Stormville Airport (N69) Stormville, NY
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David MasonCaptain David Mason writes, "Today I'm an MD-11 Captain for World Airways where I routinely fly US troops into Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. I've logged over 18,000 flying hours and it all started at Stormville Airport." |
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Chuck DennisCharles F. Dennis from Chelsea, N.Y. writes, "I learned to fly at Stormville Airport (N69)in 1957. Wilfred MacAdams was my first instructor, and gave me my private license. I also instructed at Stormville then went on to TWA and flew as a Captain for 28 of my 33+ years. I flew B727, B707, B747, L1011 As a Captain. Also flew CV880 as a first officer. I Can't say when I took this photo of Pete O'Brien." |
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Glenn Kane
Glenn Kane wrote-in from Garrison, "It is with great dismay that N69 has been allowed to fade away. I started flying at N69 in 1968. What wonderful times going up to Stormville airport, not just to fly, but to bring the family up and watch the sky divers, eat hot dogs and hamburgers, and watch the different people and their planes." |
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Some History
Gilbert Halpin has provided some history and anecdotes about Stomville airport, and shared these images of the heritage of airplanes and people at Stormville in the 60's through the 90's. |
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Ian Scott-Ramsay
Ian Scott-Ramsay learned to fly at Stormville and now flies a Boeing 767 for My Travel Airways. He writes to us from Glasgow, Scotland, and sent an aerial photograph taken on a trip from Glasgow to Orlando. |
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May 2007, Stormville, NY
Here is a photo survey of the airport as it exists on the twelfth day of May in 2007. This was a twice yearly yard sale day, not the full scale flea market. |
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Stormville airport was at one time a lively center for flying activity in the northeast. Pete and Rose O'Brien ran the airport for forty years with a flight school, tie downs, and maintenance facility. Cole Palen, founder of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, was a close friend of the O'Briens and flew there often. He made a first flight of his restored 1909 Bleriot monoplane there. He used to fly a Fleet biplane there in the fifties, inviting young people to fly and inciting dreams. When Pete and Rose retired the airport passed to their daughter Patricia. As late as 1990 there were a few planes still tied-down at the airport, but no fuel or services. Now the airport is left to the hand-me-downs and cast-aways of a consumer culture, mouldering among picture puzzles with missing pieces, boxes of dime store paperbacks, grocery store china, department store home furnishings, knick-knacks, and second-hand clothes. It is the Stormville flea market. A small, general aviation airport like Stormville can enlarge the tax base and improve quality of life for its community. Read more about community benefits. What does it mean to have an airport? What about noise and accidents? Read questions and answers about a community airport.. The Southern Dutchess Horse & Pony Association has a ring at Stormville where they host equestrian events. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has created an on-line photo and journal about America's airports. See A Day in the Life If you have stories, photographs, or references to Stormville's better days as an airport, please send them to Douglas Lovell |
Bleriot at Stormville c. 1955www.colepalen.com
Tie-downs at Stormville in 1986Ian Scott-Ramsey
Aerial of Stormville, September 10, 2008Fred Robbins
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