EAA Airventure 2018

Saturday July 28, 2018.    My youngest brother Michael, an old friend named Jim and I attended the worlds largest airshow in Oshkosh, WI.  It was a beautiful day with temps in the high 70’s F.  We started our day on the south end watching the power parachutes.   They seem like they would be a great experience, but not enough utility for me.

We hopped the tram and headed north to the warbird area and we were not disappointed.  Michael and I hung around the Corsairs for a bit.  We were able to watch a P51-D Mustang start and taxi out.   As I was taking pictures of the Corsairs we were informed that another Corsair had just landed and was headed to the area to park.  So we waited for the airplane to arrive.  I’ll post some pictures soon.   What a great machine.  The Corsair by the by is my favorite warbird.   We then headed east toward the Warbirds in Review stands to look at the two (2) Spitfires on display.   There are usually quite a large number warbirds on display at EAA, but very unusual to see two fine examples of the British fighter.   We were also pleased to see and meet the owner of North America’s only flyable British Meteor jet.  This example we found out was purchased in the UK.  It was completely disassembled, crated up, and shipped to the USA for reassembly.  The owner/pilot  – Zachery was very open to telling us about his history with the airplane (just 4 months).  I also asked him if he would consider allowing me to interview him for a special blog sometime in the future.  He was quite agreeable to provide the interview.

The airshow highlighted the USAF air refueling tankers.   A massive C5 Galaxy took up most of the Boeing Plaza space.  We were entertained by the flights of a C17, KC10, KC135, and C130 all in tanker mode.  There were also two (2) F22 Rapture’s that flew under the KC10 and KC135 in a mock refueling pass just a few hundred feet above the runway.  Quite a nice display.  We were also quite surprised when a B-52 made several passes during the airshow.   What a machine.  One of the highlights of the show for me was a F16 Falcon demonstration.   The pilot did at least 4 approaches to landings and just before touch down he pulled the gear and fire walled the throttle to produce some quite amazing full afterburner sound bites and videos.  Really impressive.

Just prior to the airshow we visited the. WWI airplane display.  Kermit. Weeks from. Fantasy of Flight fame had transported 4 of his vintage WWI aircraft to OSH for the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.   He actually talked about and started 3 of his airplanes.  The first was a Sopwith Pup, the second was a German Albatros, and the third was a Sopwith. Snipe.   There’s a great video on Utube of Kermit flying the Snipe before the sent it to EAA.  Very good video quality.  It was a great display and thanks to Kermit Weeks for giving a very informative discussion about each airplane and how the engines worked.  It was great hearing these 100 year old machines in action.

We left the show shortly after it ended.  There was a night airshow and fireworks display which started at 8:00pm.  However we took in the night show last year and decided to head home after a full day of watching airplanes.

A quick thank you to Michael and Jim for attending with me.   We truly had a great relaxing time.

I am very fortunate to live just 70 miles south of Oshkosh, so attending is a yearly event.    I’m sure most of you reading this have seen the videos and heard the stories, and I will confirm that it is everything and more than what you’ve seen or heard.

Just a quick update from my latest aviation outing.      Next up will be the Grassroots fly-in at Brodhead airport in Wisconsin.    I took a handful of buddies to this last year and we had a blast.  I’ll be sure to write about it after we attend.

Thanks again for visiting Everythingairplanes.com.   I’m still learning the editing software, so new blogs may take a little bit.

Blue Skies

Proverbs 3:5