On Saturday of my stay in Danbury I decided to go to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, NY. The idea was suggested by the instructor of the class I am taking as I asked about the military museum in Danbury (which he hadn't heard of). The Aerodrome is a museum and air show wrapped into one with the ability to take a 15 minute biplane ride to boot. Being a fan of the World War I era this seemed very up my alley as the main concept in the Aerodrome is WWI and just beyond vintage era airplanes.
I got up early as I always do and planned to get there around about their opening time which is at 10am on the weekends (they only have the air shows on the weekend and obviously weather matters). I wasn't sure how long it would take so after eating breakfast and gassing up the Jeep I headed out probably too early. I took the top down for good measure because it promised to be a beautiful day and that held up to the end. I got to the place about 50 minutes before opening time but they had opened up their parking lot at least. I was the first person there. The drive probably took about an hour and 20 minutes but I didn't speed at all. The ride was very scenic and there weren't many cars on the road that early in the morning on Saturday which was nice. The kid that opened the parking lot had to direct people around and I spoke to him for a few minutes. The Aerodrome was opened by Cole Palen who died in 1993. He started with preserving one vintage era airplane and then the neighbors and such joined in and suddenly they really had something going. I was told the place has been open for around or over 50 years. Being early I watched them pulling out all the aircraft that are stored in various hangers. Some are replicas and some are mostly original. Obviously, airplanes around 100 years old aren't going to be all original. The ones they pulled on the field are all flyable. Some are wing worn but can at least take off. They display that during the air show at the end of the day.
The reason I arrived so early is because they have a first come first served opportunity to ride in a 4 passenger biplane, the New Standard D-25. It is a touch expensive at $65 for the 15 minute or so ride but once you get up in the air you can easily see it is worth it. Anyone I spoke to who did it, myself included, really enjoyed the ride. I was solo of course so I had to wait until the 3rd ride because they try to do things efficiently. The first couple rides only have 2 passengers because of the fuel load but they then put me on the third with a couple from New Jersey. I will say it was tougher to be in the front seats because the cockpit is high in the front but not so much where the back 2 seats are. Still it was easy to look over the sides I think. They take you up and through a ride to the Hudson River where the pilot does a figure 8 over a highway bridge over the river. Then you come around and over the airstrip then circle back and in for the landing. I think it might get up to about 1500 feet or so. I tried to take pictures of the landing but I am not sure how they came out. I was having battery troubles at the time or I might have tried to video it.
The positive to arriving so early is that I got to ride the biplane for sure. The mild negative was having to kill time until the 2pm air show. I managed that by visiting the hangers museum which has non-flying airplanes and replicas (though apparently all could fly at one time) and by generally walking around and chatting with folks. They have a snack shop and 2 gift shops as well. the weather was beautiful but at times I was hiding from the sun a bit.
The air show included them demonstrating some of the older planes (they apparently had a period fashion show but I couldn't really see it from where I sat) they did a few tricks with some of the more flyable planes such as cutting toilet paper they dropped from the plane or attempting to bust balloons launched from the ground. They had a simulated dog fight as well as some other stuff on the ground that was geared more towards the kids (there were a lot of kids out there). The show lasted about 2 hours and was very fun to watch, especially the acrobatics. They have a replica Fokker Dr.I which is the plane that was made famous by the Red Baron (the triplane) and a Spad VII that did a very fun mock air combat. I learned it is hard to video airplanes in the air but tried anyway.
I should also mention they had vintage cars and some of them even drove.
All in all it was a full and very enjoyable day. I would highly recommend seeing Aerodrome some day in your life. I cannot think of anyplace else like it. Indeed they claim to be the only place in the world like it.
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