Up and Away in a Biplane — Rust Magazine

Looking back over the Hudson river with the light reflecting off the Duralumin skin of the New Standard D-25 biplane. In the background in the river is the lighthouse off Kingston at the mouth of Rondout Creek.

Words+photos: Mike Blanchard

My friend Michael Patti and I have been talking about going up in one of the biplanes at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome since 2020. At the time they weren’t doing rides because of COVID. Last year I came out too late in the year and they had shut the rides down. This year, the third time was a charm. Michael has been up several times and raved about what a great experience it is.

You can read our article on the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in the Features section of this magazine. They have one of the most significant collections of pre-WWll aircraft in the world. They are internationally recognized for their restoration and recreation work and for the depth of their collection, which runs from a Wright Flyer through most of the significant pursuit planes of the WWl era to what is probably the most accurate flying replica of the Spirit of St. Louis and on to some of the last planes made before the Second World War.

Michael Patti checking the weather prior to takeoff, or maybe looking into the future. It’s hard to tell.

The collection includes a number of antique cars and motorcycles as well as an extensive aircraft engine collection and much more. They have a great summer program of flying shows as well. If you are ever in Rhinebeck N.Y. it is a must-see experience.

A few days ago, on a perfect Fall day, with sunshine and no wind, we went out to the aerodrome and the first thing we saw was a Curtiss JN Jenny sitting on the side of the runway. I was hoping we might be flying in that, but alas, that was not to be the plane we would go up in.

After getting a safety briefing, we watched the ground crew move the Jenny out of the way: safety first. Our pilot, Rob Williams, walked across the runway and climbed into a black and red plane that proved to be a New Standard D-25. The engine fired right up and sounded healthy, always a good sign.

The D-25 was designed by Charles Healy Day in 1928 as a rugged, general-purpose aircraft built in four variations: Crop-Sprayer, Mail Carrier, Barnstormer and Joyrider. Rhinebeck Aerodrome’s Joyrider variant is powered by a 220-horsepower Wright J-5 nine-cylinder radial engine (the same engine used in the Spirit of St. Louis) and built to hold four passengers.

The fuselage is made of Duralumin spars with Duralumin skin. The wing struts and spars are wood with doped cloth skin. Because they are so robust, the D-25 airframe has had a long, successful career. With its large upper wing it has a lot of lift, so three grownups are not much of a payload for this plane.

After getting it warmed up, Williams taxied over and we climbed in. As you would expect, the prop wash and the engine noise are pretty fierce, but thankfully the exhaust was routed past the cockpit. On some of the older planes you are sucking exhaust the whole time.

The New Standard D-25 biplane is a handsome aircraft built between the wars as a general purpose craft. Rhinebeck Aerodrome’s model is a Joyrider with a Wright J-5 radial engine.

The Aerodrome has a grass runway about 1,000 yards long. It slopes gently up and then levels off. As with most, if not all, biplanes the passengers sit in front of the pilot so there is limited visibility from his seat, but Williams has a lot of hours in this plane so there were no issues there. We taxied out to the very end of the runway, then Williams turned the plane around and gunned it. The noise and wash really kicked in. In just a few hundred yards the plane lifted off and we swung up over the trees and gained altitude.

Looking over the lower wing South down the Hudson River towards Poughkeepsie

Once up in the air the ride was fairly comfortable and the visibility good. You are sitting right over the lower wing so you have to look around that, but as we flew along I found the wing and its struts fascinating. Rather than cables, the wings on the D-25 are braced with airfoil-shaped steel rods, and these have a length of wood lashed to them with cord where they cross. I assume it’s to keep them from vibrating and singing, metal fatigue and all that.

After we took off we flew over Michael’s farm on Violet Hill and circled a couple times so we could get a good view. You can see his red barn and the pond in the sheep pasture below. In the upper part of the photo you can see the wooden staff lashed to the wing guy rods with cord.

The best view was out the side. We had asked Williams if he could fly over Michael’s farm, a couple miles from the Aerodrome, so we headed east over the forest toward Violet Hill. As we reached the farm he banked over and flew around it a couple of times so we could take some photos. Then he pulled up and headed out toward the Hudson River.

The D-25 will cruise about 95 miles per hour, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t going that fast. Seemed more like 60 or so, but it is hard to judge for a novice like myself. The Hudson is one of the great rivers of the East Coast running northeast from New York City up past Albany and on in the direction of Canada.

At Rhinebeck it is about a mile wide and it was beautiful flying over it. The view of the Catskill mountains to the west covered in Fall foliage was really impressive.

As we flew over the old estate of John Jacob Astor on the east bank of the river, Williams dipped the nose into what seemed at the moment like a steep dive (I am sure it was pretty shallow to him) and banked left and right. My guts went up around my neck, and Michael and I looked at each other alarmed for a quick second, but we soon realized our pilot was having some fun with us.

I wasn’t afraid that the plane was going down, but the maneuvering did make me a little woozy. No matter, he pulled it up and leveled out and we continued on flying over farms and small towns, old cemeteries and stands of trees, mostly green but some turning red and yellow with the turn of the season.

Rob Williams was our pilot. He has many hours flying vintage airplanes. You can see the runway of the Aerodrome in the background as we gain altitude after takeoff.

It was really cool to realize that we were cruising around in a plane that is almost 100 years old. I thought about how much Williams must enjoy getting to fly these old planes on a regular basis, like a dream come true.

After a while we were back over the Aerodrome, and Williams circled around to land in the same direction we took off. The Aerodrome’s runway is surrounded by tall stands of hardwood trees so it’s like dropping into a pocket.

As we flew down and approached the runway over the treetops ,Williams held the plane so that it descended a bit sideways toward the runway. At the last moment he straightened it out and touched down. As we bumped down the grass runway I watched the landing gear in front of the wing going up and down as it absorbed the bumps. And then we were stopped.

Williams said because the plane doesn’t have any type of airbrake, side-slipping slows it down and gives him a little more visibility as he approaches the runway. Good to know. So that was a bit of an adventure and a realization of a childhood daydream. Something I fantasized about as I was building airplane models. If you get a chance to do go up in an antique airplane, I say do it.

You can find out more about the Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and make reservations to go flying, at: https://oldrhinebeck.org

After our joyride another couple of people climbed in and headed out. Have fun guys.

P.S.: I have to admit that uncharacteristically for me (because biplanes are beyond cool machines and I dreamed of flying in one when I was young) when Michael first proposed going up in the plane my first instinct was: No, I ain’t doing that. One, I am cursed with motion sickness, ever since I was a kid. Two, those things are made of sticks and cloth with a big engine attached to a big whirling chopping blade out front.

But shortly after that, as I was riding my motorcycle in crazy traffic through a really unsafe construction zone on the freeway, I thought, “Hell, this is more dangerous than flying. So, yeah, I’m in.” In the end I popped two Dramamine and, Bob’s yer uncle, away we went. And heck, I even have two flying helmets ready to go so I had to do it. So glad I did.