Teaching The Hudson Valley

Hudson Valley Innovation, From the River to the Skies

on August 23, 2010

Peter Rottenbucher is an intern with the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. He is a History and Spanish double major with a strong enthusiasm for education and academia. Peter will spend his junior year in Madrid, Spain, hoping to master the language and later in life combine his passions for language and history.

In 1910, Glenn Curtiss flew the length of the Hudson Valley, from Albany to New York City, setting a record for long-distance flight. It took 2 hours and 51 minutes and two refueling stops to complete the 152-mile trip.

Curtiss's flight launched a revolution by demonstrating that air travel was an efficient form of transportation for cargo and people.

Read more about his accomplishment and his plane, the "Albany Flyer", in the spring issue 26.2 of The Hudson River Valley Review, Innovation in the Corridor of Commerce.

(The Library of Congress Print & Picture Online Catalog)

This past June, retired commercial airline pilot Jim Poel attempted to fly a replica of the "Albany Flyer" as he had done with other Curtiss planes, such as "America,"the first multi-engine plane.

On June 18th, unable to gain enough altitude, the plane crashed during a series of test flights in a Penn Yann cornfield, not far from the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in New York's Finger Lakes region. The pilot is expected to make a full recovery, though his friends and doctors say it is likely to be a slow and difficult process.

The 90-horse power, bamboo-frame plane was destroyed, but Poel did not fly in vain. Air travel was not always as reliable as it is today, and his efforts certainly demonstrate this while putting the risks Curtiss took into perspective. We thank Jim Poel and the restoration crew for their hard work and dedication to the history of flight. And we wish Jim a speedy recovery.

HRVI will join the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum, and the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in a salute to Glenn Curtiss and Jim Poel on October 9. Watch for more details from the event's hosts and via THV's Facebook page.

For photos and more and on Poel's flight attempt, see the The Chronicle-Express or, see the "Albany Flyer" replica and her crew in action in two YouTube videos.

While you're at it, make a detour to discover some of the research and learning resources available online from both professors and students at the Hudson River Valley Institute, one of THV's fantastic partners!

PLUS: Did you know? The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a great place to go for a wealth of information on early aviation, with a museum of antique aircraft and other motor vehicles, and weekend Air Shows through October 17.

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