richkolasa wrote:
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but the actual warbirds show wasn't that great. The Mustang turnout was good, but not much flew (that's a big part of it for most of us). No TBMs flew in the show Thurs-Sat when I was there, neither of the 2 Corsairs flew (not counting the racer part of the show), no P-47s there, no Skyraiders, no Hellcats or Bearcats, neither of the Sea Furies flew, only one Wildcat, neither P-38 flew in the warbirds show, .
Not saying that Oshkosh wasn't good, just that it was disappointing from a warbird standpoint. The B-25s were great, nice to see the YAF D-model up in the show, but all the stuff sitting at aeroshell square just sat.
I just don't get the jets making passes behind the crowd, the L-birds up at 500 feet and at the 1000 foot line (I love L-birds, but THEY ARE SMALL, and maybe should be closer?), and so many warbirds sitting all week long.
Flame away people, but the "big" warbirds show on Friday was a disjointed mess. Bombers were up for about an hour loitering out of sight, and only after some FA-18s came in (arrivals) did the bombers come back and do the two passes before the pyro. The 4 P-51s that we thought launched to do a missing man just came back, the missing man having been performed by the Trojan Horsemen (who are very good, mind you, but T-28s aren't Mustangs).
PS- I think only 8 P-51s flew on Friday, and none of the new award-winners. Disappointing.
Actually, I was being sarcastic. Even if only a handful of the warbirds at AirVenture actually flew during the show, that's still more than MOST airshows around the country. Just the fact that they were present was enough for me, as well as a number of veterans that I spoke to at the Timeless Voices tent. An Avenger pilot we interviewed was brought to tears at the sight of the TBM. I'm sure Warbirdriver can attest to this. And even if they didn't fly the show, where else are you going to see such fantastic restorations in one place at the same time?
I for one was happy to be at the show....even if I didn't get to see much of it....
Zack
Sooooooo true. I spoke with this gentleman for a while. He was shot down over Iwo Jima and his radio operator was lost. He arranged his day so that he could be there when I fired up to go home. You could tell by the look on his face that he was very happy to see and hear "his" plane again.
As far as flying in the show, the warbirds didn't fly every day. I went home on Thursday, a day when the WB's don;t fly at all. The plane was scheduled to be flown by one of the other guys that flies it on Wednesday but only the CJ-6's flew. For me, I've flown at OSH since 1986 in T-34's, T-6's, C-45's, C-47's and the B-17. Paul D and I paid for all the fuel and oil to get it there and back and I just didn't feel like adding any more to the fuel bill. Yes, EAA will reimburse airshow fuel; but not until the fall. Remember all these planes arrive at the owners expense; we (the planes) aren't paid to be there. So there ya have it. Besides, I was volunteering; no time to fly!
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