Stormville Airport (N69) Stormville, NY

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.

See our stories page for stories people have shared about their experiences at Stormville. If you have stories, photographs, or references to Stormville's better days as an airport, please send them to Douglas Lovell

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 (or has had) a ring at Stormville where they host equestrian events.

As of October, 2018 the property had been under contract for sale to a company based in Texas, named "Copart", which deals in salvage of vehicles and industrial equipment. Articles in the Poughkeepsie journal indicate that residents of the Town of East Fishkill found potential use of the property for automobile salvage to be distasteful. They placed a nine month moratorium on industrial zone development. The newspaper published an editorial in support of the action.

As of July, 2022 Stormville is still a flea market.

Bleriot at Stormville c. 1955
Bleriot at Stormville c. 1955www.colepalen.com
Tie-downs at Stormville in 1986
Tie-downs at Stormville in 1986Ian Scott-Ramsey
Aerial of Stormville, September 10, 2008
Aerial of Stormville, September 10, 2008Fred Robbins