Oshkosh - Moving on Up

The dawn of day two was clear and still feeling the exuberance of a first timer set out camera in hand to claim some of the great morning light. Got a good look at a plane I had only seen before in pictures and most importantly the Saturday morning "Sky King" series at a very young age. No, not the strait tailed Cessna 310, but the original "Song Bird", a Cessna UC78 "Bamboo Bomber". Just up the path was a beautiful polished DC3 wearing Northwest Airlines markings. A few steps up the road the Reno air racers giving a daily demo before the air show are parked. One, a Corsair with it R2800 replaces by a R4360 has it wings folded like its still parked on a carrier. Really like looking at the clever folding mechanisms these birds use.

Exactly at 7:00am each morning another Oshkosh tradition occurs. On the flight line speakers you hear a loud Goooooood Morninnnnnnnnnnnnng! Followed by the sound of engines starting, bugles, then yodeling. Asking around was told the "Yodeler" has been waking up Oshkosh for decades.

Reached my plane at the homebuilt area just as the parking to reclaim the borrowed tie downs. Ask if it would be possible to move the plane over to the automotive engines section of the homebuilt area. We found a nice spot backed up to the fence practically at show center. Now it would be much easier to check on the bird and visit with the onlookers.

Wandered over to the Fly Market where a junk addict like me could spend days. Don't take any money with you if you're an impulse buyer. Found a pair of RV6 wheel pants they wanted $50 for that would be perfect with some modification. Somehow I resisted. Looking into tools came up with this conclusion. You could get every tool needed to build a metal airplane for less than half the price I spent. They had both new and used just about everything.

With the plane in it new location found another way to kill time. Just walk over to it, take a picture of the crowd standing around it, and then ask the guy crawling around under it if there is anything you can show him. Seems like one would get tired of answering the same questions each time... How fast, how high, how long to build, but it's the first time they have heard the answer, and who would not like this kind of attention paid to their pride and joy (sorry kids, but this it the airplane's week).

Heard the sound of a big multi-engine radial, turned around to see the Boeing "Flying Cloud" on final. It touches down right a show center, a magnificent polished sight. Watched it as they parked it in the main display area, finding out that it was going to make just one more flight from Oshkosh to D.C. and a place in the Smithsonian. How could one be so fortunate to be one of the last able to see such a magnificent machine in flight? Parked near it was a Lockheed Constellation, another rare bird these days, but in my humble opinion, the most beautiful airliner ever built, no straight beer can section, all curves.

Well it was about time to go over to the volunteer center and do my duty on "Flight line Security". Got my orange vest, little Honda scooter, and single Barney Fife bullet. Drove up and down show center keeping the peace and safety of the crowd, warning them to stay behind the line and to secure any folding chairs not being used. It was a great place to watch people and planes while cruising around for free on the neat little scooter. The sky was starting to get real dark to the West, and so started the daily storm routine. Was real fortunate that my 2 hour duty time ended just in time to get under cover before the first of several hard rains.

Headed on down to the Ultra-Light area looking for the Hummel Aviation section first. It was easy to find, just look for the crowd around the Ultra-Cruiser Plus. They remembered me from Lakeland and apologized for not having more time to talk to me then. The Ultra-Cruiser was just a fuselage in Florida, now it was complete and had just been flown for the first time. There was a table covered with pre-welded Hummel Bird parts, which sure would have saved some time. They were nice enough to ask me to come back and go to dinner with them, and since they had wheels that would be a great deal. Told me that since I posted the trip reports to Lakeland they were getting calls from people wanting to know more about the my plane. We stopped at a Wal-Mart (they look exactly the same everywhere) so I could get some much needed bath soap and shampoo. They were nice enough to buy my dinner at a great Chinese restaurant. Afterwards we went over to the Theater in the Woods to see "Chuck Yeager and Friends". It was a great experience seeing so many of my heroes together and made a great finish to the second day.

Thanks, Bruce King

100% + 187 HRS