Cole Palen's Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

[Spad13]

Adding to the history and magic of Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome were the visits by World War I pilots. My all-time favorite, Arthur Ray Brooks was always a joy to talk with. He had such wonderful stories, and stayed very alert right up to the end. In the back seat I believe is Ken Porter and Douglas Campbell. Todd Scheff is their driver escort.

[Spad13]

Here is another angle of the WWI pilots on that day in 1984. Everyone is smiling and enjoying their ride past the audience. Meeting these pilots was like stepping back through a time portal. I consider myself very fortunate to have been at the Aerodrome when they visited. They gave me a glimpse into the past that conveyed their integrity. Truly special people.

[AAC Cadet Leader]

Spad13,
Those are great! Love the joy on their faces. Thanks for sharing.

[AAC Cadet Leader]

Here are just a few of Cole Palen's devoted followers. I took this shot sixteen years ago in September of 1988 on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.

SPAD 13..... the gent sitting next to ken porter is not doug campbell, but i got all three ww1 pilots to sign mr.campbell's book. his name is walter muther. i think that is how he spelled it, as his writing is typical of his eras pilots. a little ricitty from age and tiny to fill in as much info on the limited space in his logbook as possible. mr. brooks liked to ride in the the 22nd aero squadron model "t", as he said it was his favorite fliver.



cadet leader....on rained out weekends,cole would take a group on a tour thru the hangars on the hill and tell the great stories about his aeroplanes. the best part being how he came by such and such a machine. ofcourse, i always threaten to take a tape recorder along,but sadly i never got that together.
it seems you were in the correct building to hear one of my favorite quips about the thomas pusher. but then again, how could a person have only one favorite cole palen story. all his tales were beyond ordinary men.

[AAC Cadet Leader]

HERE CAT !!! Posted on Sep 12 2004, 04:15 PM

you were in the correct building to hear one of my favorite quips about the thomas pusher. but then again, how could a person have only one favorite cole palen story. all his tales were beyond ordinary men.

HERE CAT !!!, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to hear what he told about the Thomas Pusher. Please tell us!

[curtisswright]

I think Mr. King showed his home movies of the aerodrome in the Theater/Giftshop on rainouts as well. Am I remembering this correctly Mr. King?

[Spad13]

On rainout days, Cole would give hangar talks and videos were shown in the field gift shop. These were so entertaining that it made up for the disappointment of the inclement weather. The end of the season parties were also a swapping of tales and great hilarity. I remember when Dick King had everyone rolling with laughter as he told "how hard" he really tried to get the "Spandeau Award of the Year for Most Pitiful Pilot," only to lose out to someone else at the end of each show season. This award was determined by the legendary "Mike Spandeau" who served to keep all personnel humble, in a fun way of course, with various awards for mistakes made during the show season.

Another award would be the "Defoliator of the Year" for pilots who had flown a bit too close to the trees and unintentionally picked up branches in their landing gear. Ofter the branch itself would serve as the trophy. Clever rhymes and play on words would accompany the presentations, and Rob Tholl would do an excellent job at these tongue in cheek ceremonies.

Guest speakers might be WWI pilot Arthur Ray Brooks or Captain Johnny "From Jennies to Jets" Miller. I remember Johnny bringing a collection of stereoscopes that were of his landing an autogyro on the white house lawn! Absolutely incredible.

Below is another exciting shot I found recently of Cole Palen with one of the
Aerodrome bombs that dropped from the skies onto the village of Barley-duc. Dick Laudermilk had a special formula for these bombs to create spectacular fireballs that sometimes singed the hair off the performer's arms. this looks like one of those.

[greenknight]

Every September gets me thinking back to Rhinebeck Jamborees in years past, and some of the wonderful models flown there.

A pioneer in the building and flying of 1/4 scale World War I models was Mr. Lou Perretti. I recall reading somewhere that a discussion with Cole Palen helped get him going on developing his Giant Scale models. I saw him fly this great Siemens-Schuckert in Ernst Udet's markings circa 1979......

[greenknight]

Also from 1979 or so was this stunning Bristol Scout D, designed, built, and flown by Hank Iltzsch. He did well in the Jamboree events with this model, and he flew a great mock combat demonstration with Perretti's Siemens-Schuckert.

The graceful maneuvers of these early Giant Scale models made the smaller models I was flying look like lawn darts.