Warbird Information Exchange

CAF Centex Wing currently has OSH on their events calendar.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Excellent. Hope that means the B-25 and P-39 will be at OSH!

Speaking of car doors (and hope): Dixie Wing really needs to show off their P-63 at the Big Dance. I noticed they're mounting the underwing .50 cals on her...nice touch.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Just wondering if I can get a bit of advice from some people on here. I'm thinking of heading over to FHC for their Skyfair event, if it's held on the last Saturday of July, like it has been for the past couple of years. Is it wise to miss the last weekend of OSH? Have most "interesting" aircraft left by the last weekend? Would appreciate a bit of guidance as there's a lot of head scratching going on here!

It seems that there are always more Mustangs there during the week than on the weekend. Thinking back to this last year, with the exception of "Toulouse Nuts" most of the highly anticipated Warbirds were still there on Saturday; Tri State's P-40, Rod Lewis's P-47, CAF P-39. The P-39 even flew during the Saturday show.

The one thing I would miss from the weekend is the Saturday night show. The last two years have had some great jet action to open the show. F-100 and F-4 in 2015 and a full F-18 demo this last year. I wouldn't miss seeing afterburners at night for the world.

Hope that helps!

Hi Ripper, if your question is whether you will have been able to see all the interesting aircraft if you leave sometime during the Friday (to get to WA state on time): yes, you will. After 10+ Oshkoshes I can't remember ever having seen anything extraordinary arrive for the last weekend only. In fact most warbirds will have left by Saturday evening, even though the EAA has been trying to convince warbirds owners to leave on the Sunday for years now.
There typically are 2 'banks' of aircraft arriving: those that arrive by the first weekend (when the convention officially hasn't started yet) and those that arrive mid-week (when many of the early arrivals have already left). Not many warbirds arrive by the first weekend, as most of the warbirds seem to arrive in 'type clubs' (e.g. the T-6's, T-28's, T-34's, classic jets, Yak's/Nanchang's) sometime during the Monday or sometimes the Tuesday. Those warbirds that are there by the first weekend are often the one-offs, however, and they might therefore fit your definition of 'interesting'. (Who knows, perhaps you don't think Mustangs are the only warbirds either. )
With the Blue Angels displaying this year, the crowdline will again be moved back from Friday lunchtime onwards to the (loud)speaker line, meaning take-off and landing shots will again be difficult during the airshows. I am therefore again considering leaving early. In the end I'll probably stay, though, as I want to photograph the departures on Sunday after the airshow (I don't just do warbirds). But if you're happy with seeing and/or photographing aircraft on static display, then there is no need to stay longer than Friday.

Best,
Roger

As Roger mentions, when it comes to the week of Oshkosh, other than the airshow portions themselves, you won't typically miss much if you aren't there for the final weekend. Part of the reason for this is because the aircraft judging takes place on Thursday every year, and it seems that most of all of the more interesting types that do show up (of the classics and warbirds), do so to get entered in the judging, and thus have to be there before Thursday. Sometimes the latest/greatest restorations, even when entered into the judging, are gone come Friday morning (as I found when I arrived mid-day Friday in 2011, and that year's WWII Grand Champion winner was already gone). Typically there do seem to be a good number of owners/pilots, not participating in the actual airshow portions, that like to leave Friday or Saturday morning, it seems, but I've still managed to get a lot of photos at Oshkosh, of many great warbirds, on the Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, at which time they are usually people/crowd-free.

Thanks all for your advice, really appreciated! As it stands I'll be at Oshkosh from the Sunday to the Friday, providing FHC's Skyfair is on the date it *should* be on.

The themes for Oshkosh were announced yesterday, with owners of any Lockheed Vega, Ryan and Cub aircraft being invited to attend. The other main theme is "Year of the Bomber" including the 75th anniversaries of the Doolittle Raid and the Mighty Eighth. Hopefully that means plenty of B-25's and USAAF bombers and fighters!

Think I will stop off on the way up to visit the Cub gathering.

The Vega, Ryan, Cub and other anniversary aircraft groups announced by EAA yesterday excites me NOT a bit.

But a Year of the Bomber theme sounds interesting with hopefully a lot of B-25's, B-17's and of course the B-29 "Doc!" Where did you hear about the Bomber theme? It was not in the post on the EAA AirVenture site yesterday.

The Vega, Ryan, Cub and other anniversary aircraft groups announced by EAA yesterday excites me NOT a bit.

But a Year of the Bomber theme sounds interesting with hopefully a lot of B-25's, B-17's and of course the B-29 "Doc!" Where did you hear about the Bomber theme? It was not in the post on the EAA AirVenture site yesterday.

Lewis Air Legends have confirmed their attendance on their website, but no clues as to what aircraft yet. Please try the A-20 again!

Should be interesting to watch the evolution of some of these tribute events:

http://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-ai ... nture-2017

For some reason, the 8th Air Force 75th Anniversary sent me on a daydream of multiple P-47s... hmm....

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Today's jackpot:

Warbird Heritage Foundation commits with AD-1, A-4, Sabre, Mustang, and more.

http://warbirdheritagefoundation.org/WH ... vents.html

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Dang, I thought it was going to be a light year! Oh well, there's always next year. I suspect that all of the birds listed won't make it as we don't have enough pilots for them!