larger carrier aircraft, using the combined power of both to bring the smaller aircraft to operational height, at which time the two aircraft would separate, the carrier aircraft returning to base while the other flew on to its destination.

The Short Mayo Composite project, co-designed by Mayo and Shorts chief designer Arthur Gouge, comprised the Short S.21 Maia, (G-ADHK) which was a variant of the Short "C-Class" Empire flying-boat fitted with a trestle or pylon on the top of the fuselage to support the Short S.20 Mercury(G-ADHJ).

The first successful in-flight separation of the Composite was carried out on 6 February 1938, and the first transatlantic flight was made on 21 July 1938 from Foynes to Boucherville. Mercury, piloted by Captain Don Bennett, separated from her carrier at 8 pm to continue what was to become the first commercial non-stop east-to-west transatlantic flight by a heavier-than-air machine. This initial journey took 20 hrs, 21 min at an average ground speed of 144 mph.

Another technology developed for transatlantic commercial flight was aerial refuelling. Sir Alan Cobham developed the Grappled-line looped-hose system to stimulate the possibility for long-range transoceanic commercial aircraft flights, and publicly demonstrated it for the first time in 1935. In the system, the receiver aircraft trailed a steel cable which was then grappled by a line shot from the tanker. The line was then drawn back into the tanker where the receiver's cable was connected to the refueling hose. The receiver could then haul back in its cable bringing the hose to it. Once the hose was connected, the tanker climbed sufficiently above the receiver aircraft to allow the fuel to flow under gravity.

Cobham founded Flight Refuelling Ltd in 1934 and by 1938 had demonstrated the FRL's looped-hose system to refuel the Short Empire flying boat Cambria from an Armstrong Whitworth AW.23. Handley Page Harrows were used in the 1939 trials to aerial refuel the Empire flying boats for regular transatlantic crossings. From 5 August – 1 October 1939, sixteen crossings of the Atlantic were made by Empire flying boats, with 15 crossings using FRL's aerial refuelling system. After the 16 crossings more trials were suspended due to the outbreak of World War II.

The Short S.26 was built in 1939 as an enlarged Short Empire, powered by four 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) Bristol Hercules sleeve valve radial engines and designed with the capability of crossing the Atlantic without refuelling. It was intended to form the backbone of Imperial Airways' Empire services. It could fly 6000 mi unburdened, or 150 passengers for a "short hop". On 21 July 1939, the first aircraft, (G-AFCI "Golden Hind"), was first flown at Rochester by Shorts' chief test pilot, John Lankester Parker. Although two aircraft were handed over to Imperial Airways for crew training, all three were impressed (along with their crews) into the RAF before they could begin civilian operation with the onset of World War II.

Meanwhile, Pan Am bought nine Boeing 314 Clippers in 1939, a long-range flying boat capable of flying the Atlantic. The "Clippers" were built for "one-class" luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. The seats could be converted into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation; with a cruising speed of only 188 mph. The 314s had a lounge and dining area, and the galleys were crewed by chefs from four-star hotels. Men and women were provided with separate dressing rooms, and white-coated stewards served five and six-course meals with gleaming silver service.

The Yankee Clipper's inaugural trip across the Atlantic was on 24 June 1939. Its route was from Southampton to Port Washington, New York with intermediate stops at Foynes, Ireland, Botwood, Newfoundland, and Shediac, New Brunswick. Its first passenger flight was on 9 July, and this continued only until the onset of the Second World War, less than two months later. The Clipper fleet was then pressed into military service and the flying boats were used for ferrying personnel and equipment to the European and Pacific fronts.

Maturation
It was from the emergency exigencies of World War II that crossing the Atlantic by land-based aircraft became a practical and commonplace possibility. With the Fall of France in June 1940, and the loss of much war materiel on the continent, the need for the British to purchase replacement materiel from the United States was urgent. Airbases for refuelling were built in Greenland and Iceland, which were occupied by the United States after the German invasion of Denmark (1940).

The British and United States Governments hurried a secret agreement before Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 for the United States to establish a base in Bermuda. Ultimately, the agreement would be expanded to include a United States Naval Operating Base, containing a Naval Air Station serving anti-submarine flying boats, on the Great Sound (near to the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda that had been operated for the Royal Navy with the rest of the Fleet Air Arm at its original location in HM Dockyard Bermuda until 1939 by the Royal Air Force, and the Darrell's Island airport, which the Royal Air Force took over for trans-Atlantic ferrying of flying boats such as the Catalinas, which were flown there from United States factories to be tested before acceptance by the Air Ministry and delivery across the Atlantic, usually on direct flights to Greenock, Scotland. RAF Transport Command flights, such as those flown by Coronados, also utilised the facility as BOAC and PAA continued to do) and Kindley Field, serving land planes, constructed by the United States Army for operation by the United States Army Air Forces, but to be used jointly by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. In January 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Bermuda on his return to Britain, following December 1941 meetings in Washington D.C., with US President Franklin Roosevelt, in the weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Churchill flew into Darrell's Island on the BOAC Boeing 314 Berwick. Although it had been planned to continue the journey aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York, he made an impulsive decision to complete it by a direct flight from Bermuda to Plymouth, England aboard Berwick, marking the first trans-Atlantic air crossing by a national leader. When the first runway at Kindley Field became operational in 1943, the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm relocated Roc target tugs that had been operating on floats from RNAS Bermuda to the airfield to operate as land planes, and RAF Transport Command moved its operations there, leaving RAF Ferry Command at Darrell's Island.

The time it was taken for an aircraft – such as the Lockheed Hudson – bought in the United States, to be flown to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and then partially dis-assembled before being transported by ship to England, where it was re-assembled and subject to repairs of any damage sustained during shipment, could mean an aircraft could not enter service for several weeks. Further, German U-boats operating in the North Atlantic Ocean made it particularly hazardous for merchant ships between Newfoundland and Britain.

Larger aircraft could be flown directly to the UK and an organization was set up to manage this using civilian pilots. The program was begun by the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Its minister, Lord Beaverbrook a Canadian by origin, reached an agreement with Sir Edward Beatty, a friend and chairman of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to provide ground facilities and support. Ministry of Aircraft Production would provide civilian crews and management and former RAF officer Don Bennett, a specialist in long-distance flying and later Air Vice Marshal and commander of the Pathfinder Force, led the first delivery flight in November 1940.

In 1941, MAP took the operation off CPR to put the whole operation under the Atlantic Ferry Organization ("Atfero"), which was set up by Morris W. Wilson, a banker in Montreal. Wilson hired civilian pilots to fly the aircraft to the UK. The pilots were then ferried back in converted RAF Liberators. "Atfero hired the pilots, planned the routes, selected the airports [and] set up weather and radiocommunication stations."

The organization was passed to the Air Ministry administration by retaining civilian pilots, some of whom were Americans, alongside RAF navigators and British radio operators. After completing delivery, crews were flown back to Canada for the next run. RAF Ferry Command was formed on 20 July 1941, by the raising of the RAF Atlantic Ferry Service to Command status. Its commander for its whole existence was Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill.

As its name suggests, the main function of Ferry Command was the ferrying of new aircraft from factory to operational unit. Ferry Command did this over only one area of the world, rather than the more general routes that Transport Command later developed. The Command's operational area was the North Atlantic, and its responsibility was to bring the larger aircraft that had the range to do the trip over the ocean from American and Canadian factories to the RAF home Commands.

With the entry of the United States into the War, the Atlantic Division of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command began similar ferrying services to transport aircraft, supplies, and passengers to the British Isles.

By September 1944 British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), as Imperial Airways had by then become, had made 1,000 transatlantic crossings.

After World War II long runways were available, and North American and European carriers such as Pan Am, TWA, Trans Canada Airlines (TCA), BOAC, and Air France acquired larger piston airliners that could cross the North Atlantic with stops (usually in Gander, Newfoundland and/or Shannon, Ireland). In January 1946 Pan Am's Douglas DC-4 was scheduled from New York (La Guardia) to London (Hurn) in 17 hours 40 minutes, five days a week; in June 1946 Lockheed L-049 Constellations had brought the eastward time to London Heathrow down to 15 hr 15 min.

To aid aircraft crossing the Atlantic, six nations grouped to divide the Atlantic into ten zones. Each zone had a letter and a vessel station in that zone, providing radio relays, radio navigation beacons, weather reports, and rescues if an aircraft went down. The six nations of the group split the cost of these vessels.

The September 1947 ABC Guide shows 27 passenger flights a week west across the North Atlantic to the US and Canada on BOAC and other European airlines and 151 flights every two weeks on Pan Am, AOA, TWA, and TCA, 15 flights a week to the Caribbean and South America, plus three a month on Iberia and a Latécoère 631 six-engine flying boat every two weeks to Fort de France.

In May 1952, BOAC was the first airline to introduce a passenger jet, the de Havilland Comet, into airline service, operating on routes in Europe and beyond (but not transatlantic). All Comet 1 aircraft were grounded in April 1954 after four Comets crashed, the last two being BOAC aircraft which suffered catastrophic failure at altitude. Later jet airliners, including the larger and longer-range Comet 4, were designed so that in the event of for example a skin failure due to cracking the damage would be localized and not catastrophic.

On 4 October 1958, BOAC started the "first-ever transatlantic jet service" between London Heathrow and New York Idlewild with a Comet 4, and Pan Am followed on 26 October with a Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris.

Supersonic flights on Concorde were offered from 1976 to 2003, from London (by British Airways) and Paris (by Air France) to New York and Washington, and back, with flight times of around three and a half hours one-way. Since the loosening of regulations in the 1970s and 1980s, many airlines now compete across the Atlantic.

Present day
In 2015, 44 million seats were offered on the transatlantic routes, an increase of 6% over the previous year. Of the 67 European airports with links to North America, the busiest was London Heathrow Airport with 231,532 weekly seats, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with 129,831, Frankfurt Airport with 115,420, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol with 79,611. Of the 45 airports in North America, the busiest linked to Europe was New York John F. Kennedy International Airport with 198,442 seats, followed by Toronto Pearson International Airport with 90,982, New York Newark Liberty International Airport with 79,107, and Chicago O'Hare International Airport with 75,391 seats.

Joint ventures, allowing coordination on prices, schedules, and strategy, control almost 75% of Transatlantic capacity. They are parallel to airline alliances: British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines are part of Oneworld; Lufthansa, Air Canada and United Airlines are members of Star Alliance; and Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM and Alitalia belong to SkyTeam. Low cost carriers are starting to compete on this market, most importantly Norwegian Air Shuttle, WestJet and WOW Air. A total of 431 non-stop routes between North America and Europe were scheduled for summer 2017, up 84 routes from 347 in 2012 – a 24% increase.

In 2016 Dr. Paul Williams of the University of Reading published a scientific study showing that transatlantic flight times are expected to change as the North Atlantic jet stream responds to global warming, with eastbound flights speeding up and westbound flights slowing down.

In February 2017, Norwegian Air International announced it would start transatlantic flights to the United States from the United Kingdom and Ireland in the summer of 2017 on behalf of its parent company using the parent's new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft expected to be delivered from May 2017. Norwegian Air performed its first transatlantic flight with a Boeing 737-800 on 16 June 2017 between Edinburgh Airport and Stewart Airport, New York. The first transatlantic flight with a 737 MAX was performed on 15 July 2017, with a MAX 8 named Sir Freddie Laker, between Edinburgh Airport in Scotland and Hartford International Airport in the US state of Connecticut, followed by a second rotation from Edinburgh to Stewart Airport, New York.

Long-haul low-cost carriers are emerging on the transatlantic market with 545,000 seats offered over 60 city pairs in September 2017 (a 66% growth over one year), compared to 652,000 seats over 96 pairs for leisure airlines and 8,798,000 seats over 357 pairs for mainline carriers. LCC seats grew to 7.7% of North Atlantic seats in 2018 from 3.0% in 2016, led by Norwegian with 4.8% then WOW air with 1.6% and WestJet with 0.6%, while the three airline alliances dedicated joint ventures seat share is 72.3%, down from 79.8% in 2015. By July 2018, Norwegian became the largest European airline for New York, carrying 1.67 million passengers over a year, beating British Airways's 1.63 million, while the U.S. major carriers combined transported 26.1 million transatlantic passengers.

Transatlantic routes
Unlike over land, transatlantic flights use standardized aircraft routes called North Atlantic Tracks (NATs). These change daily in position (although altitudes are standardized) to compensate for weather—particularly the jet stream tailwinds and headwinds, which may be substantial at cruising altitudes and have a strong influence on trip duration and fuel economy. Eastbound flights generally operate during night-time hours, while westbound flights generally operate during daytime hours, for passenger convenience. The eastbound flow, as it is called, generally makes European landfall from about 0600UT to 0900UT. The westbound flow generally operates within a 1200–1500UT time slot. Restrictions on how far a given aircraft may be from an airport also play a part in determining its route; in the past, airliners with three or more engines were not restricted, but a twin-engine airliner was required to stay within a certain distance of airports that could accommodate it (since a single engine failure in a four-engine aircraft is less crippling than a single engine failure in a twin). Modern aircraft with two engines flying transatlantic (the most common models used for transatlantic service being the Airbus A330, Airbus A350, Boeing 767, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787) have to be ETOPS certified.

Gaps in air traffic control and radar coverage over large stretches of the Earth's oceans, as well as an absence of most types of radio navigation aids, impose a requirement for a high level of autonomy in navigation upon transatlantic flights. Aircraft must include reliable systems that can determine the aircraft's course and position with great accuracy over long distances. In addition to the traditional compass, inertials and satellite navigation systems such as GPS all have their place in transatlantic navigation. Land-based systems such as VOR and DME, because they operate "line of sight", are mostly useless for ocean crossings, except in initial and final legs within about 240 nmi of those facilities. In the late 1950s and early 1960s an important facility for low-flying aircraft was the Radio Range. Inertial navigation systems became prominent in the 1970s.

Busiest transatlantic routes
The twenty busiest commercial routes between North America and Europe (traffic traveling in both directions) during June until August 2022 were:

1910s

 * Airship America failure: In October 1910, the American journalist Walter Wellman, who had in 1909 attempted to reach the North Pole by balloon, set out for Europe from Atlantic City in a dirigible, America. A storm off Cape Cod sent him off course, and then engine failure forced him to ditch halfway between New York and Bermuda. Wellman, his crew of five – and the balloon's cat – were rescued by RMS Trent, a passing British ship. The Atlantic bid failed, but the distance covered, about 1000 smi, was at the time a record for a dirigible.

 * First transatlantic flight: On 8–31 May 1919, the U.S. Navy Curtiss NC-4 flying boat under the command of Albert Read, flew 4526 smi from Rockaway, New York, to Plymouth (England), via among other stops Trepassey (Newfoundland), Horta and Ponta Delgada (both Azores) and Lisbon (Portugal) in 53h 58m, spread over 23 days. The crossing from Newfoundland to the European mainland had taken 10 days 22 hours, with the total time in flight of 26h 46m. The longest non-stop leg of the journey, from Trepassey, Newfoundland, to Horta in the Azores, was 1200 smi and lasted 15h 18m.

 * Sopwith Atlantic failure: On 18 May 1919, the Australian Harry Hawker, together with navigator Kenneth Mackenzie Grieve, attempted to become the first to achieve a non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. They set off from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, in the Sopwith Atlantic biplane. After fourteen and a half hours of flight the engine overheated and they were forced to divert towards the shipping lanes: they found a passing freighter, the Danish Mary, established contact and crash-landed ahead of her. Mary's radio was out of order, so that it was not until six days later when the boat reached Scotland that word was received that they were safe. The wheels from the undercarriage, jettisoned soon after takeoff, were later recovered by local fishermen and are now in the Newfoundland Museum in St. John's.

 * First non-stop transatlantic flight: On 14–15 June 1919, Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. Arthur Whitten Brown of the United Kingdom in Vickers Vimy bomber, between islands, 1960 nmi, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland, in 16h 12m.
 * First east-to-west transatlantic flight: On 2 July 1919, Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force with his crew and passengers flies from RAF East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, New York (on Long Island) in airship R34, covering a distance of about 3000 smi in about four and a half days. R34 then made the return trip to England arriving at RNAS Pulham in 75 hours, thus also completing the first double crossing of the Atlantic (east-west-east).

1920s

 * First flight across the South Atlantic: On 30 March–17 June 1922, Lieutenant Commander Sacadura Cabral and Commander Gago Coutinho of Portugal, using three Fairey IIID floatplanes (Lusitania, Portugal, and Santa Cruz), after two ditchings, with only internal means of navigation (the Coutinho-invented sextant with artificial horizon) from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

 * First non-stop aircraft flight between European and American mainlands: On 12 October 1924, the Zeppelin LZ-126 (later known as ZR-3 USS Los Angeles), began an 81-hour flight from Germany to New Jersey with a crew commanded by Dr. Hugo Eckener, covering a distance of 4867 smi.

 * First night-time flight across the Atlantic: On the night of 16–17 April 1927, the Portuguese aviators Sarmento de Beires, Jorge de Castilho and Manuel Gouveia, flew from the Bijagós islands, Portuguese Guinea to Fernando de Noronha island, Brazil in the Dornier Wal flying boat Argos.

 * First flight across the South Atlantic made by a non-European crew: On 28 April 1927, Brazilian João Ribeiro de Barros, with the assistance of João Negrão (co-pilot), Newton Braga (navigator), and Vasco Cinquini (mechanic), crossed the Atlantic in the hydroplane Jahú. The four aviators flew from Genoa, in Italy, to Santo Amaro (São Paulo), making stops in Spain, Gibraltar, Cape Verde and Fernando de Noronha, in the Brazilian territory.

 * Disappearance of L'Oiseau Blanc: On 8–9 May 1927, Charles Nungesser and François Coli attempted to cross the Atlantic from Paris to the US in a Levasseur PL-8 biplane L'Oiseau Blanc ("The White Bird"), but were lost.

 * First solo transatlantic flight and first non-stop fixed-wing aircraft flight between America and mainland Europe: On 20–21 May 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh flew his Ryan monoplane (named Spirit of St. Louis), 3600 nmi, from Roosevelt Field, New York to Paris–Le Bourget Airport, in 33½ hours.
 * First transatlantic air passenger: On 4–6 June 1927, the first transatlantic air passenger was Charles A. Levine. He was carried as a passenger by Clarence D. Chamberlin from Roosevelt Field, New York, to Eisleben, Germany, in a Wright-powered Bellanca.
 * First non-stop air crossing of the South Atlantic: On 14–15 October 1927, Dieudonne Costes and Joseph Le Brix, flying a Breguet 19, flew from Senegal to Brazil.
 * First non-stop fixed-wing aircraft westbound flight over the North Atlantic: On 12–13 April 1928, Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld and Capt. Hermann Köhl of Germany and Comdr. James Fitzmaurice of Ireland, flew a Junkers W33 monoplane (named Bremen), 2070 smi, from Baldonnell near Dublin, Ireland, to Labrador, in 36½ hours.

 * First crossing of the Atlantic by a woman: On 17–18 June 1928, Amelia Earhart Amelia Earhart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air with pilot Wilmer Stultz and copilot/mechanic Louis Gordon.

 * Notable flight (around the world): On 1–8 August 1929, in making the circumnavigation, Dr Hugo Eckener piloted the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin across the Atlantic three times: from Germany 4391 smi east to west in four days from 1 August; return 4391 smi west to east in two days from 8 August; after completing the circumnavigation to Lakehurst, a final 4391 smi west to east landing 4 September, making three crossings in 34 days.

1930s

 * First scheduled transatlantic passenger flights: From 1931 onwards, LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin operated the world's first scheduled transatlantic passenger flights, mainly between Germany and Brazil (64 such round trips overall) sometimes stopping in Spain, Miami, London, and Berlin.
 * First nonstop east-to-west fixed-wing aircraft flight between European and American mainlands: On 1–2 September 1930, Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte flew a Breguet 19 Super Bidon biplane (named Point d'Interrogation, Question Mark), 6,200 km from Paris to New York City.
 * First non-stop flight to exceed 5,000 miles distance: On 28–30 July 1931, Russell Norton Boardman and John Louis Polando flew a Bellanca Special J-300 high-wing monoplane named the Cape Cod from New York City's Floyd Bennett Field to Istanbul in 49:20 hours in completely crossing the North Atlantic and much of the Mediterranean Sea; establishing a straight-line distance record of 5011.8 mi.
 * First solo crossing of the South Atlantic: 27–28 November 1931. Bert Hinkler flew from Canada to New York, then via the West Indies, Venezuela, British Guiana, Brazil and the South Atlantic to Great Britain in a de Havilland Puss Moth.
 * First solo crossing of the Atlantic by a woman: On 20 May 1932, Amelia Earhart set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, intending to fly to Paris in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5b to emulate Charles Lindbergh's solo flight. After encountering storms and a burnt exhaust pipe, Earhart landed in a pasture at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland, ending a flight lasting 14h 56m.
 * First solo westbound crossing of the Atlantic: On 18–19 August 1932, Jim Mollison, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth, flew from Dublin to New Brunswick.
 * Lightest (empty weight) aircraft that crossed the Atlantic: On 7–8 May 1933, Stanisław Skarżyński made a solo flight across the South Atlantic, covering 3582 km, in a RWD-5bis – empty weight below 450 kg. If considering the total takeoff weight (as per FAI records) then there is a longer distance Atlantic crossing: the distance world record holder, Piper PA-24 Comanche in this class, 1000–1750 kg. FAI
 * Mass flight: Notable mass transatlantic flight: On 1–15 July 1933, Gen. Italo Balbo of Italy led 24 Savoia-Marchetti S.55X seaplanes 6100 smi, in a flight from Orbetello, Italy, to the Century of Progress International Exposition Chicago, Illinois, in 47h 52m. The flight made six intermediate stops. Previously, Balbo had led a flight of 12 flying boats from Rome to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in December 1930 – January 1931, taking nearly a month.
 * First solo westbound crossing of the Atlantic by a woman and first person to solo westbound from England: On 4–5 September 1936, Beryl Markham, flying a Percival Vega Gull from Abingdon (then in Berkshire, now Oxfordshire), intended to fly to New York, but was forced down at Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, due to icing of fuel tank vents.
 * First transatlantic passenger service on heavier-than air aircraft: on 24 June 1939, Pan American inaugurated transatlantic passenger service between New York and Marseilles, France, using Boeing 314 flying boats. On 8 July 1939, a service began between New York and Southampton as well. A single fare was US$375.00 ($ in dollars). Scheduled landplane flights started in October 1945.

1940s

 * First transatlantic flight of non-rigid airships: On 1 June 1944, two K class blimps from Blimp Squadron 14 of the United States Navy (USN) completed the first transatlantic crossing by non-rigid airships. On 28 May 1944, the two K-ships (K-123 and K-130) left South Weymouth, Massachusetts, and flew approximately 16 hours to Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland. From Argentia, the blimps flew approximately 22 hours to Lajes Field on Terceira Island in the Azores. The final leg of the first transatlantic crossing was about a 20-hour flight from the Azores to Craw Field in Port Lyautey (Kenitra), French Morocco.
 * First jet aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean: On 14 July 1948, six de Havilland Vampire F3s of No. 54 Squadron RAF, commanded by Wing Commander D S Wilson-MacDonald, DSO, DFC, flew via Stornoway, Iceland, and Labrador to Montreal on the first leg of a goodwill tour of the U.S. and Canada.

1950s

 * First jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight: On 21 February 1951, an RAF English Electric Canberra B Mk 2 (serial number WD932) flown by Squadron Leader A Callard of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment, flew from Aldergrove Northern Ireland, to Gander, Newfoundland. The flight covered almost 1800 nmi in 4h 37 m. The aircraft was being flown to the U.S. to act as a pattern aircraft for the Martin B-57 Canberra.
 * First jet aircraft transatlantic passenger service: On 4 October 1958, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) flew the first jet airliner service using the de Havilland Comet, when G-APDC initiated the first transatlantic Comet 4 service and the first scheduled transatlantic passenger jet service in history, flying from London to New York with a stopover at Gander.

1970s

 * First supersonic commercial flight across the Atlantic Ocean: On 21 January 1976, the Concorde jet made its first commercial flight. Supersonic flights were available until 2003.
 * First transatlantic flight by balloon: The Double Eagle II, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman, became the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it landed 17 August 1978 in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours 6 minutes after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

1980s

 * First solo crossing by helicopter: Dick Smith, Bell Jetranger III, August 1982.

 * First balloon crossing by a woman: In September 1986, Evelien Brink, her husband Henk and Willem Hageman completed the first transatlantic balloon flight by a European team and first with a woman aboard. The Dutch Viking (PH-EIS) completed the journey from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Almere, Netherlands in 51 hours and 14 minutes. This bested the time set by the Double Eagle II significantly, though the Dutch Viking suffered a near-disastrous landing.

Other early transatlantic flights

 * 29 June–1 July 1927: Admiral Richard Byrd with crew flew Fokker F.VIIa/3m America from New York City to France.
 * 13 July 1928: Ludwik Idzikowski and Kazimierz Kubala attempt a crossing of the Atlantic westbound from Paris to the US in an Amiot 123 biplane, but crash in the Azores.
 * 6–9 February 1933. Jim Mollison flew a Puss Moth from Senegal to Brazil, across South Atlantic, becoming the first person to fly solo across the North and South Atlantics.
 * 15–17 July 1933: Lithuanians Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas were supposed to make a non-stop flight from New York City via Newfoundland to Kaunas in their aircraft named Lituanica, but crashed in the forests of Germany after 6,411 km of flying, only 650 km short of their final destination after a flying time 37 hours, 11 minutes. They carried the first transatlantic airmail consignment.
 * 10 December 1936: Portuguese-American aviator Joseph Costa took off from the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in a Lockheed Vega named "Crystal City", attempting to cross the Atlantic and land in Portugal, via Brazil. His plane crashed just before a stopover in Rio de Janeiro, on 15 January 1937.
 * 5 July 1937: Captain Harold Gray of Pan Am flew from Botwood, Newfoundland to Foynes, Ireland, in a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat as part of the first transatlantic commercial passenger test flights. On 6 July 1937, Captain Arthur Wilcockson of Imperial Airways flew from Foynes to Botwood, in a Short Empire class flying boat named Caledonia.
 * 21 July 1938: The Short Mercury flew from Foynes, on the west coast of Ireland, to Boucherville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a flight of 2930 smi. The Short Maia, flown by Captain A.S. Wilcockson, took off carrying Mercury (piloted by Captain, later Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett).Mercury separated from the carrier aircraft to continue what was to become the first commercial non-stop east-to-west transatlantic flight by a heavier-than-air machine. This initial journey took 20 hrs 21 min at an average ground speed of 144 mph (232 km/h).
 * 10 August 1938: The first non-stop flight from Berlin to New York was with a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 that flew Staaken to Floyd Bennett in 24 hours, 56 minutes and did the return flight three days later in 19 hours, 47 minutes.

Notable transatlantic flights of the 21st century

 * 2 May 2002: Lindbergh's grandson, Erik Lindbergh, celebrated the 75th anniversary of the pioneering 1927 flight of the Spirit of St. Louis by duplicating the journey in a single engine, two seat Lancair Columbia 200. The younger Lindbergh's solo flight from Republic Airport on Long Island, to Le Bourget Airport in Paris was completed in 17 hours and 7 minutes, or just a little more than half the time of his grandfather's 33.5-hour original flight.
 * 22–23 September 2011: Mike Blyth and Jean d'Assonville flew a Sling 4 prototype Light Sport Aircraft, registration ZU-TAF, non-stop from Cabo Frio International Airport, Brazil to Cape Town International Airport, South Africa, a distance of 6,222 km, in 27 hours. The crew set course for co-ordinates 34°S 31°W to take advantage of the westerly winds and at the turning point proceeded in an easterly direction, roughly following the 35°S parallel. This took them within 140 km north of the most remote inhabited island in the world, Tristan da Cunha. The Cabo Frio/Cape Town leg was part of an around the world flight.

Failed transatlantic attempts of the 21st century
In September 2013, Jonathan Trappe lifted off from Caribou, Maine, United States in an attempt to make the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by cluster balloon. The craft was essentially a small yellow lifeboat attached to 370 balloons filled with helium. A short time later, due to difficulty controlling the balloons, Trappe was forced to land near the town of York Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Trappe had expected to arrive in Europe sometime between three and six days after liftoff. The craft ascended by the dropping of ballast, and was to drift at an altitude of up to 25,000 ft (7.6 km). It was intended to follow wind currents toward Europe, the intended destination, although unpredictable wind currents could have forced the craft to North Africa or Norway. To descend, Trappe would have popped or released some of the balloons. The last time the Atlantic was crossed by helium balloon was in 1984 by Colonel Joe Kittinger.

Records
The fastest transatlantic flight was done by a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird from New York to London in 1 hour 55 minutes in 1974. The fastest time for an airliner is 2 hours 53 minutes for JFK–London Heathrow by Concorde in 1996. The fastest JFK-LHR time for a subsonic airliner is 4 hours 56 minutes by a British Airways Boeing 747-400 in February 2020. The distance JFK-LHR is 5540 km.

title: Transatlantic flight


text:
USS Macon

USS Macon has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship or airship, and may refer to:
 * USS Macon (ZRS-5), an airship commissioned in 1933 and destroyed in a crash in 1935
 * USS Macon (PF-96), a planned patrol frigate cancelled in 1943
 * USS Macon (CA-132), a Baltimore-class cruiser heavy cruiser commissioned in 1945 and struck in 1969

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: USS Macon


text:
Sweet Baby James

Sweet Baby James is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on February 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records.

The album includes two of Taylor's earliest successful singles: "Fire and Rain", and "Country Road", which reached number three and number thirty seven on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. The album itself reached number three on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart.

Sweet Baby James made Taylor one of the main forces of the ascendant singer-songwriter movement in the early 1970s and onward. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1971, and was listed at number 104 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 it was voted number 228 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2002 the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Background
The album, produced by Peter Asher, was recorded at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California, between December 8 and 17, 1969, at a cost of only $7,600 (US$0 in dollars) out of a budget of $20,000. Taylor was "essentially homeless" at the time the album was recorded, either staying in Asher's home or sleeping on a couch at the house of guitarist Danny Kortchmar or anyone else who would have him.

The song "Suite for 20 G" was so named because Taylor was promised $20,000 (US$0 in dollars) once the album was delivered. With one more song needed, he strung together three unfinished songs into a "suite", and completed the album.

The album produced two charting singles: "Fire and Rain", backed by "Anywhere Like Heaven", which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 31, 1970, and "Country Road", backed by "Sunny Skies", which peaked at number 37 on March 20, 1971. An additional single, "Sweet Baby James", backed by "Suite for 20 G", did not chart.

Critical reception
Reviewing for Rolling Stone in 1970, Gary von Tersch observed in the music "echoes of the Band, the Byrds, country Dylan and folksified Dion", which Taylor manages to negotiate into a "very listenable record that is all his own". Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was harsher in his appraisal of the album, saying that "Taylor's vehement following bewilders me; as near as I can discern, he is just another poetizing simp. Even the production is conventional. For true believers only." In a retrospective review, AllMusic's William Ruhlmann was more receptive to "Taylor's sense of wounded hopelessness", believing it reflected "the pessimism and desperation of the 1960s hangover that was the early '70s" and "struck a chord with music fans, especially because of its attractive mixture of folk, country, gospel, and blues elements, all of them carefully understated and distanced."

Accolades

 * In 2001 the TV network VH1 named Sweet Baby James the 77th greatest album of all time.
 * In 2003, the album was ranked number 104 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, dropping to number 182 in a 2020 revised list.

Track listing
All songs by James Taylor unless otherwise noted.

Side one
 * 1) "Sweet Baby James" – 2:54
 * 2) "Lo and Behold" – 2:37
 * 3) "Sunny Skies" – 2:21
 * 4) "Steamroller" – 2:57
 * 5) "Country Road" – 3:22
 * 6) "Oh, Susannah" (Stephen Foster) – 1:58

Side two
 * 1) "Fire and Rain" – 3:20
 * 2) "Blossom" – 2:14
 * 3) "Anywhere Like Heaven" – 3:23
 * 4) "Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me" – 1:46
 * 5) "Suite for 20 G" – 4:41

Personnel
Musicians The horn players are uncredited.
 * James Taylor – guitar, vocals
 * Danny Kortchmar – guitar
 * Red Rhodes – steel guitar
 * John London – bass guitar
 * Randy Meisner – bass guitar on "Country Road" and "Blossom"
 * Bobby West – double bass on "Fire and Rain"
 * Chris Darrow – fiddle, violin
 * Carole King – piano, backing vocals
 * Russ Kunkel – drums

Technical
 * Jack Bielan – brass arrangements
 * Peter Asher – producer
 * Bill Lazerus – engineer
 * Darrell Johnson – mastering
 * Ed Thrasher – art direction
 * Henry Diltz – photography

title: Sweet Baby James


text:
Rockaway, Queens

The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the city, Rockaway became a popular summer retreat in the 1830s. It has since become a mixture of lower, middle, and upper-class neighborhoods. In the 2010s, it became one of the city's most quickly gentrifying areas.

The peninsula is divided into nine neighborhoods or sections, with Riis Park in between two of such sections. From east to west, they are:
 * Far Rockaway, from the Nassau County line to Beach 32nd Street;
 * Bayswater, located to the northeast of Far Rockaway, along the southeastern shore of Jamaica Bay
 * Edgemere, from Beach 32nd Street to Beach 56th Street;
 * Arverne, from Beach 56th Street to Beach 77th Street;
 * Rockaway Beach, from 77th Street to Beach 97th Street;
 * Rockaway Park, from Beach 98th Street to Beach 126th Street;
 * Belle Harbor, from Beach 126th Street to Beach 141st Street;
 * Neponsit, Beach 141st Street to Beach 149th Street;
 * Riis Park, Beach 149th Street to Beach 169th Street;
 * Breezy Point, from Beach 169th to the western tip. This includes the smaller areas of Roxbury and Rockaway Point, as well as *Fort Tilden

The peninsula is part of Queens Community District 14 and is patrolled by the 100th and 101st Precincts of the New York City Police Department. As of 2020, the peninsula's total population is estimated to be 124,185. All ZIP Codes in Rockaway begin with the three digits 116 and the central post office is in Far Rockaway.

Etymology
The name "Rockaway" may have meant "place of sands" in the Munsee language of the Native American Lenape who occupied this area at the time of European contact in the early 17th century. Other spellings include Requarkie, Rechouwakie, Rechaweygh, Rechquaakie and Reckowacky, transliterated in Dutch and English by early colonists. The indigenous inhabitants of the Rockaways were the Canarsie native Americans, a band of Lenape, whose name was associated with the geography. The name Reckowacky was used to distinguish the Rockaway village from other Mohegan villages; "Reckowacky" means "lonely place", or "place of waters bright". (This area was mistakenly documented as occupied by a band of Mohawk people in a 1934 source, but this Iroquoian-speaking tribe primarily occupied the Mohawk River valley in central New York, north and west of the Hudson River and Long Island.)

Other interpretations of the peninsula's indigenous name have also been proposed. One possible interpretation is "Reckonwacky", which translates to "the place of our own people", while another is "Reckanawahaha", which translates to "the place of laughing waters". Other phrases, such as "lekau" (sand) "lechauwaak" (fork or branch), also referred to the area's geography.

Early history
In September 1609, Henry Hudson and his crew were the first Europeans recorded as seeing the area of the Rockaways and Jamaica Bay. Hudson was attempting to find the Northwest Passage. On September 11, Hudson sailed into the Upper New York Bay, and the following day began a journey up what is now called the Hudson River in his honor.

By 1639, the Mohegan tribe sold most of the Rockaways to the Dutch West India Company. In 1664, the English defeated the Dutch colony and took over their lands in present-day New York. In 1685, the band chief, Tackapoucha, and the English governor of the province agreed to sell the Rockaways to a Captain Palmer for 31 pounds sterling. The Rockaway Peninsula was originally designated as part of the Town of Hempstead, then a part of Queens County. Palmer and the Town of Hempstead disputed over who owned Rockaway, so in 1687 he sold the land to Richard Cornell, an iron master from Flushing. Cornell and his family lived on a homestead on what is now Central Avenue, near the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. At his death, Cornell was buried in a small family cemetery, Cornell Cemetery.

19th century
The Cornell property was split into 46 lots in 1808 following a partition lawsuit. Several wealthy New Yorkers created the Rockaway Association, which brought many of the lots and started developing resorts in the area in 1833. Rockaway became a popular area for seaside hotels starting in the 1830s, with the first resort being founded at Far Rockaway in 1835.

In the 19th century, people traveled to the Rockaways by horse-drawn carriages or on horseback. A ferry powered by steam sailed from Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. The peninsula's popularity grew in the 1880s with the construction of the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch to Long Island City and Flatbush Terminal (now Atlantic Terminal), which facilitated population growth.

In 1878, the eastern community of Bayswater was laid out. One of Bayswater's early developers was William Trist Bailey, who had purchased the property. In 1893, much of Hog Island, a small sandbar island off the coast of Far Rockaway washed away in a hurricane. The remainder of the island eroded by 1902. Plates, along with older artifacts, still wash up along the shore of Rockaway Beach.

The Rockaway Peninsula was originally part of the Town of Hempstead, then a part of Queens County. In 1897, the central peninsular towns of Hammels (named after a local landowner, Louis Hammels) and Hollands merged, and were incorporated as the Village of Rockaway Beach. Rockaway split from the Town of Hempstead and along with the three western Queens townships of Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown plus Long Island City, formed the new borough of Queens, which was consolidated into Greater New York City in 1898 (the remainder of Hempstead Town, plus the two other eastern Queens townships of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay did not become part of the borough and ultimately split from Queens with the formation of neighboring Nassau County in 1899). The village of Rockaway Park became incorporated into the City of Greater New York on January 1, 1898.

Early 20th century

In the early 1900s, a new railroad station opened up the community and the rest of the peninsula to a broad range of the population. The wealthy no longer had a monopoly on the peninsula, and various amusement parks, stores, and resort hotels attracted people from all over the city to spend a day or a whole summer there. Much of the area was developed by James S. Remsen and William Wainwright. In this era, it became known as "New York's Playground". Around this time, Breezy Point in the Rockaways began as a neighborhood of summer beach bungalows; this kind of house became the most popular type of housing during the summer months. Even today, some of these remain, converted to provide modern amenities, although the vast majority were razed in urban renewal during the 1960s.

In 1900, a New York State judge ordered that the land west of Rockaway Park be put up for auction. Belle Harbor and adjacent Neponsit were bought by Edward P. Hatch, who sold it to the West Rockaway Land Company in 1907. Residential lots in Belle Harbor were auctioned off in 1915. Belle Harbor was named by the president of the West Rockaway Land Company, Frederick J. Lancaster, who had earlier developed the Rockaway neighborhood of Edgemere. In 1905, before Lancaster acquired the land, a group of men wishing to form a yacht club entered into a grant agreement with the West Rockaway Land Company. The group, which had named itself the Belle Harbor Yacht Club, bought property from the company for $4,000. The agreement included 200 square feet of land and thirty plots of upland. That same year, the group received corporation status from the State of New York and by 1908 began participating in its first interclub ocean races with some of the city's other yacht clubs. A new street system, based on numbered streets with the prefix "Beach", was laid out for the Rockaways in 1912 to help development.

The central-peninsula neighborhood of Hammels, along with the eastern communities of Arverne and Far Rockaway, tried to secede from the city several times, complaining that consolidation had brought high taxes and poor services. In 1915 and 1917, a bill approving the secession passed in the legislature but was vetoed by then-Mayor John Purroy Mitchel.

Rockaway's famous amusement park, Rockaways' Playland, was built in 1901 and quickly became a major attraction for people around the region. With its growing popularity, concern over swimming etiquette became a problem and early in 1904, the Captain of the NYPD, Louis Kreuscher, issued rules for those using the beach, censoring the bathing suits to be worn, where photographs could be taken, and specifying that women in bathing suits were not allowed to leave the beachfront. The park was grand for its time. One of its most popular attractions, the Atom Smasher roller coaster, would be featured at the beginning of This is Cinerama, a pre-IMAX type movie, in 1952. An Olympic-size swimming pool and a million-dollar midway also were built within the amusement park; they would serve the community for more than 80 years. It was a popular place for New York families until 1985, when insurance costs and competition from major regional parks made it impossible to continue operations.

Arverne became well known as a beachfront community with inexpensive summer bungalows, and hotels of varying levels of expense and luxury as well as amusements and boardwalk concessions, and it also attracted a year-round residential community. One grandiose plan for the community included a canal running through the neighborhood, reminiscent of the Amstel canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The canal was never built; its right-of-way became Amstel Boulevard, which, except for a stub west of Beach 71st Street, was later incorporated into Beach Channel Drive.

The first transatlantic flight departed from Neponsit on the Rockaway Peninsula. On May 8, 1919, four United States Navy Curtis-model seaplanes took off from what is now Beach Channel Drive to Newfoundland, Canada, the Azores Islands, and Lisbon, Portugal. Finally, on May 31, 1919, one of the planes, piloted by Lt. Commander Albert C. Read, arrived in Plymouth, England.

Robert Moses era

In the 1930s, Robert Moses came to power as New York City's Parks Commissioner and his extensive road and transportation projects were both a benefit and a disaster for the neighborhood. As commissioner, Moses ordered the construction of the Marine Parkway Bridge and the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge. The bridges were completed in 1937 and 1939 respectively. The Marine Parkway Bridge was built farther west on the peninsula between Jacob Riis Park and Breezy Point linking the isolated communities to Brooklyn. The Cross Bay Bridge landed in the middle of the neighborhood of Rockaway Beach. The construction of the two bridges started to transform the neighborhood and the rest of the peninsula into a more year-round residential area or commuter town, as people had a more convenient way to travel to and from work. The conversion of the Rockaway Beach LIRR branch to the Rockaway subway line also brought an increase to Rockaway's permanent residents. Robert Caro, who wrote The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, stated "Why did the Rockaways end up with so much government-financed housing? Largely because Robert Moses wanted it there."

Although the bridges were intended to improve the Rockaways, Moses' other projects both directly and indirectly hurt the community. One such failed project was the planned construction of the Shore Front Parkway in the 1950s and 1960s. Wanting to connect Staten Island to the Hamptons, Moses focused on making a highway through the Rockaway Peninsula. His idea was to connect the Marine Parkway Bridge with the Atlantic Beach Bridge, which connected the Rockaway Peninsula to Nassau County. The plan would also provide an extension midway through to include the Cross Bay Bridge. Many feared that such an extensive project would do more harm to the peninsula than good and pointed to the community displacement that had happened in the South Bronx because of Moses' roadway construction Even though Moses never got to make his highway, he did leave his mark. A piece of the planned parkway that ran west to east in the Rockaway Park and Rockaway Beach neighborhoods was constructed and opened in 1939. Houses were cut in half to build the four-lane street. Some of these houses are still standing today. The existing, still unfinished street is locally known as the "road from nowhere to nowhere" because it does not have any relevant connections to any other area or highway.

Robert Moses' construction of other recreational areas and facilities, such as the New York Aquarium and Jones Beach State Park, indirectly affected the neighborhood as well. These more modern recreational facilities lured tourists and beachgoers away from the peninsula. With fewer customers, businesses and hotels closed, and by the 1950s, the area had fallen into economic decline. The transition from a summer vacationing area to a full-time residential neighborhood had taken its toll.

Late 20th century

After World War II, several large public housing projects were built in the region as part of Moses' overall citywide neighborhood redevelopment plans, but these eventually became hotbeds of crime and related social pathologies. This provoked a backlash from some of the peninsula's more established residents (many of whom are of Irish Catholic heritage). A strong Jewish community (most of whose members are Ashkenazi Jews) also exists in and around Far Rockaway. For example, the city constructed the Hammel Houses in Rockaway Beach, one of the many urban renewal efforts that dominated the community and much of its eastern neighbors in the last half of the 20th century. The New York City Housing Authority purchased the land in 1952 on the north side of the elevated track. In 1964, the Authority decided to demolish and rebuild the entire area and turn it into a park.

With the advent of inexpensive travel, air-conditioning, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and the Interstate Highway system, Rockaway lost its luster as a recreation area, and development transformed much of it into residential communities.

In 1960, Breezy Point was sold to the Atlantic Improvement State Corporation for $17 million; the residents of the 3,500-home community purchased half of the land for about $11 million and formed the Breezy Point Cooperative. The construction of apartment buildings commenced in the late 1960s and was halted by City ordinance. At the same time, much of the housing in the area was converted into year-round housing for low-income residents, and some of the bungalows were used as public housing. In Arverne, the New York City Planning Commission approved the designation of a 302 acre Arverne renewal area in 1964. However, for thirty years, the area went mostly undeveloped.

In 1998, Broad Channel's Labor Day parade included a float that parodied the racially motivated dragging death of an African American man, James Byrd Jr. Entitled "Black to the Future - Broad Channel in 2098", the float carried white men wearing blackface and Afro wigs, including two city firefighters and a city police officer who were fired from their jobs after their participation came to light. They sued the city for wrongful termination, and their claims were upheld in federal district court in 2003. Residents expressed support for and relief at the ruling, hoping that an end to the court battle would help to rehabilitate the image of the town. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the ruling in 2006, holding that the firings could stand.

21st century

After decades of grand redevelopment plans that fell through — for casinos, sports arenas, and other projects — planning began in 2002 for a large vacant section between Rockaway Beach and Arverne. By 2004, people were moving into the first completed buildings of the Arverne-By-the-Sea development. By 2012, the development included some 2,300 homes. That sparked nearby retail development. Far Rockaway Shopping Center, in downtown Far Rockaway between the Far Rockaway subway station, and the Far Rockaway LIRR station, got its first new store in decades. Phase I of construction was completed in 2011; Phase II was begun in 2006.

Elsewhere, along the beach, zoning laws written decades ago for the hotel trade have allowed developers to build high-rises alongside the smaller old and new houses. In response, some communities have approved rezoning plans for their neighborhoods to stop "out of character" development.

Opponents also contend that due to the rapidly growing population, the current infrastructure is inadequate and that there are environmental issues to consider. Those in favor of the development, however, contend that the development will help spur economic development and that the infrastructure cannot be upgraded until the population has reached a more noticeable level. Furthermore, some developers have questioned the legality of "down zoning". On August 14, 2008, however, a rezoning plan that limits the size of some buildings was approved by the New York City Council for five communities on the peninsula covering 280 blocks. The communities that were included are Rockaway Park, Rockaway Beach, Somerville, Edgemere, and Far Rockaway.

With more and more people moving to the city, the Rockaways become a destination for adventurous day trippers. The area appears in New York Magazine's 2007 spring travel issue as a place for "male bonding" and to "scuba dive for sunken ships" via Sheepshead Bay's Jeanne II docks at Pier Five. Today, the area still draws crowds during the summer with well-tended beaches. Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden are situated towards the western end of the peninsula, and are part of the Gateway National Recreational Area, which was created in 1972 as one of the first urban national parks. The 5.5 mi long Rockaway Boardwalk and 170 acres of sandy beaches, fully accessible by the subway, make this a popular summer day trip for New York City residents. Toward the western end of the boardwalk, several portions of the beach are fenced off to preserve the nesting habitat for several species of terns and plovers, making for a unique urban birdwatching locale.

After 2010, there was a major resurgence in the Rockaways' popularity. Various media began reporting on artists such as Andrew VanWyngarden, co-founder of popular psychedelic rock band MGMT, purchasing homes on the beach. The peninsula was dubbed "Williamsburg on the Rockaways" because some surfers from there began to spend whole summers out in the Rockaways. A number of businesses that cater to them have become popular among these down for the day tourists. There is even a summer shuttle bus which transports people from Williamsburg to the Rockaways.

In February 2016, the Rockaway Peninsula was one of four neighborhoods featured in an article in The New York Times about "New York's Next Hot Neighborhoods".

19th and 20th centuries

Storms and fires damaged many of the attractions on the Rockaway Peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On August 24, 1893, an intense storm, later classified as a hurricane, destroyed Hog Island, a mile-long island off the Rockaway coast that supported bath houses, restaurants and other leisure-time venues. On January 3, 1914, a violent storm devastated the peninsula, and swept the 1,200-seat Arverne Pier Theater away to sea. On June 15, 1922, much of Arverne was leveled by a fire that left about 10,000 people homeless, although the neighborhood was quick to rebuild.

On June 6, 1993, a ship called the Golden Venture beached near Fort Tilden on the western half of the Rockaway Peninsula. The ship contained 296 Chinese illegal immigrants, including 13 crew members. Ten people drowned trying to reach shore.

2001 disasters
Over 70 Rockaway residents were killed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, including people who worked there and New York City Fire Department firefighters and EMS personnel dispatched to the location. The city later opened Tribute Park on Jamaica Bay north of the Beach 116th Street shopping area in Rockaway Park, dedicating it to their memory. In the center of the park is a piece of twisted steel from the ruins of the trade center's Twin Towers. Solemn ceremonies are held at the park every September 11, including a reading of the names of all the locals who perished on that day.

Almost exactly two months after 9/11, on November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Belle Harbor, killing 265 people: 260 aboard the aircraft and five on the ground. Many of the passengers on the plane were from the Dominican community in Washington Heights, Manhattan. A temporary memorial was developed at the actual site of the disaster, on Newport Avenue. But after consultation with the families in the Belle Harbor and Washington Heights communities, a public memorial was erected at the south end of Beach 116th Street, a major shopping district and transportation hub in the area. Ceremonies commemorating the disaster are held at the memorial every November 12, including a reading of the names of all of those killed in the crash. In 2001, a resident told The Guardian: "It's impossible to understand unless you live here ... Father Michael Geraghty, a priest quoted in the same article, said that it was common for people to live in the houses that their parents lived in and that many families lived in the same houses for generations. The neighborhood suffered heavy losses from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." The impact of the 9/11 attacks and Flight 587 on the community was the subject of the book Braving the Waves: Rockaway Rises, and Rises Again by Kevin Boyle. The book contained many personal accounts of Rockaway residents and is interspersed with descriptions of other disasters in the Rockaways.

Hurricane Sandy
In October 2012, Rockaway was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Many homes, especially in Breezy Point, were damaged or destroyed by high water, or by fires that raged beyond the capability of first responders to contain them. Residents lost everything in their basements, and hundreds of vehicles were ruined. One car caught fire when someone tried to start their vehicle, but residents put the fire out before official help arrived. On August 4, 2013, Senator Charles Schumer announced that the first phase of reconstruction on the beach, completed, would lay the groundwork for a second contract awarded later during the summer of 2013, totally paid for by the federal government through the Hurricane Sandy relief bill.

During the storm, a fire spread between the closely spaced houses of Breezy Point, while firefighters' access to the area was greatly hampered by flooding. It destroyed 126 homes and damaged 22 more. Thousands of other houses were damaged by the flooding. Fires also wreaked havoc along several blocks of Beach 130th Street in Belle Harbor, and among storefronts along Rockaway Beach Blvd. near Beach 114th Street in Rockaway Park. Large portions of the Rockaway Boardwalk were swept away by the floodwaters, leaving only its supporting piers. The FDNY found 130 homes burned to the ground. Nearby, another 50 homes were damaged by the fire. According to an official report in December, rising seawater caused the fire by contacting a house's electrical wires. "Whalemina," a large, brightly colored statue of a smiling whale that had been a beloved iconic symbol of Rockaway since the 1990s, disappeared from Beach 94th Street near the Boardwalk and was presumed to have been swept out to sea.

Communities

 * Arverne – between Beach 56th Street and Beach 79th Street
 * Bayswater – located to the northeast of Far Rockaway, along the southeastern shore of Jamaica Bay
 * Belle Harbor – between Beach 126th Street and Beach 141st Street
 * Breezy Point – located on the westernmost portion of the Rockaways, west of Fort Tilden
 * Broad Channel – while not technically on the peninsula, it is located just north of the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge
 * Edgemere – between Beach 32nd Street and Beach 56th Street
 * Far Rockaway – between Nassau County line and Beach 32nd Street
 * Hammels – along Beach 84th Street; also extends to Beach 79th Street
 * Neponsit – between Beach 142nd Street and Beach 149th Street
 * Rockaway Beach – between Beach 73rd Street and Beach 108th Street
 * Rockaway Park – between Beach 105th Street and Beach 126th Street
 * Roxbury – west of Marine Parkway Bridge, on the north side of Beach Channel Drive/State Road
 * Seaside – between Beach 84th Street and Beach 105th Street

Demographics
Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of the Rockaways, including Broad Channel, was 114,961, a change of 8,261 (7.2%) from the 106,700 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 4758.96 acres, the neighborhood had a population density of 24.2 PD/acre.

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 35.2% (40,446) White, 38.9% (44,663) African American, 0.3% (309) Native American, 2.2% (2,555) Asian, 0.1% (63) Pacific Islander, 0.8% (877) from other races, and 1.7% (1,950) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21% (24,098) of the population.

The entirety of Community Board 14, which comprises the Rockaways and Broad Channel, had 114,390 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 76.5 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 26% are between the ages of 0–17, 25% between 25–44, and 26% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 14% respectively.

As of 2017, the median household income in Community Board 14 was $54,012. In 2018, an estimated 18% of Rockaway residents lived impoverished, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 53% in Rockaway, slightly higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation,, Rockaway is considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

Police and crime
Rockaway is patrolled by two precincts of the NYPD. The 101st Precinct is located at 16-12 Mott Avenue and serves Far Rockaway, while the 100th Precinct is located at 92-24 Rockaway Beach Boulevard and serves the rest of the peninsula. The 100th and 101st Precincts collectively ranked 10th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. However, the low-income and densely populated 101st Precinct has significantly more crime than the 100th Precinct, which is high-income and more insular. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 71 per 100,000 people, Rockaway's rate of violent crimes per capita is greater than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 824 per 100,000 people is higher than that of the city as a whole.

The 100th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 74.5% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 2 murders, 5 rapes, 38 robberies, 93 felony assaults, 59 burglaries, 161 grand larcenies, and 17 grand larcenies' auto in 2018. The 101st Precinct also has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 74.6% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 6 murders, 26 rapes, 151 robberies, 301 felony assaults, 98 burglaries, 250 grand larcenies, and 31 grand larcenies' auto in 2018.

Fire safety
Rockaway is served by these New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:
 * Engine Company 329 — 402 Beach 169th Street
 * Engine Company 268/Ladder Company 137 – 257 Beach 116th Street
 * Engine Company 266 – 92-20 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
 * Engine Company 265/Ladder Company 121/Battalion 47/EMS Station 47 – 303 Beach 49th Street
 * Engine Companies 264 and 328/Ladder Company 134 – 16-15 Central Avenue

Health
, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are more common in Rockaway than in other places citywide. In Rockaway, there were 113 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 20.9 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Rockaway has a relatively average population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 11%, which is slightly lower than the citywide rate of 12%.

The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Rockaway is 0.006 mg/m3, the lowest of any neighborhood in the city. Sixteen percent of Rockaway residents are smokers, which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Rockaway, 32% of residents are obese, 15% are diabetic, and 34% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 20%, 14%, and 24% respectively. In addition, 23% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.

Eighty-nine percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 75% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", slightly lower than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Rockaway, there are 8 bodegas.

The only large hospital on the Rockaway Peninsula is St. John's Episcopal Hospital South Shore.

Post offices and ZIP Codes
Rockaway is covered by multiple ZIP Codes. From west to east, they are 11697 (Breezy Point), 11694 (Rockaway Park), 11693 (Broad Channel), 11692 (Arverne), and 11691 (Far Rockaway). The United States Post Office operates four locations in Rockaway:
 * Arverne Station – 329 Beach 59th Street
 * Far Rockaway Station – 18-36 Mott Avenue
 * Rockaway Station – 113-25 Beach Channel Drive
 * Rockaway Beach Station – 90-14 Rockaway Beach Blvd

Parks and recreation
The western portion of the Rockaway Peninsula is located within the Gateway National Recreation Area. The National Park Service operates three sites as part of the area. Jacob Riis Park is located near the western end of the peninsula, covering approximately 262 acre west of Beach 149th Street in Neponsit. Fort Tilden, a group of historic military installations, is located west of Jacob Riis Park. The final part, Breezy Point Tip, is a 200 acre beach that is also a wildlife breeding area.

NYC Parks operates city-owned parks along the peninsula. Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, extending nearly seven miles from Beach 9th to Beach 149th Streets on the Atlantic Ocean. Park attractions along the beach and boardwalk include numerous play areas, restrooms, sporting fields, concession stands, and other facilities. Rockaway Beach is New York City's only open-ocean surfing beach, with designated 365-day surfing areas at Beach 69, Beach 90, and Beach 110 Streets; surf lessons are offered at Beach 69th Street. There are also three wildlife sanctuaries: the Dubos Point Wildlife Sanctuary, Brant Point Wildlife Sanctuary, and Vernam Barbadoes Preserve. Other parks from west to east include Beach Channel Park, Tribune Park (a 9/11 memorial), Rockaway Community Park, and Bayswater Park. In Arverne, an empty lot is being proposed for conversion into Thursby Basin Park.

One state park operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Bayswater Point State Park, is located in Bayswater next to NYC Parks' Bayswater Park.

Education
Rockaway generally has a lower ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city. While 35% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 22% have less than a high school education and 43% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Rockaway students excelling in math rose from 32% in 2000 to 58% in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 35% to 48% during the same time period.

Rockaway's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is greater than the rest of New York City. In Rockaway, 29% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, more than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 71% of high school students in Rockaway graduate on time, less than the citywide average of 75%.

Public elementary and middle schools

 * P.S./M.S. 42 Robert Vernam
 * P.S./M.S. 43 The School by the Sea
 * P.S. 47 Chris Galas
 * P.S. 104 The Bayswater School
 * P.S. 105 The Bay School
 * P.S. 106 Light House Elementary School
 * P.S./M.S. 114 The Belle Harbor School
 * P.S./M.S. 183 Dr. Richard Green
 * P.S. 197 The Ocean School
 * P.S. 215 Lucretia Mott (closed in 2015)
 * P.S. 225 (closed in 2008)
 * P.S. 253 The Randolph Holder School for Social Justice
 * P.S. 256
 * M.S. 53 Brian Piccolo
 * M.S./H.S. 323 Scholars' Academy

Public high schools

 * Far Rockaway High School (closed in 2011)
 * Beach Channel High School (closed in 2014)
 * Scholars' Academy
 * Channel View School for Research

Parochial and private schools

 * Stella Maris High School (closed in 2010)
 * Beth El Temple
 * Chaim Berlin High School
 * Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR)
 * Mesivta Chaim Shlomo
 * Bnois Bais Yaacov
 * Tichon Meir Moshe
 * Sh'or Yoshuv Institute of Jewish Studies
 * Siach Yitzchok Elementary School for Boys
 * Torah Academy for Girls
 * West End Temple
 * Yeshiva Darchei Torah
 * Yeshiva of Far Rockaway
 * The Hebrew Institute of Long Island
 * Yeshiva Bnei Torah
 * St. Francis de Sales
 * St. Camillus
 * St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy
 * Church Of God Christian Academy
 * St. Mary Star of the Sea
 * Scholars' Academy
 * Nikitas Language Abroad Schools, a series of language schools
 * St. Virgilius School, a Roman Catholic School that was part of the Diocese of Brooklyn, closed in 2006, as part of Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio's effort to close, en masse, Catholic schools with low enrollment.

Synagogues

 * Agudath Israel of Long Island
 * Agudath Israel of Rockaway
 * Agudath Israel of West Lawrence
 * Bayswater Jewish Center
 * Beis Medrash Ateres Yisroel (Rabbi Avraham Blumenkranz)
 * Bnos Israel Institute (Rabbi Shmelke Rubin)
 * Congregation Kneseth Israel in Far Rockaway
 * Congregation Shaarey Tefila
 * Congregation Shaarey Zedek
 * Congregation Shomrai Shabbos
 * Young Israel of Far Rockaway
 * Young Israel of Wavecrest and Bayswater

Libraries
Queens Public Library operates four branches in Rockaway:
 * The Arverne branch at 312 Beach 54th Street
 * The Far Rockaway branch at 1003 Beach 20th Street (temporary location). The old library at Central Avenue is being replaced with a new structure, and construction started in November 2018.
 * The Peninsula branch at 92-25 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
 * The Seaside branch at 116-15 Rockaway Beach Boulevard

Transportation
Rockaway is served by multiple transportation services.

Trains and subways
The New York City Subway's IND Rockaway Line has two branches on the peninsula. The eastern branch, served by the, serves the eastern Rockaways and contains a terminal at Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue station. The western branch, served by the, serves the central Rockaways and terminates at Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street station. The latter was the terminal of the former Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR).

The Far Rockaway terminal station for the LIRR's Far Rockaway Branch is located in Far Rockaway. The branch had originally been part of a loop that traveled along the existing route, continuing through the Rockaway Peninsula and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens where it reconnected with other branches. Frequent fires and maintenance problems led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line.

Buses
MTA Regional Bus Operations routes include local and Manhattan express buses. Also, Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) routes include  in Far Rockaway only. Unlike other NICE routes in Queens, these buses operate open-door in Far Rockaway, meaning customers can ride these buses wholly within the neighborhood without necessarily going to Nassau County. NYC Beach Bus, a privately operated shuttle bus between downtown Brooklyn or Williamsburg and the area around Beach 84th Street and Jacob Riis Park, also runs in the area. One can also take a converted former school bus named Rockabus from Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Ferry
After Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 destroyed much of the IND Rockaway Line, ferry operator SeaStreak began running a city-subsidized ferry service between a makeshift ferry slip at Beach 108th Street and Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Park and Pier 11/Wall Street in Manhattan's Financial District, then continuing on to the East 34th Street Ferry Landing. In August 2013, a stop was added at Brooklyn Army Terminal. The service was extended multiple times. finally ending on October 31, 2014. On May 1, 2017, NYC Ferry's Rockaway route started operations between Pier 11/Wall Street in Manhattan's Financial District and Beach 108th Street in Rockaway Park, with a stop at Brooklyn Army Terminal.

Culture
The Rockaway Arts Council provides a wide range of events throughout the year. Two art groups in Rockaway, the Rockaway Theater Company and the Rockaway Artists' Alliance, hold most of their productions in Fort Tilden.

Cultural references include:
 * Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poetry collection Far Rockaway of the Heart (New Directions, 1998) ISBN 0-8112-1347-1
 * Boardwalk Empire, a popular HBO series (2010-2014), was partially filmed at Fort Tilden and the Boardwalk, standing in for Atlantic City in the 1920s.
 * Jill Eisenstadt's classic novel From Rockaway is set within the world of Rockaway's lifeguard culture during the 1980s. Her 2017 novel, Swell, brings back some of the same characters over one eventful weekend in June 2002.
 * In the early 1980s, Christine Lavin, a New York-based folk singer, wrote the poignant song "Rockaway" about her family home.
 * Woody Allen's Radio Days, a 1987 movie about a working-class family during the Golden Age of Radio, was filmed on location in Rockaway Park, with period facades and cars.
 * Patricia Reilly Giff's 1998 Newbery Award-winning novel Lily's Crossing is set in the Rockaways. The story, about a girl's friendship with a Hungarian refugee, was inspired by the author's own childhood memories of Rockaway Beach during World War II. A companion book, Willow Run, features Rockaway as the home of Margaret Dillon, a child whose family moves in 1944 to Willow Run, Michigan (now between Ypsilanti, Michigan and Belleville, Michigan) to work at Henry Ford's Willow Run B-24 Liberator bomber plant as part of the United States civilian war effort.
 * Naomi Ragen's 2002 semi-autobiographical novel Chains Around the Grass is set in a public housing project in Rockaway, reflecting Ragen's own upbringing there.
 * The 2010 documentary film Our Hawaii, by Kryssa Schemmerling, explores the surf culture that sprang up at Rockaway starting in the late 1960s.
 * The Rockaways' distance from the heart of the city and seeming status as a sleepy, isolated, career-killing backwater far from the big-city hustle and bustle and professional challenge of police work in fast-track Manhattan was noted in a Season 8 episode of NYPD Blue ("Thumb Enchanted Evening"); dismayed by the news that detective squad leader Arthur Fancy has been promoted to captain and will soon leave the 15th Squad, Andy Sipowicz warns him that "when you're out in Far Rockaway, working some serial purse-snatcher, don't say nobody warned you."
 * On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Susie Meyerson is from Broad Channel Avenue in the Rockaways.
 * The Ramones' song "Rockaway Beach", on their 1977 album Rocket to Russia, became the American punk rock group's highest-charting single, peaking at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100. Written in the surf rock style of the Beach Boys and other similar bands, the song was composed by the group's bassist, Dee Dee Ramone, who liked to spend time on the beach there. In 2013, the 36-year-old song was revived in a radio ad campaign aimed at promoting Rockaways' beaches as part of the peninsula's post-Hurricane Sandy recovery effort.

Rockaway Beach

 * Alexa Naas (born 1989), mixed-race tech leader, born and raised in Rockaway Beach.

title: Rockaway, Queens


text:
User talk:J. Newnham

Welcome to Wikipedia! We're glad to have you with us. I saw your article on Sweet Baby James. You might be interested int Wikiproject Albums. You can ask any editing questions you might have at Help desk. Good luck! Yours, Meelar 13:19, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

hiya Jon, how are you? Jon oh wait the shrouded mystery of your name is gone im so so.... sorry JON (not). see you next time i see you Paulley

title: User talk:J. Newnham