The Unofficial Oshkosh 2019 Thread

[k5083]

I have thought of a permanent motto for Oshkosh Airventure. EAA comes up with a new one for each year. This year there were two, "year of the fighter" which turned out to be apt, and "50th fly-in at Oshkosh." (The latter confused the people on the loudspeakers, who kept calling it the "50th anniversary at Oshkosh," which it wasn't. The 50th anniversary will be next year, when the 51st fly-in is held. That's how anniversaries work.) EAA sometimes seems to try to come up with a motto that works year after year, but nothing it tries ever seems to stick, probably because they're thought up by marketing people who don't know which end of a VariEze is the front.

After hearing variations of this said 50 times every day at every Oshkosh I've been to, I think Oshkosh's permanent slogan should be:

"WOW, I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE."

To me that's the essence of Oshkosh. You're constantly seeing things you can see nowhere else, even at another year's Oshkosh.

The expletive at the front can be adjusted from "Wow" to "D--n" to "S--t" to "F--k" depending on how special the thing is, and where you fall on the uptightness spectrum where 0 = Ricky Gervais and 100 = Mike Pence. This year's Mustang gathering definitely earned one of the two higher-level expletives. This will be the first of a few "I've never seen that before" posts.

We all know that the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds made brief cameo appearances this year, but not as many people detected the Snowbird presence. This has to be the first year that all three major North American military display teams made UNSCHEDULED Oshkosh appearances.



When this plane beat up the runway and settled into the pattern Thursday afternoon, I remarked to my neighbor that some private owner must have painted his Tutor in Snowbird markings. But as it landed and taxied in, it was clearly the real deal. The Snowbirds had sent one plane, Tutor 114145, with no position number on the tail. The crew chief displayed what by Canadian standards is unseemly, over-the-top patriotism as they taxied in.



Rather than taxi to where the U.S. military hardware was parked, or even to the warbird area, they set up the tutor in the Vintage parking area. Admittedly, given the age of the Snowbird Tutors, that was appropriate. They then dutifully filled out their DON'T TOUCH ME information card like any other vintage owner, listing "Royal Canadian Air Force Air Demonstration Sqn 431 Snowbirds, Moose Jaw, Sask." as the owner of their 1965 CT-114, and pitched their tents beside the plane! They spent much of the day hanging around the plane talking to whoever wanted to know about it.



And they were custom Snowbird tents, at that. As a Canadian, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, the custom tents are cool, but do the Snowbirds really camp out beside their planes often enough to justify those?



Anyway, darn, I've never seen that before.

If you want to understand the difference between Canadian and U.S. attitudes in a nutshell, there it is. Canada can have its premier air force display pilots, the equal of any in the world in flying ability and professionalism, camp out beside their planes at a fly-in like Aeronca Champ owners and emerge in their skivvies in the morning without bringing shame on the nation. In fact, it's kind of awesome.

Word on the field was that they were going to do a special solo routine at one of the airshows, but they didn't on Thursday or Friday. Maybe someone knows if they did one on the weekend. That would have been another thing I've never seen.

August

Last edited by k5083 on Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[OD/NG]

What was better: getting to land with Doc, or winning the best primary trainer prize? In any case, double congratz to you on a very successful little outing!

Thanks so much all for the answers to my questions. I can't help but wonder if, after that epic restoration, some guy just walked up to the F6F and simply sprayed the 476 on with a can of Krylon like any common graffiti artist, or if they somehow got technical with the application?

Blackbirdfan, your photos are out of this world! And mazdaP5, that last image of Doc landing is absolutely awesome - if that doesn't catch the spirit of OSH I don't know what does!

The "spray on" number was intentionally put on after the paint job to replicate the "factory fresh" look, like it just got wheeled outside the production facility. Same with the grease pencil markings on the prop. Both of those were the extra bit of realism that the Collings foundation went to give it that extra authentic look. To the paint critics, don't worry, none of that was permanent and it will come off either by rain or intentionally after Oshkosh.

[k5083]

So what is our official tally of P-51s at OSH this year? Not counting the XP-51 and Paul I, I counted the following 24:
1. Aint Misbehavin
2. Old Crow (B)
3. Old Crow (D)
4. Gentleman Jack
5. CAF Red Nose
6. Swamp Fox
7. Sierra Sue II
8. Rosalie
9. La Pistolera
10. CAF Gunfighter
11. HI-G
12. P-51H
13. Frances Dell
14. Moonbeam McSwine
15. Petie
16. Sweet Revenge
17. Lope's Hope 3
18. CAF Red Tail
19. Mad Max
20. Quick Silver
21. Brat III
22. Bald Eagle
23. McKenna's
24. Bum Steer

Not an unusually high turnout, which makes the achievement of getting so many up for the Thursday show all the more impressive.

August

[ErrolC]

...

And they were custom Snowbird tents, at that. As a Canadian, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, the custom tents are cool, but do the Snowbirds really camp out beside their planes often enough to justify those?

Are they custom, or more ones of the right colour (which might even be stock) with added badge?
I wonder if they use them for shade/shelter during airshows, rather than just for overnight?

[hurricane_yank]

So what is our official tally of P-51s at OSH this year? Not counting the XP-51 and Paul I, I counted the following 24:
1. Aint Misbehavin
2. Old Crow (B)
3. Old Crow (D)
4. Gentleman Jack
5. CAF Red Nose
6. Swamp Fox
7. Sierra Sue II
8. Rosalie
9. La Pistolera
10. CAF Gunfighter
11. HI-G
12. P-51H
13. Frances Dell
14. Moonbeam McSwine
15. Petie
16. Sweet Revenge
17. Lope's Hope 3
18. CAF Red Tail
19. Mad Max
20. Quick Silver
21. Brat III
22. Bald Eagle
23. McKenna's
24. Bum Steer

Not an unusually high turnout, which makes the achievement of getting so many up for the Thursday show all the more impressive.

August

Which makes that gathering in Columbus a few years back - with 3x that many - all the more impressive.

[Dan K]

..."WOW, I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE."

To me that's the essence of Oshkosh. You're constantly seeing things you can see nowhere else, even at another year's Oshkosh...

August

I think you might be on to something, August.

2019 was Oshkosh number 42 for me, and I'm fairly certain it was the first time I've been offered root beer from a P-51 wing keg.




IMG_1264 by Dan Kell, on Flickr


IMG_1266 by Dan Kell, on Flickr

[k5083]

Very awesome! Which reminds me of another tasty thing about Oshkosh this year. "Rock Your Wings" beer was the German-style amber prepared by local brewery Fox River for the occasion. I loved the special can, with its accurate plan of the OSH runways including the colored landing dots. I should have kept an empty can as a souvenir, really. It was very popular, not surprisingly considering it was a fine beer and its only competition was Miller High Life and Lite.

August

Attachments

[k5083]

...

And they were custom Snowbird tents, at that. As a Canadian, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, the custom tents are cool, but do the Snowbirds really camp out beside their planes often enough to justify those?

Are they custom, or more ones of the right colour (which might even be stock) with added badge?
I wonder if they use them for shade/shelter during airshows, rather than just for overnight?

Yes, they probably were bought at Wal-Mart for the occasion and the badges stuck on. The maker is Ozark Trail, which I understand is not an especially high-end tent. This exact model seems to cost about $65 at Wal-Mart.

August

[k5083]

I don't usually spend much time in the exhibitor area at OSH, but it turned out that is where you have to go to see some of the best antiques on the field. One restorer/seller had two Reliants and three UPF-7s on display, all of them gorgeous. Another had what it claimed to be the only Airmaster still on floats.

















August

[Dan K]

I don't usually spend much time in the exhibitor area at OSH, but it turned out that is where you have to go to see some of the best antiques on the field. One restorer/seller had two Reliants and three UPF-7s on display, all of them gorgeous...

August

That'd be RARE Aircraft in Faribault, MN...about a 30-minute drive from home.

https://rareaircraft.com/


And a very short run from there down I-35 puts you in Owatonna. Kermit was there yesterday checking up on a Sikorsky.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/KermitWeeks ... e_internal

Last edited by Dan K on Tue Jul 30, 2019 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Ken]

Any images of Skyraider "Wiley Coyote" would be appreciated.

Ken

[mazdaP5]

Any images of Skyraider "Wiley Coyote" would be appreciated.

Ken

[Dan K]

Very awesome! Which reminds me of another tasty thing about Oshkosh this year. "Rock Your Wings" beer was the German-style amber prepared by local brewery Fox River for the occasion. I loved the special can, with its accurate plan of the OSH runways including the colored landing dots. I should have kept an empty can as a souvenir, really. It was very popular, not surprisingly considering it was a fine beer and its only competition was Miller High Life and Lite.

August

NOTAM on a beer can...marketing genius...one wonders if the FAA had a hand in it.


But as for beer selections, there were other options. Are you sure you were looking in the right place?




IMG_1333 by Dan Kell, on Flickr

[Thomas_Mac]

August,

I believe one or two of the snowbirds camped in Vintage a few years ago when the entire team was at Oshkosh. It was a great surprise this year though, not often you get to see a single CT-144 do a pass or two down the showline upon arrival.

Tom

[k5083]

But as for beer selections, there were other options. Are you sure you were looking in the right place?

To be clear, I did not spend much of my 2 precious days at OSH searching for beer options. I'm aware there were more to be found, but at the place I had Rock Your Wings, on the Vintage flight line, it was that or Miller.

August