Cole Palen

Cole Palen (December 28, 1925 – December 8, 1993) was the founder of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, a living museum of vintage aircraft from 1900-1937 located in Red Hook, New York. He became recognized for his work in the preservation of early aviation history. Palen's aerodrome boasts one of the finest collections of antique aircraft in the world including an original 1909 Bleriot XI (civil registration N60094), the oldest flying aircraft in the United States and the second oldest in the world. He also created many accurate flying replicas of historical aircraft. Many of these participate in the regular airshows which continue to take place at the Aerodrome. As a child, he developed an early fascination with aviation and delighted in building free-flight model airplanes. His schoolhouse was across the road from Poughkeepsie's Red Oaks Mill Airport. At the age of five, Palen discovered an aircraft starting crank in his parents' yard, and he returned it to its owner, Johnny Miller, the famous barnstorming pilot who managed the airport. The crank had fallen from Miller's plane during aerobatics practice. When he was 10, Gates Flying Circus visited the airport, and Palen took his first flight, a 50 cent ride in a New Standard D-25. He was given just thirty days to remove the aircraft from Roosevelt Field, which required nine 200-mile round trips to the family home where they were stored in a barn which he rented from his father.

Palen and a group of friends then started to restore the aircraft, starting with the SPAD and its engine, and he continued to add other aircraft to this collection, including a Bleriot XI. He flew the aircraft at nearby Stormville Airport from where he once had to make a forced landing in the neighbouring prison's vegetable garden. as a lab technician

Palen had a strict philosophy regarding his aircraft; he believed that a plane was not truly a plane unless it could fly. By putting this philosophy into action, Palen made the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome one of the few places in the world where the public could see aircraft from the dawn of aviation actually fly. Taking this a step further, Palen made both his original and reproduction aircraft as authentic as possible. Original drawings would be used for restoration and creation of accurate reproduction airframes, as well as the installation of original parts and engines into the machines so they would look, sound, and fly the same way they did for the pioneers of early aviation. Where original aircraft existed elsewhere, Palen would visit them, taking copious notes and photographs, and employing a special fuselage measuring clamp and rubbing paper for maximum accuracy. To this end he visited places including the Musee de l'Air in Paris and the Shuttleworth Collection in the U.K.

At first Palen lived alone in the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome farmhouse, and would construct and repair some of his aircraft there. He made a little money hiring aircraft for advertisements. He also made appearances at airshows anywhere in the eastern US, flying to the closer ones, but trucking the aircraft to more distant shows, travelling as far as Florida where he did 11 shows in 1965. Gradually word spread and in 1960 shows were developed. The first show attracted just 25 people, but they soon developed into regular events, held on the last Sunday of every month,

In April 1965, Cole Palen flew his 1912 Thomas Pusher from Rhinebeck to New York City and after a three-day trip, appeared on the television game show I've Got a Secret. Palen was associated with several more movies, most notably in 1983, when he worked as a stunt double for Woody Allen in the film Zelig.

On 17 March 1967, Palen married Rita Weidner. Rita took over management of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome and brought some order to the administrative side of things, allowing him to add staff and buildings, grow the collection, and make plans for the future. Radio Control Club meet, and continue to be held at the airfield, including the Cole and Rita Palen Annual Memorial Free-Flight Model Meet, which started in 2005.

Also in 1983, while Palen and his wife were in their second home in Palm Beach, Florida, the farmhouse burned down. It had been crammed full of aeronautical records, log books, parts, instruments and other treasures which were all lost, but Palen was philosophical about this, saying "what's gone is gone". The farmhouse was rebuilt on the site and survives near the airport's main entrance.

Palen had a workshop at the Florida home, and started to construct a replica of the Ryan NYP, Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic aircraft. Having tack-welded the fuselage frame he returned to Old Rhinebeck, but on his next trip to Florida, discovered that a well-meaning friend had hired a welder to complete the job, completely ruining it. Palen had to scrap the project. However, on hearing of this, his staff and friends at Old Rhinebeck decided to restart the project. The resulting aircraft took 20 years to complete, partly because they went to enormous lengths to make it as accurate as possible. The Smithsonian, with whom Palen had a close relationship, provided identical cockpit instruments from their stores. It eventually flew on 5 December 2015, and still regularly flies at Old Rhinebeck.

Death Early in 1993, Palen suffered a stroke. Looking to the future, he decided to form the Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum Foundation. The Foundation came into being during the course of the year under a board of directors to ensure the survival of the collection. Following the end of the 1993 season, Cole and Rita made their annual pilgrimage to Florida. Early that December, Rita suffered a slight stroke and was admitted to the hospital. It was at this time that Cole died of a heart attack Rita made an excellent recovery and continued with her husband's legacy until her death on August 12, 2002 at Rhinebeck.

Several of the original World War I aircraft that Cole acquired and restored to airworthy condition are now on display in museums such as the United States Air Force Museum, Canada Aviation Museum, and the National Air and Space Museum (NASM).

A "delightful" biography of Cole Palen and the aerodrome was written by Palen's long-term friend and collaborator E. Gordon Bainbridge.

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