Oskosh Best

[Bill Greenwood]

Grand Champion, Happy Jacks Go Buggy P-51D, reserve, Jack Roush P-51 B, Best Fighter Rod Lewis Spitfire Mk VB. Not too much suspense about these three. The Spit is, of course, my favorite and the one I'd most like to fly. It had a few non standard items like the 24 volt electric system, don't know if that affected it in the judging score. It would be so easy to fly, 5300 lbs empty, little more than a T-6 but with 2 &1/2 times the power. I think the stall clean is about 70 mph and flaps down below 60! Stew was using 75 mph as a short final speed, pretty slow. A light sport plane with a Merlin! The pilot Stewart Dawson was asked about dog fighting between a P-51 and the MK V. He said except for speed, not even close in manueverablilty. At low level, coming off the ground up to about 5000 feet the Spit climbs at almost 5000 feet per minute.It doesn't have the two stage supercharger of the later Merlin, thsu not as much speed or high altitude performance, but as a civilain plane its got everything else. A little tight on fuel, 102 US galons, but doable. All three, from the outside looked about perfect, Go Buggy just had all the extra details. It sure was nice to see the two B model 51s. Sadly neither Go Buggy or the Spitfire ever flew in the warbird show, even after the judging was done. Great weather and thousands of people would have liked to see them, but it is up to the owner, neither of which I know or met. I'm told the 51 owner is a new warbird pilot, but I belive Rod Lewis has experience. You'd think that EAA and Warbirds would make a little extra effort to get these planes up but everyone seems busy with their own program.

Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:21 am, edited 5 times in total.

[Lynn Allen]

Thanks for the info Bill....

Lynn

[daveymac82c]

Thank you Bill,

As much as the Mustangs were incredibly restored and the attention to detail was nearing insanity, I still have a bias towards the Spitfire.

The main reason is that it's a Mk V. That has got to be my favourite Warbird of all time. So.... when I win several million dollars in the upcoming lottery I'll be knocking on a few doors to try and buy one.... or two?! Haha...

Cheers,

David (The not rich yet dreamer)

[ww2John]

I agree with Bill about the disappointment of not seeing the award-winning a/c fly.
Judging is completed by Saturday morning and I wish that EAA Warbirds would institute a policy that your a/c would not be given an award if not flown in the Saturday Warbird show. Most of the OSH Warbird's shows are NOT formation flying, but tail-chase (race-track pattern). Most Warbird pilots are capable of "performing" that.
All the a/c FLY to OSH and I really don't think a "must fly" policy would discourage participation in the awards. There is too much prestige from an Award at Oshkosh for people to skip it because they actually had to fly during one airshow.
Absolutely NO disrespect intended to any of the owners who share these treasures with us, just a wish to see some of these rare a/c up in the air, after all the judging is completed and after the awards are decided, at just ONE of the airshows during the week.
...pretty please...

[P51DFltLn]

If you have not attended the warbird show brief for the saturday show - do not call down wrath upon the pilots who choose not to fly during that show. It is VERY COMPLEX and even some of the more experienced pilots choose not to get involved, even after attending the briefing.

On the other hand, if EAA chose to do so, the newer owner/pilots could perhaps fly during the showcase portion of the day - fewer planes in the sky at that time, less going on, etc.

Still, in the case of some of the planes, the owner is not even AT oshkosh, and the restorer (or a ferry pilot) brings the plane in. We should be glad that they allow us this much. Some restorations (most recently the Millie G, and City of Winnipeg) do not even get to attend the show at all...

[Jerry O'Neill]

I'm sure he can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Vlado flew "Happy Jack's" into the show. During the show he was flying "Moonbeam". Can't fly two P-51's at the same time unless it's a P-82! (which, BTW, I'd LOVE to see at OSH!)
Jerry

[richkolasa]

Great post, Bill! I loved the Spit also, and was bummed it didn't fly. There really needs to be a gathering of Spits at Geneseo. No other aircraft, just as many flyable Spits as possible (okay, one B-17 to go along with it, since Belle is based there).

I only saw Moonbeam in the air once during my 3.5 days at Oshkosh, so I kept hoping that Vlado would take Happy Jack's up. I know that Jimmy Leeward did the flight testing on Old crow too, so it would have been nice had he or Rousch flown it during the show more than the one time (when I wasn't there!).

[richkolasa]

PS- Maybe I'll start a petition to bring back the Parade of Flight that Oshkosh used to have, usually on Thursday I believe. I'm sure Tom "corporate aviation" Poberezny will get a good laugh out of that. Maybe if we stipulate that every other airplane will be a light jet or acro....

[Jack Cook]

but I believe Vlado flew "Happy Jack's" into the show

I thought Mike flew it in?? BTW it will head for SA, TX around Oct.

[Obergrafeter]

Mike who?

[Jack Cook]

VBC

[k5083]

PS- Maybe I'll start a petition to bring back the Parade of Flight that Oshkosh used to have, usually on Thursday I believe. I'm sure Tom "corporate aviation" Poberezny will get a good laugh out of that. Maybe if we stipulate that every other airplane will be a light jet or acro....

Rich, although I love the idea of the Parade of Flight, let's face it, it never used to be very good. As much as we gripe about how warbirds are treated at OSH, the warbirds have always had it a lot better than the antiques and classics. The Parade of Flight used to be the same every year, first a Curtiss replica, then a smattering of biplanes, some J-3s, etc., etc. Nowhere near 5% of the antique showplanes flew in the Parade, and the really outstanding antiques, of which a few appear every year (this year the Boeing 40), rarely participated. Basically, even when things were at their best for antiques, if you wanted to see most of the antiques in the air your only option was to sit on the flight line on arrival and departure days and cross your fingers. Just like what warbird fans bellyache about now, except I never heard antique fans bellyache quite so much, for reasons that are not very difficult to figure out.

So bottom line, I doubt even many antique fans would be interested in reviving the Parade of Flight as it used to exist. As you say, it would be a pipe dream anyway.

August

[richkolasa]

Rich, although I love the idea of the Parade of Flight, let's face it, it never used to be very good.
August

I think an "IMHO" would be appropriate there. I'd like to hear from some others' opinions on that, because I don't speak to anyone at Oshkosh who doesn't miss them.
I'm sure some of the people here who've not been lucky enough to be at Oshkosh year after year wouldn't mind having seen Jimmy Leeward in the XP-51, the Concorde, Connies, Howard Hughes's Sikorsky flying boat, original Boeing P-12, Grumman Ducks, and dozens upon dozens of antiques, classics and warbirds flying one after another for an hour and a half or more, even leading up to something like the B-1B. Sure, who'd want to see that?

Here's some images from Parades of Flight past (or aircraft that participated in them):

[k5083]

My O doesn't pretend to be H. I guess my memory of the Parades is different than yours. Although I saw and enjoyed those same aircraft, I do not associate them with the Parades or recall the Parades as being nearly as spectacular as you do. Appearances by the most special aircraft were spread throughout the week, and the really special ones have continued to appear in the air to about the same degree even without the Parades, unless things have changed radically since my last visit to OSH in 2001. That year, everybody got plenty of chances to see the Stratoliner and Vimy in the air. To catch the Avian you had to be a little luckier.

August

Last edited by k5083 on Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[CAPFlyer]

I think I know who was flying that DC-8.