Finally Oshkosh | 2019-07

It took me 40 some years, but I finally made it to Oshkosh for the EAA Airventure! And it was the perfect way to go - flew there with friends in a Cessna 182 and stayed with friends. Four of us flew in N72658, a Skylane stationed at Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (KPHF), made one fuel stop at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport (KMFD), and arrived at Fond Du Lac County Airport (KFLD). I chose Mansfield because F16s have MFDs and Fond Du Lac is where our friend has his Sirrus. So to be clear, we didn't fly into Oshkosh.  But we took care of that the next day.

The posse that arrived in the Skylane.

Part of the posse we came to visit.

The Skylane that took us over 5-7 states (depending on how you count).

Since we didn't fly into Oshkosh (KOSH), we couldn't say we'd "flown into Oshkosh". So the next day we took care of that and did indeed fly into Airventure. My friend took his SR-22 Turbo and we took the Skylane. We landed, spent just a few minutes on the ground and flew back. Since we didn't actually see much of the event, we drove back to Oshkosh.  It was great.

My friend's Sirrus.

Three KTPers at the KTP Aero tent. That plane in the background has a radial engine, but in its case, the cylinders actually rotate around the center. That was pretty amazing to see.

On the left, one of more than a dozen Mustangs (Gunfighter in this case) and on the right, the prop of the XP-82 Twin Mustang. This is tail 44-83887.  One of the first two every made!  It's brother, -83886, was scrapped, but this one was saved. Over 200,000 hours were spend on the restoration.  Pretty impressive to say the least. I didn't get to see it fly, but didn't particularly care - seeing it was enjoyable enough.

Skyraiders are legendary and this one not only looked great but

had a great name - "Bad News".  That's about right.  

Our first day was fantastic in so many ways, but look at the sky.  Cloudy, not hot, great airplanes and awesome friends.  We couldn't have asked for more. And this B-25 against the gray sky was a little too classic. Did my best to remove any "timestamps".

And the full group skillfully posed at the EAA welcome gate.  What a great adventure and set of memories! If you like airplanes at all and can make your schedule work, you must go to Airventure at least once in your life.

- mm -