Oshkosh Airshow

The airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is “THE” airshow for all pilots and “want-a-be” pilots all over the country. John dreamed about this show ever since receiving his pilot license in 1981 when we lived in Amarillo, Texas. The desire increased when he became a partner in owning a Cessna 177 Cardinal when we lived in Albuquerque, NM.  Finally, the opportunity was right and our timing was right, because we lucked out on finding a place to stay. When we first looked into the possibility of attending, lodging was unavailable or much too expensive (Motel 6: $250). Then we checked again and found a cancellation at a B&B at a reasonable price about 25 miles away in Appleton. The show is a week-long affair, with fly-in attendees arriving early and usually camping out under a wing of their plane. (This is the “real” way to really experience the show, and maybe we’ll do it someday, but we no longer own a plane.) Anyway, we experienced what we could in one day. We saw acres and acres of private planes, many of them home-built. There were sponsor booths for everything imaginable for airplanes; replacement/upgrades, avionics, communication, buildable kits, build-from-scratch plans, and everything in between. There were seminars on building techniques, flying safety, etc. – the daily schedule of events went on and on for some 6 -8 printed pages.

The entrance procedure for an event this size is, typically: follow directions and park your car, catch a shuttle bus, wait in line to get into the event. Once inside, get a map of the lay-out and plot your itinerary.

We did all that, and began at the warbird display area where there were many P51 Mustangs and P40 Flying Tigers, a few Corsairs, and many other fighters, bombers, and trainers.

There was an early passenger plane (Ford Tri-motor) giving rides – a few minutes around the airport, $75.  We took all this in, and then wandered over to the Classics area. 

John’s favorite was the Beechcraft Stagger Wing, a biplane with enclosed cockpit. The displays of home-builts were interesting – most were assembled from kits, but some were built from scratch from plans. Some years back John had a real desire to build one, but that time has passed – if he ever pilots again it will not be his construction.

The “show” part of the day began about 2:00 pm with a skywriter “WELCOME”. We found a shady spot under the wing of a very large amphibian plane and got comfortable. The first performers were a team of lady parachute jumpers. Then a group of four AT6 Texans took off (in formation). The roar they made (extremely loud, deep & throaty) sent chill bumps clear thru us to the point that we were completely speechless! That set the stage for the rest of the big show.  More aerobatic teams and solo performers followed, then a wing walker, then a special feature – the latest version of a flying car. Many previous versions have been unsuccessfully developed, but this one appears to have a really good chance.  They will soon be available for purchase:  only $275,000.

 

 

The best single performer was a small, specially built high-performance plane which did what none other could do. Others would complete a maneuver by climbing straight up until they could go no further, momentarily hesitate, and then slide back down thru the smoke trail they left. This one plane, though, was powerful enough that it did more than a momentary hesitation at the top. It actually hung, suspended by its propeller, for several seconds. We were thrilled by this and yet extremely nervous (actually had to look away, could not watch) because we had seen a pilot killed a few years before doing this same maneuver. But fortunately, there were no accidents this day and the entire show was spectacular. Cross off another item on John’s Bucket List.