It is said by all that Oshkosh is not as much about planes as it is about the people that love them. This year proved that. Normally 10-15,000 planes fly- in and park alongside Wittman airport, whose control tower is the world's busiest during this week.
Most of these people camp under the wings of their planes. There is additional space, greater than half mile square for people who come with their camping equipment. This year it was all soggy, and muddy.We had heard there could be problems before we got there, but because our internet connection was non-existent we headed there anyway. On the way I got a connection and we read what was happening there. The organization that runs the airshow, EAA uses hundreds of volunteers to handle the tremendous crowds. They went to work and were finding places all over the city for people to park their big motor-homes and fifth wheels. These places were provided bus service, porta-potties and security. We arrived counting on the volunteers to handle the crush of people. they did. There is such a tremendous "can-do' attitude among people in this community it is infectious.
We were checked in and sent to a large field still on Wittman's camping grounds but clearly never used for camping . It was high and dry, but the "roads" to get there were muddy and soft. The volunteers were incredible. We were passed from one to another as we moved from check in to our area. We passed motor homes and trailers nearly up to their axles in mud. These belonged to volunteers who had parked there in the weeks before and thought their unit would be OK. We managed to get a spot and got very little mud on our rig.
We wanted to be there by Mon night because my favorite band growing up, Chicago, was performing. We were, the crowd was huge, and they were fabulous, playing all of my old favorites - and 
two encores! This event was special, because the DC-3 turned 75 this year. They had the world's largest collection of DC-3's and derivatives such as military, assembled since they've stopped flying. You can see one landing in the background, as Chicago plays in the foreground.
Liz managed to get us great seats right next to an old Ford Tri motor. It's hard to photograph anywhere here and not have a plane be in the picture.On Tuesday morning we went walking around. There is so much to see and do that even with the 100,000
people or so that are there, it rarely seems crowded. Some people even manage to sneak in a catnap (note the airplane book he is holding.)There is an excellent bus system that picks you up from the campground, and takes you to the entry gate, or Bus central. In Bus central you can pick up a bus to the museum, which we did, and went to a talk by Dick Rutan, the pilot of Voyager, the only plane to go around the world non stop on a single load of fuel. His talk was about much more than recapping the 
adventures he and Jeana Yeager experienced flying around the world. It was about his brother, Bert, the designer of the plane, the difficulties raising money for the venture, the volunteers who helped build the craft, and the government involvement - and the lack thereof that made the whole thing possible. He continued to 
make the point, that our country is the only place that a couple of home builders could assemble a team of other flying bugs and put a plane into the air to do the seeming impossible. He also noted ,with some disappointment, that the record they set remains unchallenged. Despite the fact we all knew the story, and the obvious outcome, he kept us on the edge of our seats during some harrowing times.
EAA has a special exhibit in the museum for the Rutan's and their contribution to the aerospace community. In it are replicas of Voyager (the original hangs in the Smithsonian) and Space ship One, among other significant milestone aircraft Bert has designed. The latter is the craft Bert is designing and Richard Branson is funding, to be the first totally private venture to take man to outer space.Both Rutans, & Branson were at Oshkosh last year with Virgin Galactic, the space launch vehicle.
EAA was honoring veterans this year, and we attended a talk by Hal Weakley a B-17 pilot during WWll. Hal flew countless missions in this bomber, and EAA honored him a few years back by painting their restored B-17 in his colors. Attendees at Oshkosh waited for hours to take rides in this plane. Hal told stories of his days piloting, but we were all enthralled with his takes of being shot down and his times in France behind enemy lines. He told of the French underground and how they helped him to get out. Hal told with emotion of his hearing that a man who had hid him in his attic had passed away last year. He returned hte letters the man had sent him after the war. The family returned to Hal the silver bracelet Hal had given him for saving his life. After both of these talks, Liz and I said"That was worth the price of admission."
People come to Oshkosh with a wide variety of camping equipment, means of transportation to get around the huge grounds, and purposes for attending. The one thing in common is an interest in flight. Camping equipment is as expensive as a 
million dollar motor home to the tents underneath the wings of the plane you flew in with. Intergrounds transport is everything from bicycles, motorcycles to motorized skateboards. Note in the photo's I'm standing in the same corner, waiting for the bus when these guys drive by. When we pulled in, one of the volunteers 
made a joke about the kayaks we had on top of the truck not going to be to useful today," We've already started to dry out!"One thing you can expect is to have an interesting plane in the air at all times. Promptly at 7:00 the ultralights go up. They sound
like mosquitos. From about 3:00 every day until dark there is an airshow. Different theme every day, but there are almost always warbirds, restored vintage airplanes from our military. These are almost always privately owned and the pride and joy of some dentist or shop owner from somewhere 
far afield. I ususally just sit outside 
the trailer, with my camera, listen to EAA radio for the comment from the flight line and watch. Unbelievable.
Last year we never made it to the seaplane base, a separate area at Oshkosh where people who own seaplanes gather. This year we took the bus over to a deligtful little bay offLake Winnabago and 
saw seaplanes of every description. In keeping with the seaplane BASE theme even their 1st aid station looked like it came from MASH.There is something to do for everyone at Oshkosh- regardless of how much interest you have in flight. There are the usual static displays of aircraft, too numerous to mention, a full assortment of current modern day fighters in the
airshows and on the ground, squadrons of Air NG and Air Force staff there to explain what they do to protect our country, and various display in the hangers from organizatioons like the National Park Service who this year brought a demonstration "Wright Flyer" that a person could lay down just like Orrville, and look at a virtual image of himself taking off just like in 1903.Their is something about these special people and their convention, to which they graciously invite 500,000 others like us, that renews our spirit. There is no envy of equipment or of position. We sat down at a table a to eat a Johnsenville Brat, with a couple. They struck up a conversation and we found out they were a Southwest pilot and his wife who flew out in his small Cessna.
They were on an extended trip as well, but can't pick up as many souvenirs as we can. We went to a talk given by a pilot for Airforce One, who at one point said perfectly seriously, "It flies just like a conventional 747-200, How many of you have some time on one?" Dozens of hands went up. When we were listening to Col. Weakley, half a dozen Tuskegee Airmen were sitting in the row in front of us.We should feel like outsiders, but instead we end up feeling like we have just been invited into a family gathering, and everybody is welcoming us. It is truly the spirit of America.
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