700 attend breakfast at Pine Hill Airport
Vintage Aircraft Group is dedicated to preserving historic planes
BARRE – Volunteers that run Pine Hill Airport and the Vintage Aircraft Group served breakfast to 700 people at the airport on Pine Hill Road this morning. The breakfast tradition dates back to 1964, when a big crowd shows up for scrambled eggs, sausage, applesauce and coffee.
About 20 dedicated volunteers keep the airport functioning. Pine Hill Airport is the only one in Orleans County with a hard-surface runway. The airport has two breakfasts for the public each year, and the fund-raiser helps pay the bills so the site can stay open to the community, said Gene Haines, VAG president and a co-owner of the airport.
The airport is the home for many vintage planes from the World War II era, including an air ambulance and smaller aircraft used for training pilots. VAG volunteers are close to restoring a Fairchild PT 19 from 1939. That plane could be ready to fly next month.
One of the VAG members, Darin Kenney of Brockport, bought a restored 1946 Taylorcraft BC-12D. That plane was built as a private plane for flying. Kenney, 45, is a flight instructor. He likes to see visitors walk into the hangar and see the old aircraft.
“I like the idea of keeping the vintage planes going from a historical aspect,” he said. “When people come up here, their eyes light up.”