David King pilots a War War I-era Fokker DR-1 reproduction tri-plane during an air show at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, in Rhinebeck, N.Y.RHINEBECK, N.Y. – There’s still a place where buzzing biplanes swoop in pursuit of German triplanes, where pilots in open cockpits let their scarves flutter in the wind.
The sights and sounds of World War I flight are re-created regularly at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York’s Hudson Valley, where an original American Curtiss JN-4H “Jenny” shares the sky with reproductions of a French Spad VII and German Fokkers.
“I get to shoot down a Fokker triplane every Sunday afternoon,” said air show director Chris Bulko, who flew the Spad. “I call it playing with the toys here and sharing them with everybody else, and inviting them into our sandbox.”
The aerodrome 80 miles north of New York City is one of a few places scattered around the world that put on air shows based on World War I, which began July 28, 1914. The attraction also boasts a museum and hangars packed with planes from the dawn of flight up to World War II. But the weekend air shows bring the crowds. Saturday shows highlight the early history of aviation. Sundays are devoted to WWI.
Men dressed in old-time overalls start balky engines with a hard pull down on propellers. Bulko blows kisses to the crowd on takeoff and chases a doppelganger of the Fokker triplane that was piloted by Manfred von Richthofen (aka the Red Baron). No machine guns here, though pilots show off their skill by flying through falling streams of toilet paper.