North Adams Pilots Show Off Historic Planes
 Peter Esposito has performed in air shows all over the east coast in his 44-year-old custom airplane. |
The idea for the outdoor movie began when Joseph Thompson, executive director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, was admiring the view outside a hanger that he, along with some friends, owns. The idea to invite the public for an outdoor movie took off on Friday and local pilots brought out their planes for display to help capture the mood.
The first plane moviegoers came upon after trekking past the runway is owned by Peter Esposito, who many in the aviation world consider a local legend. The Pitts S1C was home-built 44-year-ago in Schenectady, N.Y. Built to billow out smoke and perform aerial stunts, the plane has been all across the East Coast in Esposito's stunt flying career.
"I told my kids that I would stop flying it when I turned 70," the 81-year-old said. "I miss flying it. You can't just fly this plane, you have to play in it."
 The 1943 PT Stearman was the same model airplane that all U.S. pilots in World War II used to learn to fly. |
On the other side of the hanger was the same type of plane that Esposito used to fly as a crop duster but was originally built to train armed forces in World War II. The yellow PT19 Stearman at Harriman and West was built by Boeing in 1943 and was then restored in the 1970s.
"In World War II, it was the primary trainer," said James Petri, a mechanic with the maintenance and management company Turboprop East at the airport. "This is a big baby carriage. It's an easy airplane to fly."
About 10,000 of those planes were built between 1939 and 1945 and after the war they were turned into crop dusters. Nearly every U.S. pilot in the war learned to fly on one of those plane, he said.
Petri maintains the plane for the owner, whom he did not want to name, and gets to fly it during the summer. Flying it brings on a sense of nostalgia. With the wind blowing in passenger's hair and the smell of gasoline, Petri said the plane brings to mind what flying is "really" like. He claims he has never taken anybody for a ride that has not enjoyed it.
 James Petri spent 10 years building his own plane that he now uses for air shows. |
Petri hopes to own one of those planes someday but for now he is perfectly happy with the aerial plane he built himself. It took him more than 10 years to get it off the ground but in 1986 he finished custom building the airplane that he now uses for air shows.
"I always wanted my own airplane," Petri said. "It's a lot of fun to fly."
Next to Petri's aerial plane stood a 1975 Lake Amphibian Buccaneer owned by Bill Greenwald. The plane, that can land on its belly in water just as easy as it can land on the ground with landing gear, features the engine propped high above the body.
The 200-horsepower amphibian is No. 702 of its model to be built but because of how unique it is, Greenwald had to be specially trained by another pilot who flies one. That pilot was John Staber of Old Chatham, N.Y., who has the very first of the model.
 Bill Greenwald was taught to fly a Lake Amphibian in exchange for helping to restore the very first one built. |
Greenwald said he became interested in flying came from none other than Thompson, who had his Grumman Tiger out on display.
The movie attracted more than 50 people to the runway for the screening on what has been dubbed the "largest movie screen in the Berkshires."
The movie did not begin until 8:30 p.m. but by 7 p.m. there were already crowds gathering around the planes and listening to the owner's talk.
