Floyd Bennett Field was
New York City's first municipal
airport, later a
naval air station, and is now a park. While no longer used as an operational commercial, military or general aviation airfield, a section is still used as a helicopter base by the
New York City Police Department (NYPD). Located in
Marine Park, southeast
Brooklyn, the field was created by connecting
Barren Island and a number of smaller marsh islands to the mainland by filling the
channels between them with sand pumped from the bottom of
Jamaica Bay. The airport was named after famed
aviator and
Medal of Honor recipient
Floyd Bennett, a Brooklyn resident at the time of his death. It was dedicated on June 26, 1930, and officially opened on May 23, 1931. The
IATA airport code and FAA airfield identifier code was
NOP when it was an operational naval air station and later coast guard air station, but now uses the
FAA Location Identifier NY22 for the heliport operated there by the NYPD.