Unofficial 2024 Oshkosh thread...

[Mark Allen M]

What was the British / Canadian contingent this year?.
Would have been cool to see Fagen’s F6F and SB2C together as well.
So no P-38 or Mossie?

And I’d agree with the sentiment that the past few years has raised the bar quite high. Great stuff showing in the webcams nevertheless.

[JohnTerrell]

The Canadian contingent included Hannu Halminen's P-51D, Mike Potter's Spitfire Mk.IX, Hurricane Mk.XII and P-51D, the CWHM Lancaster, Larry Kelley's Canadian DH Tigermoth, several DH Chipmunks, Harvards, Chris Rounds' CT-133 'The Red Knight', the Snowbirds, the RCAF CF-18 demo, and others I'm surely forgetting.

No Mosquito, P-38 or Hellcat this year. The Lewis/Somers Mosquito, which was cleared to fly last week, was said to require ten hours of flight time before it leaves Chino. There was some hope of possibly seeing either the Rod Lewis-owned Hellcat or Steaurt Walton-owned P-38 that are close to completion at Ezell, but not the case this year.

[DH82EH]

Hey guys.
I saw a youtube video that showed a brief clip of a polished P-51A.
Couldn't get a great look. Is that N51Z?

[JohnTerrell]

Hey guys.
I saw a youtube video that showed a brief clip of a polished P-51A.
Couldn't get a great look. Is that N51Z?

It is, brought all the way from California by its new owner, Walt Bowe.

[k5083]

John's list of the Canadian contingent is pretty complete. There was also Paul Keppler's T-33, a second Canadian Tiger Moth parked over in the vintage area, a Cornell, a Bird Dog, and a couple of nice RCAF painted C-45s. There was talk of a Finch but I didn't see it. These were never gathered in the plaza as I thought they would be, at least not yet. The weekend should be a bit more concentrated with Canadian content, with the Lanc still here, the Snowbirds performing, and the CF-18 coming to perform. I will check this out tomorrow, but not sure how many other folks will still be around! I think EAA may be trying to revive the final weekend by booking more good acts for the Sat/Sun airshows.

I loved seeing the Potter birds and the Lanc here and really appreciate the effort that VWC and CWH went through to bring them. I just wish they had been displayed in the air to better advantage. The Victory Flight routine occurs at more than double the usual flyby distance from the crowd, and I don't think the audience got a proper feel for the sight/sound of these wonderful planes. On Wednesday this was somewhat redeemed by the fact that they launched and landed from 18/36 in front of the crowd, but on Thursday we didn't get that. (Winds were light to moderate from the ENE which I assume dictated the choice to use 09.) The Lanc/B-29 flight was a bit of a dud from a spectator perspective. Again, the takeoffs and landings were the good part. They spent an hour over the lake with a photo plane and then did a single pass, high and across the crowd line rather than along it. Knowing the flair with which both CWH and CAF usually display these aircraft, I again felt bad for the crowd for having this flight promoted to it as an airshow act, when really it was done mainly for the benefit of EAA's aerial photographers with just a desultory nod to the airshow crowd. No shade on CWH, CAF or the Doc crew for this, I'm sure it was an EAA issue.

That said, the Wednesday show overall was one of the best daily OSH airshows I have seen in years. It was well paced with some of the best flippy floppers like Holland and Wagstaff. There was a cameo by the Blue Angels on their way to North Dakota, and the Snowbirds did a beautiful unscheduled mini-performance upon arrival/site recon. We got the good version of the Potter flight with the takeoffs and landings, the Lanc/B-29 display such as it was, a nice authentic D-Day style parachute drop from a C-47, and Vicki did a nice job demonstrating Clay Lacy's purple Mustang. The "heritage flight" consisting of the solo display A-10 (special black paint), F-16 (special prototype-like paint), F-22 and F-35 was delightful. The F-22 and F-35 ripped up the sky during the evening show to a much greater extent than in their afternoon displays on other days. The warbird segment was confined to liaison types and to trainers that do not fit into the Monday mass formations (Chipmunks, Navions, BT-13s, etc.) and were in the traditional racecourse format which gives a much better look at the individual planes than the mass formations. So that was one for the books.

Hoping for an interesting show tomorrow (Sat.). The warbird segment is reverting to the "everybody up" format that they used to do every day rather than themed aircraft categories, so we'll see who is still around and interested in flying.

August

[hurricane_yank]

That said, the Wednesday show overall was one of the best daily OSH airshows I have seen in years. It was well paced with some of the best flippy floppers like Holland and Wagstaff. There was a cameo by the Blue Angels on their way to North Dakota, and the Snowbirds did a beautiful unscheduled mini-performance upon arrival/site recon. We got the good version of the Potter flight with the takeoffs and landings, the Lanc/B-29 display such as it was, a nice authentic D-Day style parachute drop from a C-47, and Vicki did a nice job demonstrating Clay Lacy's purple Mustang. The "heritage flight" consisting of the solo display A-10 (special black paint), F-16 (special prototype-like paint), F-22 and F-35 was delightful. The F-22 and F-35 ripped up the sky during the evening show to a much greater extent than in their afternoon displays on other days. The warbird segment was confined to liaison types and to trainers that do not fit into the Monday mass formations (Chipmunks, Navions, BT-13s, etc.) and were in the traditional racecourse format which gives a much better look at the individual planes than the mass formations. So that was one for the books.

I fully agree...this was my 31st consecutive Oshkosh and I would place that in Top 3 of the shows that I have seen.

I also thought the 29's and Lanc pass was great and deserved another but I wonder how much was EAA vs. the USAF as they had their demo next and might have been time constrained in the whole thing in terms of runway clearance and what not.

[DH82EH]

Hey guys.
I saw a youtube video that showed a brief clip of a polished P-51A.
Couldn't get a great look. Is that N51Z?

It is, brought all the way from California by its new owner, Walt Bowe.

Thanks John.
Much appreciated. I first saw her in 1986 in Geneseo. Probably Moon Spillers first event with her.
I loved the O.D. and Grey.
Certainly looks good polished too.

[hurricane_yank]

A few of my better shots from Wednesday...took 1630:

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[OD/NG]

The Helldiver was absolutely stunning! Hats off to the Fagan's, they've really upped the bar on authentic restorations. It has to be seen in person to appreciate all of the hard work that went into it!

[Randy Haskin]

I also thought the 29's and Lanc pass was great and deserved another but I wonder how much was EAA vs. the USAF as they had their demo next and might have been time constrained in the whole thing in terms of runway clearance and what not.

All three of us wanted to do more passes of the formation, but EAA wanted that one pass based on the time constraints of the night show. Originally we wanted to do a tighter Vic formation 3-ship, then break into the 2-ship of Superforts, then down into single ship passes.

Just happy that we were able to do it at all.

[hurricane_yank]

I also thought the 29's and Lanc pass was great and deserved another but I wonder how much was EAA vs. the USAF as they had their demo next and might have been time constrained in the whole thing in terms of runway clearance and what not.

All three of us wanted to do more passes of the formation, but EAA wanted that one pass based on the time constraints of the night show. Originally we wanted to do a tighter Vic formation 3-ship, then break into the 2-ship of Superforts, then down into single ship passes.

Just happy that we were able to do it at all.

Screen Shot 2024-07-28 at 05.00.45.png

Thank you for putting in the time and effort to make it happen. Truly an amazing sight even if only one pass.

[Warbirdnerd]

Awards have been posted. https://www.eaa.org/airventure/eaa-airv ... -announced

[JohnB]

Has there even been a B-29/Lancaster formation before?

I'm sure there were some in the RAF with Washington's and Lancs postwar.

Last edited by JohnB on Sun Jul 28, 2024 3:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Hooligan2]

Has there even been a B-29/Lancaster formation before?

I'm sure there were some in the RAF with Washington's and Lands postwar.

I believe both types participated in the Queen's Coronation Flypast in 1953...

[JohnB]

Has there even been a B-29/Lancaster formation before?

I'm sure there were some in the RAF with Washington's and Lancs postwar.

I believe both types participated in the Queen's Coronation Flypast in 1953...

That's what I was thinking of with the RAF...any in the U.S.?
Certainly one could have happened,.the Canadian Land has visited the U.S. many tome, IIRC, I saw it in Dayton.