Faces From Mitchel Field: Portraits and Stories 1917-1961 Forgotten Eagles (Beneath the Shadows of Wings) Paperback – February 10, 2026

"Faces From Mitchel Field." is a historical non-fiction book that explores the 44-year history of Mitchel Field, the historic airfield on Long Island, New York. A lifetime of research, ten years of writing and 2 1/2 years focused solely on this first volume. Profusely illustrated, most of the hundreds of photos come from the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s archives, along with a few additional public and private sources. The book provides a glimpse into life at Mitchel Field through the eyes and the stories of 38 individuals who served there. Five sections cover the “Cradle of Aviation" period from 1908-1917, World War I, Between the Wars, World War II, and the post-war era up until its closing in 1961, with a large focus on the World War II years. It draws from numerous newspaper, official military, and government documents, as well as many archival primary sources.The heritage and legacy of Mitchel Field is a compelling narrative that reached far beyond the local environs of the Hempstead Plains, Long Island and New York State. It linked Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century visionary drawings of flying machines to the drama of 20th century aviation, and influenced not only the history of scientific and aerial achievement, but the history of America and the world as well. Its story brings together many well-known aviation pioneers and some of the most iconic figures in American history, who started their careers and forged their future on the dusty fields and runways of Mitchel Field, and documents a compelling journey of the human spirit.Glenn Curtiss, Teddy and Quentin Roosevelt, Generals Curtiss LeMay, and James “Jimmy” Doolittle, and even Babe Ruth, all spent time at the Mitchel Field. Many lesser-known heroes of aviation history, like Major Caleb Haynes, and Lieutenants Colin Kelly and Benjamin S. Kelsey, and total unknowns, like Henry von Twistern, Erwin Silsbee, and Anne Passmore, and John Mainwaring also left their indelible mark upon the honor roll of Mitchel Field’s illustrious history.Bronx born and raised, John Purroy Mitchel, became the 95th Mayor of New York City in 1914. After failing to win re-election in 1917, he enlisted in the U S Army Air Service in World War I. Killed during training in Louisiana at the age of 38; his full story is included within the pages of this book. The popular “Boy Mayor” of New York, received the ultimate memorial when the Army officially re-named a fledgling new airfield on Long Island in his honor in 1918. Mitchel Field in Hempstead, Long Island, soon became the preeminent air base on the east coast and a training ground for well-known and unsung aviation heroes who played leading roles in military and aeronautic history.Even before I could drive, my friends and I rode our bicycles to Mitchel Field to spend hours and days exploring the abandoned runways, buildings and repurposed hangars and barracks. Many remain today, drawing me continually back, where I often think of Joshua Chamberlain’s inspiring words, first spoken on the Gettysburg Battlefield. “In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls.”Ponder those famous words as you slowly wander around the deserted field. Slide your shoe pensively across an oil-stained tarmac. Listen for the sound of coughing piston motors echoed by the restless wind. Aircraft lift into the sky and ghostly footfalls clamber. Softly whispered voices linger in the darkened corners of abandoned buildings and hangars. Forgotten men and women, hidden between twilight and years gone by, urgently beckon from beyond the past, crying to be heard. Their remarkable stories are waiting no longer, for they have come back home to dream their dreams again. Hear them now, under one big sky above the Hempstead Plains, embraced beneath the shadows of wings, and the vision-place of souls. Read more