Oshkosh - Kid in a Candy Store

Next morning came earlier than expected. Crawled out of the tent around 6:00, and was surprised to see the sun already up. Forgot my astronomy about how the days are longer 1100 miles North of San Antonio. Always been an early bird, and this first day proved that to be a good plan for airplane watching. Found the uncrowded morning and the dawn light the best time to look at and take pictures of the many fantastic airplanes everywhere. Where there were 5 or 6 fine examples of lets say Cessna 195's at Lakeland, there were 20 parked together here at Oshkosh. And the variety! Saw many airplane types that I had only seen in pictures and many more that I had never seen before.

With my son's electronic camera clicking away, slowly made it the half-mile or so from the campground to the Silver Surfer's parking place. Still needed to get registered and replace the borrowed tie downs. Stopped at Homebuilder's Headquarters and paid the $218 for a week convention pass and camping permit. It's nice to get this done up front so you have all week to get over the plunge. By the end of the first day was so blow away by Oshkosh that I never thought of it again. They ask if I would like to buy a ticket to the Homebuilder's Banquet. For $10 they give you a commemorative patch, stein, and a ticket to the banquet at the Nature Center. They also told me about the Wednesday Homebuilder's breakfast. Really starting to like this.

Strolled over to the Countdown to Kitty Hawk display and walked in just as people were gathering for a press conference. Sat down in the second row just before Tom Poberenzny gave the opening speech, kind of a keynote for the convention. He then introduced Scott Crossfield the famous test pilot of X15 fame. He brought on the four finalists for the pair that is going to flip a coin on December 17 and fly the reproduction of the Wright Flyer exactly 100 years to the minute from the original flight. They are right when they say these were the first homebuilders.

From there started the first lap around the center display area. The Airbus "Beluga", Orbis DC10, MATS Constellation, B17, F4, F18, F14, F16, NASA U2, T38, etc, all there to approach, look, and study. Past that area were several huge hangars filled with vendor displays. Could spend hours in each checking out all the neat stuff, as it was I did not make it through all of them. Maybe next year. Around the buildings and covering acres all around were vendor displays of kit planes, production planes, engines, avionics, everything that could be possibly connected with aviation. Ran into Steve Bennet of Great Plains at his booth and after a short chat mentioned my late arrival parking spot. He said to ask for a spot in the auto engine conversion section, which turned out to be a great suggestion.

Walking along saw a sign that said "Wright Engine Demonstration 10, 12, and 2". It was about 1:30 so went over to check it out. There was a great display from a group who specialize in building reproductions of the original 1903 engine. They built the first one for the 75th anniversary and constructed three for the replica flyer. They had a display of how they made the crankshaft from a thick block of steel using a drill press and a lathe. The best part was when they started up the 1903 engine and ran it up to 16hp! It was fascinating to stand there and hear what it sounded like when the Wrights flew their plane.

Decided to do some volunteer work because it was so much fun in Lakeland. Checking around ended up at the "Flight Line Security", where you get to tool around on a little Honda scooter and keep the crowd behind the line. Signed up for Wednesday noon the walked back over to the flight line just in time for the first air show. It was a war birds display with big radials and Merlins making that beautiful noise they do. Then came the aerobatic pilots doing such impossible things with airplanes.

That evening they had a great show at the Theater of the Woods, a troop of college student performers from the University of Wisconsin. I would need to have my smile surgically removed.

It amazed me how fast the first day passed as I dived back into the tent about 10:00PM.

Thanks, Bruce King

100% + 177 HRS