BusTalk

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 12:42 am Post subject: 'Another of Mr. L's Stories'

The following is another of the many essays that I originally presented on BTN, and now reprise here for your enjoyment.

I had said that I was running out of stories but I do remember one about the very beginnings of what is now ‘JFK’ Airport which might be of interest, and I have placed it in the Green Line forum because of its relevance.

Idlewild Airport (which was named originally for the tiny town that it occupied in southern Queens), was officially opened sometime in 1948.

I was all of ten years old at the time (I guess I’ve just given away my age) but I remember going to the grand opening (which was referred to as an ‘exposition’) with my father.

Upon entering the property we were directed to one of a number of makeshift parking fields on the outskirts where buses then took us to the grandstands.
Ah yes, the buses; I seem to remember that they were CofNYBOT ‘paired window’ old looks which must have been brand new at the time (probably either 5101’s or 4510’s which arrived in 1948).

I was amazed at the vastness of the field, and the fact that it was still so baron frightened me.
There was no eleven story control tower yet and the main ‘terminal’ (if that was what you could have called it) was no more than a very large military style Quonset hut.

There were several huge hangars in construction on the far eastern end of the property, and a group of small brick buildings stood in the same direction (one of which was unquestionably the old Green Line Cornell Park garage).

The event was very much like an air show complete with acrobatic displays.
There was one unfortunate incident which involved a radio controlled miniature airplane that collided with the chimney of one of those brick structures (I can’t say whether it was the GBL garage or not).

It was in this same time frame that Green Bus Lines was awarded exclusive ‘transit’ rights to the facility, and the Richmond Hill Circle branch of the Q10 line was extended all the way in to the terminal (actually, the only stop at the time!).

Most of the Q10 airport passenger base was not made up of air travelers (they usually came from Manhattan via cab or Carey bus) but of airport personnel including cockpit crews and flight attendants that shared ‘layover’ apartments in Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill.

The main concrete access road (now an extension of Van Wyck) was completed and became a ‘raceway’ especially for the fast Carey Flxible Clippers (followed by their 4104’s and 4106’s). We were all convinced that Carey made some deal with the Port Authority Police because they never touched them. Of course, the Green Line Diesels with broken governors were no slowpokes either!

The ‘austere’ operation at Idlewild (which then became NY International) lasted for a number of years until the late fifties when passenger travel really began to explode with the introduction of long range jets.
The rest, as they say, is history!

I have another interesting memory of the airport; I became fast friends with one of the original ‘hired’ Green Line drivers by the name of Dick Houston (the hired drivers began to proliferate around 1934 when the business increased to the point that the ‘stockholder’ drivers could no longer cover all the runs).

Dick drove a P.M. shift on Q10 alternating between Hamilton Beach and the airport and I used to ride along with him once in a while when I had nothing else to do.

This was a particularly cold and snowy evening in the dead of winter and, as we approached the airport, the storm turned into a blizzard!
As I remember, we did get the passengers to the terminal but there was no way we were going to get out the same way we came in! (It was so bad that the rubber door edges became covered in frost!).

Fortunately, Dick new of a short cut over the runways that got us to the back road and eventually to what is now JFK depot (and that’s where a bunch of us spent that night!).

Below is a GM ad campaign shot taken at the new main terminal in 1952 showing off Green Line #352 - a just delivered TDH 5104.

Mr. Linsky
"The Green Hornet"
Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica & Arverne, NY

Cyberider · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 501 Location: Tempe, AZ

Airports were great places back then when you could go to watch the planes. I don't go near them anymore.

Nice picture of the GBL bus at the airport! Would have been a more convincing ad for increasing earnings if it had a full compliment of passengers! Laughing

Q65A · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:45 pm Post subject:

Nice story, Mr. L!
I remember seeing those dark green Carey Clippers on the LIE when I was a kid; those buses were fast! I think they ran between LGA, JFK, and the East Side Airlines Terminal in Midtown. They were replaced by PD-4104's and PD-4106's.

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 4:04 pm Post subject:

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:57 am Post subject:

Cyberider · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 501 Location: Tempe, AZ

Hart Bus · Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150

Mr. Linsky

Science Fiction that could become Science Fact!

If you were to move away from the Earth fast enough (and I'm talking at speeds of about a billion times that of light), and you had a powerful enough telescope you could actually see the images projected from 1950 as they continue traveling through space forever!

I know what Einstein said about not being able to exceed the speed of light, but I don't really believe it, and I think we will eventually break that barrier!

In the meantime, I'll just keep watching old 'Star Trek' episodes!

Mr. 'L' (I wouldn't sign my full name to this one!).

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:53 am Post subject:

BrooklynBus · Age: 74 Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 135 Location: Brooklyn

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:20 pm Post subject:

BrooklynBus,

Not to take away from your step uncle's ability to predict but, by 1960 the 'space race' was already heating up what with 'Sputnik's' launch in 1957 followed very quickly with our own successful orbitings.

What your step uncle did have was a very good grasp of what these meager attempts would eventually lead to!

By the age of fourteen (1952), I had already reasoned that everything in space was orbiting something else and held in place by gravity (eg; the Moon around the Earth, the Earth around the Sun, the Sun around the Milky Way Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy around orbiting along with a 'local group' of galaxies etc).

From that postulation, I came to realize that something extremely large and very strong (gravity wise) must have been at the center of our own Galaxy to hold it together - I thought it would be a huge sphere of matter -it turned out to be a 'black hole'!

In my latest attempt at being a 'would be' astronomer I predict that our Universe may be one of 'billions' if not 'trillions' in existence, but I'm afraid we will never know if I'm right or wrong!

Back to reality; Idlewild was the original and only name for the airport taken from the name of the small town in which it was located (Major Anderson rings no bells at all).

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Jamaica, NY

BrooklynBus · Age: 74 Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 135 Location: Brooklyn

Mr. Linsky,

Unfortunately, my step uncle died just a couple of years later and never got to see us land on the moon.

I believe the latest thinking in astronomy agrees with your views that there are indeed billions of universes out there.

I just looked up Idlewild / JFK on wikopedia and it says that there once was an Idlewild golf course on part of the land.

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:40 am Post subject:

BrooklynBus · Age: 74 Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 135 Location: Brooklyn

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:17 pm Post subject:

BrooklynBus,

I would imagine that just as the early settlers who migrated from the City of Brooklyn to what is now Nassau County (used to be part of Queens), and named their new settlement 'Lynbrook' (backwards for Brooklyn), it may be that another Brooklyn group moved themselves to Queens and dubbed their new area Brooklyn Manor.

If you're from Brooklyn or have ever had anything to do with Brooklyn (I was born there) you know that it has a 'charm' about it (even with the bodies that my boys float down Redhook! - only kidding) that carries with you wherever you go.

I would move back to Brooklyn in a 'New York minute' if it weren't for the weather - I miss it!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY