Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: Keeping Cole's dream alive

Flight Journal, Jun 1998 by Davisson, Budd

As museums go, this one is unique in all the world. It is unique because its a living, breathing entity that smells of castor oil and conducts its daily life to the rhythm of blipping Gnomes and slow turning Mercedes. Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, near Kingston, New York, an hour or so north of the "Big Apple," has been, is, and will continue to be what is quite possibly the most enjoyable educational experience to be had in aviation. To put it as simply and as seriously as possible: if you haven't experienced Old Rhinebeck, you haven't really experienced old-time aviation.

On another front if you haven't experienced what is now known as the Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum, you've missed a family-outing opportunity that extends in so many different directions at once it is a spider web of fun, education and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

When journeying to Old Rhinebeck it is important that you forget any preconceived notions of what you'll find because whatever those notions may be, they will be wrong. Yes, there's a museum. Yes, there are more operational pioneer, WW I and Lindbergh-era aircraft than can be found in a single spot anywhere else. Yes, there are hangars and displays and the obligatory signs explaining everything. All of the accouterments of the usual aviation museum are there, but they are combined in a manner unlike anything you've ever seen.

Let's start with the concept that is Rhinebeck. Cole Palen, its founder who passed away at the age of 68 in 1993, lived and breathed early aviation. Rescuing six, original WW I aircraft from the closing of Roosevelt Field, New York, in 1951, Palen very early decided that providing an opportunity simply for viewing historic aircraft wasn't enough. Aircraft belonged in their element, and to experience them meant flying them. He became a zealous proponent of putting the very beginnings of aviation in front of people in such a way that they would come away with a much purer understanding of that part of history. It was the way in which he put those aircraft in front of the public that made him unique.

Starting with a rocky piece of land in lower New York state, he hacked away the trees and called what was left a runway. Cole was the very best at making do with what's at hand and the rocky, crooked, sloping runway is a classic example. Although it has recently been widened to comply with FAA crowd-clearance requirements, it is, to modern eyes, still a sorry excuse for a runway. No one at Rhinebeck, however, would have it any other way. It fits the quirky ambiance that is Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.

Central to the Rhinebeck Experience is seeing the very earliest part of aviation as it was. The runway is part of that. So is the seemingly haphazard collection of openfaced hangars, stuffed here and there into the trees and depressions of the ridge, that crowd the runway. Although there's ticket taker at the gate, the impression you'll get is you've just walked onto an airport circa 1917 that is struggling to stay in business. There are no glitzy, super-slick hangars with shining floors and audiovisual systems. In fact, most of the hangars have no doors and the floors may be dirt The faded facades advertise Sopwith and AV. Roe aircraft. And Curtiss and Bleriot. The place looks as if it has been there unchanged since right after the Great War. It has a truly unusual, friendly feel about it.

The aircraft, like everything around them, all have a well-used, lived-in look. There is none of that perfect-as-amodel-airplane feel that infects museum aircraft elsewhere. And they all drip oil. If you stand close enough, you don't have to be told it's castor oil. It has "that smell." But don't reach out and touch that greasy-looking Le Rh6ne or Gnome rotary. It may be hot. These aren't just display aircraft They are living aircraft that have to work to earn their keep.

The Nieuport XI, complete with an original 80hp rotary, is part of the weekly show, as are the Camel and the Fokker D.VIII replica. All use original rotary engines. This is perhaps the only place in the world where a person can be treated to the sights and sounds of as many as four rotary engines running simultaneously. Even the Fokker D.VII replica uses an original powerplant Its Mercedes engine may be the only one flying regularly anywhere in the world. The Hisso-Jenny is not just the only original of its type still flying, but it may well be the only original Jenny anywhere in the world that flies twice a week as part of the shows.

The shows are a warm, hyper-kinetic spoof in which the dastardly Black Baron is constantly trying to win over or, failing that, steal Trudy Truelove from our dashing hero, Sir Percy Goodfellow. That "spoof," however, is nothing more than a dramatic excuse to put a varying combination of airplanes into the air. The dogfights are played out by the Camel, Fokkers, Jenny, Avro 504K and other aerial actors. Pioneering airplanes such as an original Bleriot or a reproduction 1910 Hanriot or Santos-Dumont Demoiselle do their imitation of flight as they fly from one end of the runway to the other, clearly demonstrating just how marginal that period of flying machine could be. From 10 a.m. until sunset (except during the airshow), the Aerodrome's 1929 New Standard D-25 biplane is on a nonstop schedule as it rumbles lazily into the air, taking four passengers at a time in its huge front cockpit for oldtime barnstorming tours.