Oshkosh… My gosh

But once a year in July, the town and many of those surrounding it comes alive with what is arguably the world’s greatest air show, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh Fly-In and Convention.

More commonly known as the Oshkosh Airshow, the scale of the event in this otherwise sleepy town is eye-watering. Over the seven days of the 2018 show, more than 600,000 visitors attended the Wittman Regional Airport. The EAA calls upon more than 5,000 volunteers to host the event, and nearly 3,000 aircraft ranging from powered hang gliders to a C-5M Galaxy were on static or participated in the flying displays.

The airport and its immediate surrounds, much of which is owned by the EAA, hosted more than 12,000 campers, while more than 10,000 aircraft flew in to Oshkosh and surrounding airports from across the US and beyond especially for the event.

The EAA claims that, during the event, the Oshkosh control tower is the world’s busiest. In total, nearly 20,000 aircraft movements were recorded in the 10-day period leading up to, during, and immediately after the air show, an average of more than 130 movements per hour.

I joined a tour group of aviation enthusiasts on the Sunday before the show, having been in the US for other work commitments. The Torii Tours group hosted by Ron Cook and Jim O’Meara comprised about 75 people from around Australia, and we all assembled at the Chicago O’Hare Hilton having flown in from various US ports of entry.

Ron and Jim have done this trip with its various optional add-ons many times before, and seemed incredibly relaxed as they faced the cat-herding exercise of getting everyone out of the Hilton’s restaurant and bar and onto the coaches for the three-hour drive to Oshkosh.

I had previously thought I was a hardcore ‘anorak’, but I was clearly out of my depth in this group. For one couple this was their 10th visit to Oshkosh, others were there because they were thinking of buying a high-end home-built or light aircraft and were doing ‘market research’, while others travelled around the world several times a year to attend every possible warbird event.

Our accommodation in Oshkosh was in University of Wisconsin (UW) dormitories vacated by the students during the US summer holidays. While clean and ably staffed, UW’s facilities can at best be described as basic.

But Ron and Jim were prepared, and the coaches stopped at Walmart in the town of Fond du Lac just south of Oshkosh where we could buy any comfort items we might need. The US$30 I spent on an extra pillow, fitted sheet, light blanket and other items such as laundry detergent and bottled water was a great investment!

The rooms are tiny but clean, although the chest-high single bed with its plastic mattress was challenging to get in and out of. The shared bathrooms meant a restless night for those rooms near the bathrooms due to the numerous middle-of-the night visits of the mostly middle-aged men on the tour.

The weather in Oshkosh in July is variable, with daytime temps of 30C common. The nights can be in the low to mid-teens, and wild summer storms are not uncommon as we found out on the Wednesday night.

The first day dawned bright and clear. The shuttle busses from UW to the show are frequent and cheap, and the trip takes about 10 to 15 minutes depending on traffic. As you near the airport the scale of the show becomes apparent. The road runs right past the end of one of the runways, but the grass on both sides of the runway right up to the perimeter fence is lined wingtip to wingtip with light aircraft.

Cessna, Piper, Mooney, Beechcraft, Cirrus, Vans…you name it, rows upon rows of aircraft stretched away as far as the eye could see, many of which had tents pitch under or next to them!

‘Rows upon rows of aircraft stretched away as far as the eye could see!’

The shuttle weaves its way past the EAA Air Museum and drops you roughly in the centre of the show site at a purpose-built terminus, and it’s a short walk of a few hundred metres before the expo and static lines start.

The show site is divided into approximately six sections, some of which overlap. At the southern end there is a short diagonal grass strip for the ultralights, then moving north parallel to the main runway 36/18 there is the main part of the show site where the exhibition pavilions and numerous large marquees are located. Immediately to the east of these is the main static park, then north of that is the EAA static line.

North of the pavilions and the control tower are the numerous workshops where EAA members are available to instruct in metal fabrication, welding, wiring, instrumentation, fibreglass and composite construction, and other home-built manufacturing and assembly skillsets.

North of the EAA static line and the workshops is the vast warbird section which includes a ‘hot ramp’ on the diagonal short 23/05 runway which is closed for the show, a pavilion and small control tower, camping, and a vast static and active parking area. There is also the Air Harbor seaplane base to the east on nearby Lake Winnebago which is accessible by a free 15-minute shuttle bus ride from the bus terminus area.

In total, the show site is about 2.5km long and nearly a kilometre across.

At the northern end of the airport and separate to the air show itself is the actual airport terminal and a large ramp area for resident aircraft, and visiting business jets and regional airliners. To the south east of this is the contemporary military aircraft hot ramp on the diagonal short runway 31/13 which is also closed for the show.

Interspersed amongst the static displays are many food outlets which include seating and shade. The food is typically American style and large portions but is reasonably priced, and the concessions appear to be run by various community organisations rather than large-scale caterers.

The main static park at show centre changes daily as the military and commercial aircraft come and go due to operational needs, and the others are moved around to make the newcomers fit. Most of the aircraft on static display flew at least once during the show.

Although the flying display usually starts around 1.00pm, there are numerous comings and going before this, including many demo flights for sales prospects, late show arrivals or early departures large and small, and joy flights in two Ford Trimotors, a number of Bell 47s, and a B-17.

But when the display does get underway, it’s a sensory overload! Unlike most air shows, no two days are the same. And also unlike most air shows, the controllers at Oshkosh seems to have no trouble dealing with multiple aircraft in the air at once, with strict vertical and horizontal separations in place and apparently adhered to.

No sooner will a single aerobatic display finish that a modern fighter will arrive and do its routine. And while that is happening over the north-south 36/18 runway show line, dozens of other aircraft will taxi out and depart from the 27/09 runway and form up to the west or east in preparation for a massed formation display. It just doesn’t stop, and you often don’t know where to look as one display is recovering, another taking off, and a third being conducted overhead.

And especially for the photographers, the best thing is that most of the air display occurs to the east of the crowd meaning the afternoon sun is behind you.

Some of the flying displays included a mass piston-engined warbirds flight where more than a dozen P-51 Mustangs, F4U Corsairs, A1E Skyraiders, F-8F Bearcats, and F7F Tigercats took off and flew clockwise orbits to the east of the main runway at increasingly lower altitudes and faster airspeeds, with the obligatory kerosene drum explosions and fake gun sounds over the PA.

Another was a jet warbird display with F-86 Sabres, an FJ-3 Fury, a Meteor T.7, T-33 Shooting Stars, a MiG-17, an F-5A Freedom Fighter, and numerous L-39s performing a similar but faster and louder display to the piston aircraft, culminating in an exhilarating transonic low pass by the F-5.

Other warbirds to fly included a brace of C-47s, a large number of T-6 Harvard/Texans and T-28 Trojans, a B-17, and ‘Doc’, one of only two B-29s flying in the world.

The modern US military was well represented with a C-5M, C-17A, HC-130H, MH-47G, T-45C, and KC-135 on static display, and various F-16s, F/A-18E/Fs, an EA-18G Growler, two F-35As, a KC-135, a C-17, an A-10C, a B-52H, a B-1B, NASA’s last flying S-3 Viking, and an F-22 all flying displays or a few handling demonstrations on arrival and departure. The F-16 also flew a heritage display with two P-51s on one day, and a P-51 and A-1E on another.

For the home-built and GA fans there was a mass formation display by more than 40 Vans RVs of various marques, and some startling handling displays by everything from gliders, a Red Bull Extra 300 and the Red Bull Bo-105 helicopter, a Beech Bonanza, and the amazing Yak-110 – a twin-fuselage mashup of two Yak-55 radial aerobatic aircraft complete with a 6,000lb jet engine!

One of the most amazing sights was the repeated sight of two or even three GA or home-built aircraft touching down on the same runway at the same time – one at the threshold, one about a third the way down on a red spot, and another half to two-thirds the way down on the blue or yellow spot, with all being directed to separate exits and taxiways to deconflict on the ground.

Away from the flying, the warbirds group held fascinating lectures in a temporary grandstand amphitheatre, with subject matter experts or veterans discussing interview-style their aircraft which were rolled in behind them as backdrops.

The trade pavilions were a pilot’s paradise, with everything from wiring loom clips to fold up bicycles to engines to hangars available for sale or demonstration, while most of the major GA and home-built manufacturers had aircraft on display and sales staff available.

Perhaps what struck me the most was the outstanding organisation of the show, and the unwavering friendliness of the many volunteers, bus drivers, catering staff and marshals, all of whom made the thousands of visitors welcome.

Would I go again? Absolutely, and next time I’ll be far better prepared to cover as much ground as possible. The Torii Tours group makes transport and accommodation easy, is well organised, and you travel with like-minded folks with familiar accents. But take full advantage of the supply Walmart stop at Fond du Lac, and eat as much as you can at the air show as the food available in the canteen on the UW campus is basic and a little overpriced.