Stormville Airport : Stories : Some History

Gilbert Halpin has provided some history and anecdotes about Stomville airport. He writes,

"Stormville officially became an airport in Oct. 1927 although it was purchased earlier around late 1925 early 1926 by Pete [O'Brien] and his Brother Vincent. It was purchased from The family of George Benjamin Foote. You may have noticed his intials on the slate roof of one of the original buildings next to the current hangar/storage warehouse. Whenever asked what the G.B.F. stood for Pete would quip that it meant GREAT BIG FOOL!!...refering to himself...LOL!

"Yes, it is a crying shame that it has defuncted into an outdoor attraction instead of an airfield, but at least it is still there in some fashion. We officially went belly up at the end of 1995, but no true airport activity really had happened since 1983/84.

"The true heyday at N69 was between 1968 and 1977. More pilots were soloed and private pilot ratings were issued there then any other private field in the hudson valley. I personally counted 92 GA aircraft based there in 1971, however Pete has made claims that during this period as many as 116 plus had been based there. 1968 is the year that the modern backtop runway was completed and modern improvements of the period were installed, before this time it was quite a small but intimate operation aircraft count wise."

Writing about John Miller from Poughkeepsie, who came to this earth around 1905 and whom many consider to be the oldest living pilot, Gil says,

"Johnny and Pete are longtime friends and rivals all these long years which continues to this very day. I and my partner re-created Johnny's famous Pitcairn Autogyro this summer abeit for Microsofts Flight Simulator which has become my hobbie the last 5 years since I stopped real flying activities. Its called GoldenageSimulations.com

Gil has shared these images of the heritage of airplanes and people at Stormville in the 60's through the 90's.