SOPWITH PUP FLIES AGAIN

A very special treat this year was the Aerodrome’s Sopwith Pup’s return to flying status. Originally built by Cole Palen’s good friend Dick King, the Sopwith Pup was a big part of Palen’s early weekend airshows. King built his Pup reproduction in 1967, and he flew it at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome until 1982. He then sold it to the Owls Head Museum in Maine. Brian Coughlin arranged to get the Pup back to Old Rhinebeck last year, where its restoration was completed. Clay Hammond test flew the newly rebuilt Pup on September 6, 2019, and so it will once again perform regularly as Sir Percy Goodfellow’s war plane, in dog fights with the Black Baron’s Fokker Triplane.

Clay Hammond oils up the valve lifters of the Sopwith Pup’s Le Rhone rotary engine before taking part in the full-size airshow. One half of the noontime lineup, there are planes as far as the eye can see. The beautifully restored Sopwith Pup is again based at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.