A few years ago I toured the Garber Facility in DC. They were in the middle
of restoring an original Newport that Cole Palen had donated after using it
for years at Rhinebeck. When they cut off the fabric, the entire tail fell
off! The fabric was all that was keeping it on. Must have been really
interesting there in the early days.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
ink.net...
The old days at Rhinebeck when the Cole Palen crowd were there are
remembered by many who frequented the place. The nostalgia of that
operation during those days ranks right up there with Pancho's out at
Edwards. Both places bring back some of the finest "just hanging out"
moments in aviation history in the United States.
I seem to remember some trouble going on there a few years back concerning
the running of the operation by a new board of directors at the museum but
I don't have a real handle on what it was all about.
Propping a Le' Rhone might have been a job for Arnold Swartzenegger at
that :-)))
Dudley

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:TISzf.1495$id.1100@trnddc04...
Dudley Henriques wrote:

Are you kidding George?

A saw some guys try to start a Camel once at Rhinebeck. They went through
the rigamarole of pulling it through and then Hercules (we'll call him)
started flipping the prop. It wouldn't even backfire. The poor guy rocked
that prop through about 20 times or so.

When he was worn out, another fellow came up to try his luck. He rocked
up on one leg and whipped the prop down and the engine fired right up.
Hercules was ready to beat the guy to death!

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong
to
your slightly older self.