| It had somehow appeared tattered and | | | | Herb Gregory, a former Navy pilot and another retired |
| weathered-and lifeless. The closed metal gates at the | | | | American Airlines captain who had flown the 727, the |
| entrance to the dirt-and-grass parking lot impeded | | | | 757, the 767, and the MD-11, had been found turning a |
| vehicle entrance. The chain extended across the | | | | wrench on an OX-5 engine in one of the hangars. |
| covered, wooden footbridge, gateway to the grass | | | | Now in his third year at Old Rhinebeck, he had set his |
| airfield and time portal to the barnstorming era of | | | | sights on flying its pioneer aircraft, but had been unable |
| aviation, sported a simple sign: "Sorry. We're Closed." | | | | to do so because of the medical certificate which had |
| Having made numerous trips here over the years, I | | | | lapsed since his 1999 airline industry retirement. |
| remember it when it had taken on life, its arteries | | | | Indeed, Old Rhinebeck had represented aviation's |
| pumped by the sound of rotary engines; the smell of | | | | origins and it had been the location to which airline |
| castor oil; the aromas of hamburgers cooking on the | | | | industry employees had seemed to return after their |
| canteen's grill; the characters, such as the Black Baron | | | | careers in "modern" aviation, resulting in a full cycle. |
| and Trudy Truelove; the mock dogfights of the | | | | Old Rhinebeck had been staffed by a full-time |
| biplanes; and the roar of the audience, for whom it had | | | | secretary and its Chief Pilot and Mechanic, Bill Gordon, |
| all been orchestrated. Now, there had been only | | | | throughout the winter, during which time he, along with |
| silence. | | | | a skeleton staff of two or three, had succeeded in |
| The small pond, like a sheet of glass, reflected the | | | | providing much-need restoration of the Fokker D.VII, |
| name of this magical place painted on the rear, gray | | | | the Sopwith Camel, and the Sopwith Dolphin. |
| metal-covered wall of the Curtiss hangar: "Old | | | | The rolling grass field, newly mowed and appearing |
| Rhinebeck Aerodrome." | | | | velvet-green, gleamed under the noon-approaching sun, |
| It is early morning, on June 6, 2009, and the sun, | | | | the aerodrome's north-south and only "runway," |
| triumphantly piercing the gray strata, thresholds a | | | | seemingly waiting for use. It would not be long now. |
| warm, beautiful day. Paradoxically, that day thresholds | | | | Aircraft, orchestratedly tugged, lifted, and pushed by |
| a new season. | | | | the ground crew volunteers, emerged from the |
| Like a lifeless body, awakening from a long winter and | | | | aerodrome's many hangars, locations of their winter |
| a soggy spring, the aerodrome needed an infusion of | | | | hibernations and, alas, the area immediately beyond the |
| soul to resurrect it. And that infusion slowly began to | | | | frail fence had provided the purpose for which it had |
| occur: one by one, the staff members, volunteers, and | | | | been intended: an aircraft-cradling flight line. The New |
| pilots arrived. This had been the way that the | | | | Standard D-25 had been the first to be "awakened" |
| comatose airfield had been brought back to life every | | | | for the summer. |
| year, except that the June 6 date had marked its | | | | The collective sounds of activity and voices broke the |
| half-century milestone. | | | | silence experienced during my earlier arrival, as the |
| The yellow-and-white, striped tent, assembled next to | | | | New Standard had been washed and prepared. It |
| the snack stand, had provided the meeting point of the | | | | would certainly not be long now. |
| team, cohesively bonded by the mandatory, annual | | | | Shortly after, the first of the season's patrons, in the |
| safety briefing given by Tom Daley, Old Rhinebeck | | | | form of a child-holding family, filtered through the |
| Aerodrome board member, retired police helicopter | | | | aerodrome's time portal, and the antique cars, |
| pilot, and professor at Dowling College on Long Island. | | | | periodically belching smoke, rendezvoused with them |
| Assembled under the canopy had been two distinct | | | | and drove them down the grass field. For the children, |
| groups: the young, aspiring members who had been | | | | it had been the ride of their lifetimes. I would hazard a |
| about to embark on their aviation careers, and the | | | | guess that their parents had shared some of those |
| mature members who had mostly traveled that career | | | | emotions. |
| path, united by the torch passed from the latter to the | | | | But the greatest sign of life, and one which could not |
| former and the interest in and enthusiasm for early | | | | be heard at any other airport in the world, had been |
| aviation, which had produced the collective spirit. That | | | | the first sputter of the D-25's 220-hp Continental |
| spirit, more than the aircraft's engines, had been the | | | | engine, which filled its cylinders with air and took its first |
| propelling force behind it all. | | | | breath in months, as if it had been a new-born. |
| Part of that cohesion had emanated from the | | | | The definitive sight-and-sound verification of Old |
| aerodrome's mission statement, which had been | | | | Rhinebeck's emergence from winter had occurred |
| reviewed as "to educate the public on early aviation's | | | | when the five-seat New Standard, still only occupied |
| spirit, sights, sounds, smells, period dress, and evolution. | | | | by its pilot, taxied to the north end of the field and |
| We do this," it had continued to purport, "through | | | | unleashed a throaty roar into the air as a result of its |
| interpretation, display, and operation of aircraft and | | | | full throttle advancement, disengaging itself from the |
| vehicles built or designed from the beginning of | | | | ground and climbing skyward. In order to retain |
| powered flight through pre-World War II. Our core | | | | currency, pilots had to make three take offs and |
| values are safety and customer satisfaction." | | | | landings to a full stop every 90 days. |
| Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's collective spirit had been | | | | I looked round, torched by the high-noon sun. The |
| comprised of numerous, individual spirits. | | | | Bleriot XI, the Avro 504K, and the Great Lakes had |
| Joe O'Connor, for example, an American Airlines pilot | | | | been removed from their own winter hibernations, now |
| since 1986 and currently rated on the Airbus A-300, | | | | sharing the sun with me. The ground crew had |
| had just entered his second year at the aerodrome | | | | dedicatedly engaged in its aircraft servicing and fueling |
| and had been involved with ground operations-namely, | | | | pursuits. A considerable number of people had been |
| aircraft repositioning, cleaning, fueling, and field safety. | | | | attracted to the admission-free, pre-season event and |
| Although scheduling conflicts had precluded him from | | | | now littered the field, admiring the aircraft and peering |
| flying any of the aircraft in the collection, he had been | | | | into the hangars. Another family had been transported |
| contemplating the transition to flight operations and had | | | | by an antique car. The gift shop's door, for the first |
| hoped to be checked out on its pioneer designs, such | | | | time in months, had been ajar. The D-25 side-slipped |
| as the Bleriot XI, the Curtiss D Pusher, and the Hanriot. | | | | on to the grass, carrying passengers. |
| "Where else in the world can you fly aircraft like | | | | Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome had once again been alive, |
| these!" he had enthusiastically exclaimed. | | | | infused by the soul which gives life to any "body" and |
| Hugh Schoelzel, Old Rhinebeck Airshows president, | | | | one which had reached its 50th birthday. Cole Palen, |
| had an extensive aviation career, having been in the | | | | indeed, would have been proud of what he had |
| Air Force and having flown all of the Boeing pure-jets | | | | "fathered." |
| designs, from the 707 to the 767, during his 37-year | | | | One week from now, the 2009 season will have |
| tenure at TWA and American. He currently flies the | | | | begun... |
| Piper J5. | | | | |