Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)

The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a living museum of World War I aircraft and antique automobiles.

Located in Rhinebeck, New York, USA, the aerodrome is the inspiration of Cole Palen (1925–1993), who himself was partially inspired by the existence of the Shuttleworth Collection in England, regularly flew many of the aircraft during weekend airshows as his alter-ego "The Black Baron". These airshows still continue mid-June through mid-October, and biplane rides are available before and after the shows.

The simple early shows led to a philosophy of not only showing the aircraft in their natural environment, but also providing a fun and entertaining day out for the whole family. From this the air show that the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome was to become famous for was developed. This included a zany melodrama, inspired by the storylines of silent film melodramas of the past, featuring Cole Palen-created characters such as the daring Sir Percy Goodfellow doing battle with the Evil Black Baron (loosely based on the Red Baron and originally-and hilariously-portrayed by Palen himself) for the hand of the lovely Trudy Truelove.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome features many remarkable World War I aircraft that can be seen nowhere else in the world today, especially flying. For example, Palen built a Fokker Triplane that flew for many years. Carrying the American registration number N6221, it was one of Palen's first reproduction aircraft projects to fly when Old Rhinebeck opened in the mid-1960s. It is still there on static display, complete with its Le Rhône 9J rotary engine.