2024 Golden Age Air Museum’s Great Pumpkin Fly-In
Story and photos by Corey Beitler
A trip to the Golden Age Air Museum located near the town of Bethel in scenic Berks County, Pennsylvania takes museum visitors back to the early days of aviation. Located at the Grimes Airfield, the Golden Age Air Museum was established by the Dougherty family in 1997.The museum is dedicated to collecting and displaying aircraft, aero engines, automobiles, and smaller artifacts from the “Golden Age of Aviation”. This period in aviation, which began in the early 1920s and lasted until the late 1940s, saw great advances in the design of aircraft, with airplanes evolving from wood and fabric-covered biplanes with open cockpits to all-metal monoplanes with retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpits. The airplanes of this era and the pilots that flew them, such as Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart, captured the public’s imagination, with stories of their record-breaking flights making the front pages of newspapers throughout the country.
The Golden Age Air Museum has a collection of over 30 aircraft, several antique automobiles, and hundreds of smaller pieces of aviation memorabilia. One of the highlights of the museum aircraft collection is an authentic 1918 Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny” biplane in airworthy condition. The “Jenny” was one of the most famous of America’s early airplanes, being used as a military flight trainer during World War I and as a barnstorming and mail airplane throughout the 1920s. In recent years, the museum has expanded its collection to include World War I aircraft. Museum staff has built airworthy reproductions of three World War I fighter aircraft for the museum’s aircraft collection. These World War I fighter aircraft include a 1916 Sopwith Pup, a 1918 Fokker Dr. I Triplane, and a recently completed 1918 Spad S.XIII painted in the colors of American World War I ace Charles Biddle.
The Golden Age Air Museum is open throughout the summer months and has several special events throughout the season. During these special events, many of the aircraft in the museum collection are flown for museum visitors. One of the most popular events each year at the Golden Age Air Museum is the annual Great Pumpkin Fly-In. This event is open to all aircraft types and features a pumpkin bombing contest for fly-in aircraft. Museum visitors who drive-in can also participate in the pumpkin contest as a ride is provided by museum volunteer pilots in their aircraft to drop the pumpkin. The fly-in also features a small classic car show and a Halloween candy drop for children. The museum refreshment stand is open for lunch and snack options and the museum gift shop is open for souvenir purchases. During this event, rides are also available in the museum’s 1929 Waco GXE biplane. These rides are popular during this event as it is often held in mid-to-late October, a perfect time to view the colorful fall foliage on the nearby Blue Mountain Ridge.
The 2024 edition of the Golden Age Air Museum Great Pumpkin Fly-In was held on October 26 and 27. Excellent weather throughout the weekend brought a large number of fly-in aircraft to the event, with over 60 general aviation, vintage, and homebuilt aircraft attending the event. These photos highlight some of the many fly-in aircraft that attended the event. For more information about the Golden Age Air Museum, and to see a calendar of their 2025 event schedule, please visit the museum’s website at www.goldenageair.org
Hover over the thumbnail in this gallery for an aircraft ID or click for an enlarged photo.
