Among Palen's earliest additions to the museum in the mid-1960s was a Fokker Triplane reproduction, powered with a vintage Le Rhône 9J 110 hp rotary engine.

Powered by a vintage direct-drive Hispano-Suiza V-8 engine, this aircraft regularly flew at Palen's weekend air shows from 1980 onward.

In September 1990, the aircraft's engine suffered a fuel pump failure, resulting in a crash landing into the trees surrounding the Old Rhinebeck museum's airstrip.

The aircraft never directly struck the ground in the crash, and largely remained suspended in the tree canopy after the accident.

[10] The Dolphin was placed on static display until November 2007, when Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome began restoring it to flying condition.

The collection also includes a restored 1909 Bleriot XI (including an original three cylinder Anzani radial engine) that is believed to be the second oldest airworthy aircraft in the world In 2016 an accurate reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis was added to the collection following a 20-year building process and first test flight in December 2015.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome has had two airworthy Fokker D.VIII reproductions, each powered with a restored Gnome 9N Monosoupape rotary engine, both built by Brian Coughlin of New York state.

These have since been sold, to Javier Arango in California for his private collection of reproduction WW I aircraft and to Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight living aviation museum in Florida.

The aircraft being used was part of the aerodrome's World War I collection and was reported to be a reproduction French Nieuport 24, obtained from a New Zealand facility.