Rhinebeck Museum trouble

Probably Paul's story.

So are you doing any shows this season with your Triplane with the Rhinebeck crew?

[WWIModelGuy]

Gentlemen: Unless a lot of positive action is happening behind the scenes, that the readers of this forum are not privy to, it is time to get serious. Creation of a "formal" organization, with identified leaders and assignments, a concrete plan of action, a timetable, and a lawyer with establishment of a legal fund is of paramount importance. Let's set a time and place to meet and get the ball rolling on this. Again, unless this is taking place already in the background, the time for BS is nearing an end and the time to act is upon us. I live in Florida, have a career and family that keep me very busy, but would be most willing to actively participate to help make the current aerodrome "leadership' both responsive and responsible to competent oversight.

I was there the day Paul Richards crashed the Sopwith Snipe. Cole did what he told me to never do, let some hot pilot fly your airplane. He repeated this once more when he let a “top Gun” F-14 pilot fly his Warner Triplane. I each case the a/c was destroyed and the pilot only rec’vd minor injuries-and a damaged ego. Each time he said to me, “don’t ever let me do that again.”

The snipe had a Bentley Rotary engine and no throttle as such. It had a fuel lever and an air lever (Gnomes only have a fuel lever, the air is constant.) that the pilot could adjust to get a good running mixture to the engine. Whenever you moved one of these levers it usually took several seconds before the change got to the engine. Therefore on landing and TO you had to have a good running mixture and just “blip” the engine to control airspeed. Paul adjusted the levers with Cole’s help and took off. He flew around for 20-25 minutes and decided to buzz the aerodrome. It was spectacular to watch, as this was one of the first few times it had flown.

After he buzzed the field (to the south) he pulled up into a perfect wingover and came diving back down towards the runway, heading to the north as he started to level out the thin trail of blue smoke that accompanies all rotary engine (burnt castor oil) suddenly turned to black smoke, and it was pretty heavy. Cole was standing nervously next to me and said for no one in particular to hear, “dammit”. He knew Paul and his a/c were in trouble.

Paul was a good pilot, and that was the problem. When he completed his wingover and started back towards the runway he instinctively closed (what he thought was) the throttle. He had now lost the mixture and with the plane flying down the runway on its own momentum. As Paul pulled up to clear the trees at the north end of the field he realized his predicament, he had lost the mixture. He tried in vain to do another wingover to get the a/c facing down the runway again, but there just was not enough airspeed left to complete the maneuver. The Snipe hit the ground in a 45-degree angle. The landing gear collapsed and the wings were badly damaged. Luckily, Paul was uninjured as he climbed over the top wing to get out.

Gordon Bainbridge rebuilt the Snipe and today it hangs at the NASM in Washington, a donation of Cole’s to them.

WWIModelGuy

Let not your heart be troubled. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and people are working very hard at it too. I'll leave it at that so that I don't give anything away.

Hang in there, we're making progress, but it's a slow process. The board would love nothing more than to see us get frustrated and either become divided or just all together give up. The board has done some bad things and they will answer for it. In the end I believe good will prevail.

God save the ORA!

I'm new to this group but not new to the aerodrome.
I was around before most of the people being discussed here even visited for the first time, with the exception of a few kings. I also helped Cole in the early days when it didn't matter as much "How the airplanes looked but simply that they flew". I saw many people come and go, now I wonder why some of the people that left have come back shouting that they care so dearly about "the most important place on earth". Without knowing "Disney Daley" I can't comment on his ability but I can certainly bet that many of the facts and history were never brought to his attention. The people accusing others of carelessness and negligence have never mentioned any of the things they have been guilty of. Has One of the youngest triplane pilots, andrew king, mentioned he was fired by Cole Personaly? Has DICK king mentioned the time he spun a piper cub into the ground after becoming disorientated? or the crash landing, make that -hard landing in the new standard which left the firewall buckled and the airplane unairworthy? Or the fact that he wrote a derogatory letter to the media when he was let go? Why have these people waited until Cole, Rita, Bob L. and Bob T. were gone before they returned so concerned? I read a post a while back asking someone to get to the point and make the accusation- well DICK asked the question "what about the Dolphin?" I can see that whoever brought it up didn't have the guts to tell the whole story; A certain mechanic that was working for a major airline left the spark plugs loose in the Hispano engine causing the crash of Coles Replica sopwith Dolphin. This person was "protected" by his aerodrome family and by his uncle. This is also the same person charged and fined by local authorities for low flying over the Hudson river in his fathers Tiger Moth.
There were times when I would look down on the field, and wonder how long it would last, and this was almost twenty five years ago! Now it's time to make a choice support a worthy organization or support a few people that aren't telling you the ENTIRE story.

[baldeagle]

Well, oldtimer, welcome to the forum. Some of your statements seem to have kernels of truth embedded somewhere in them. I guess you were standing with myself and Cole on that third Saturday in October 1986 after I flew my last airshow at Rhinebeck. He was upset about me looping the Tiger Moth over the Aerodrome the previous Sunday evening, and told me that he was suspending me from flying the remaining two airshows. He told me that the next year he had been planning to have me hop rides in the New Standard, but that that was no longer going to happen. I told him not to worry about it, that the next year I was going to move on and do something else. I didn't notice you or anyone else standing nearby, I guess you're relying on the kind of rumors that get started at places like that when things like that happen. It makes me wonder how much, or should I say how little truth there is to the other things you claim to know. You've stated some "facts" that I never heard of, and I think I would've. And unless he was faking it, Cole always seemed very glad to see me whenever I visited Old Rhinebeck in the years since, and I always considered him a friend. I don't think he would react the same way to some of the people who are running the place now.
Why did people wait to step forward? Have you actually read the posts here? Because there is a big problem now that there wasn't before, Disney Daly and cohorts. And you don't think that Bob Love and Bob Tator had similar worries before they died? You bet they did.

And in the old days, nobody could "protect" anyone around ORA except Cole, he was the boss, with all the responsibility and accountability. If the current crowd could handle that with 1% of the ability of Cole this forum thread wouldn't exist.

Also, the New Standards were known to have weak landing gear, the cause of what you call a "crash landing" in your exaggerated style, there was nothing wrong with the landing until the landing gear failed, which happened twice by the way, and I saw the first time, and it was a greaser (good landing). The landing gear was later strengthened to prevent re-occurance.

Thank you for your obviously well intentioned input. I suppose you're trying to help, what else could be your motivation?

Andrew King

Old Timer (and others....)

If you read carefully enough you'll come to the conclusion that the thread is not about "who crashed what", but whether or not the current management is doing what is in the best interest of ORA.

If you want to talk about who crashed what, make a list of every accident at the aerodrome and the pilot involved and I'm sure you'll see that the blame for those incidents can be equally spread among just about everyone who ever flew there. As you know, it's the nature of the beast.

Otherwise it would be best to stick to the topic at hand and the key questions about the fuiture of ORA - to wit :

1) Is there a long range plan ? If so when will the membership - or anyone else - get to see it ?
2) Who are the AP(s) & IA(s) who have a single day of experience with WW I airframes and engines who will ensure we will not lengthen the list of crashes considerably this season.
3) Why were DeMarco and Jan Durand re-hired after being fired ?
4) Why were Ken & Scott fired ? Still no reason I've ever heard or seen published.
5) Why have more than 40 people left the aerodrome either voluntarily or having been coerced to do so over the last few years who had direct contact and insight into what Cole intended for ORA.
6) Why the frivolous lawsuit against Chris Rogine ?
7) Why are the board meetings held in secret ?
8) Why does the board think it needs the Police to enforce their "Home Land Security" initiative? And as a correllary, who the hell thinks any terrorist is stealing an Albatros to use as a flying bomb ?
9) Why would the board refuse a sizable grant or visrtually cease all fund=-raising activity?
10) And what, please tell me, will happen to the collection, the grounds, the buildings and all the museum holdings, when the current group of miscreants finally get their wish and the place folds ?

I have answers to all these and thanks to the efforts of some who are genuinely interested in the continuation of the Aerodrome in the "Palen Tradition", so do the NY State authorities. I would list another 50 questions, but they would only serve to prepare the opposition as to the depth and breadth of our knowledge. If you think the above list is provacative ....

This forum is not the place to air these questions - but they will be aired in time.

I am quite sure Old Timer, you knew Cole and his intentiosn for the Aerodrome. I am also quite sure you know many of the incidents which have woven the fabric of ORA over time and yes there are some that are embarassing to the participants.

But -- the issue here is the continued operation of ORA. Perhaps you have forgotten that, but most here have not.

[WWIModelGuy]

Davis D1W: Thank you very much for responding to my post, it did put my mind at ease somewhat. I'm not frustrated, I just have a desire to contribute positively in a meaningful way, over and above the writing campaign.

Old Timer: Also, welcome to the forum; however, please refrain from counterproductive gossip. Your accusations, true or not, are completely irrelevant. The postive contributors to this forum are looking for ways to make the aerodrome better. If you can help in some way that's great, otherwise please fnd some other form of amusement.

[wingnut]

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Here we go again. Hey, Old Timer. You are right. Disney Daly, probably was not informed on all the history of the Aerodrome. There is alot. The Board informed him, just what they wanted him to know. Who is bad for the future of the Aerodrome and who has got to go. Daly, gave the impression of a good familoy man that did not want to get involved with the polictics of the place. " Just want to run the airshows". Well, I saw him in action. He has his own agenda, along with the Boards. Disney Daly, turned out to be as cruel and ignorant as the Board. Their sinister goal is hidden. So, Flawless Oldtimer. Give it up.

[wingnut]

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If you ever told someone the current story of the Aerodrome, they might think you are just exaggerating. The reciever of the story might just stare at you. What can one say? Sounds like a good screenplay for a Blockbuster movie.
Lets see. We have the good, the bad, and the demented. Characters involved include; a couple of Harley boys, a disjockey with an oversized overhead cam with a small crankshaft, felons, soon to be felons, want to be felons, a carpenter with a crooked hammer, a dizzy Disney that acts goofy, a smiling two faced handshaker. Rip Van Winkle, a Flying Pea Brain, Kings and Queens, a blood thirsty She Beast, cops and robbers, a forger, a kicking pot bellied bloat, slob bosses with an invisible clipboard, a bunch of grease monkeys, a treasure map, and a treasure chest.
I tell you, this could be a big hit. Make it into a multi series. Its so unbelievable. But true. Talk about conflict in a screenplay.
There will be a resolution in the movie. The sunrise comes up. Shining on Cole Palen's dream. At high noon, the Board and their slobs are seen in the next SUV, high tailing it out of town.