After I had to drop out of college in Las Vegas to move back home to deal with family issues, I finished my degree at The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The city of Oshkosh resides on the I-41 corridor between Milwaukee and Green Bay, along Lake Winnebago. Named after a Menominee Chief, the city is known for a few things, besides the drunkenness of the college students that garnered it the nickname Sloshkosh. Probably the most famous is Oshkosh Truck, which manufactures heavy duty industrial and military trucks. In the 70s and 80s when wearing bib overalls was trendy the brand Oshkosh B’Gosh also had a large footprint. The third thing the city is known for is the Experimental Aircraft Association, or EAA. This final one is the focus of today’s: TOO LOCAL!
The EAA was started in 1953 by some dudes who were into building or modifying the planes they flew. The group was headquartered in Hales Corner and then Milwaukee, before building a facility in Oshkosh where they could have both a headquarters and an airport to have their meet ups at. Every July they have their week long meet-up, AirVenture, which attracts 10,000-12,000 planes and a total attendance of more than 500,000. Traveling to Glib’s Gulch 1.0 I didn’t realize it was AirVenture week until I got stuck in a traffic jam in where none usually exists. This last time I took an alternate route. There is also a sizable museum on the site, with a stock of more than 200 aircraft.
Outside of plane geeks like DB or OwnBestEnemy, EAA AirVenture is probably best know to nerds for the reason Han Solo almost died. Harrison Ford is a longtime member of the EAA and has ties to the area, as he attended college at nearby Ripon College, and crashed his plane on the way to AirVenture in 2015. Don’t worry, he survived, only to be killed by his Emo Vador son.
Although I spent many hours in Oshkosh for FAR TOO MANY years. (Lots of people take 10 years to graduate!) I had never attended AirVenture, nor visited the museum. I decided this year I would rectify that. As AirVenture conflicted with other matters, it was a visit to the museum this spring. I dragged my nephew along and, by golly, we just had a swell time.
The museum is split into several sections, which start with historical air craft. Most of these are replicas of famous planes, like that of the Wright Brothers, or Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis.
The Historical section flows into the experimental section, which houses everything from home made oddities to record breaking planes. There is an exhibit on the Voyager, which circumnavigated the earth without stopping or refeuling in 1986. Their is also replica of Space Ship One, the first crewed private craft in space in 2004. Both of these were built by Burt Rutan, an EAA member. At Timed intervals the Space Ship One replica extends it’s descent air foils and a short video plays about its flight. Tonio would cream his pants.
Then you enter the military section, with, uh, the military planes on display.
There is also a section on the US government space program, but, meh, I don’t like this government shit.
The Children’s Museum is on the top floor, and it was pretty much the coolest part, with a wooden replica of an F-22 kids can sit in and spots to learn about stealth and other tech in the plane. Then there were flight simulators and different experiences and games that taught about aspects of flight.
So, visit Oshkosh! Get piss your pants drunk with the college kids! Then take a hung-over tour of the EAA Museum! Overall the museum evoked memories of the scene in The Rocketeer where the hero escapes Howard Hughes and the FBI by using a model of the Spruce Goose. For that alone it’s worth it.
Fun Fact: Oshkosh is bounded on the northern edge by Lake Butte Des Morts, which means mound of the dead. It was well known that this was named so because when the French were the dominant force in the area they went on a midnight raid with the allied natives to massacre an opposing tribe on the other side of the lake. The French wrote about it. But, a professor from prestigious school in Oshkosh opposed this idea, and it’s wrong-think that natives would kill each other, therefore this is fake news.
You had me at piss your pants drunk.
That actually looks really cool though. I’ve been meaning to go check out the WASP museum here in my new hometown since I moved last year.
Some of those ladies passed would have passed my personal test, had I been a little older at the time.
Neat-o. Thanks, Pat
I was expecting insects.
Man, did I guess wrong.
Not this?
Nor this?
The girlfriend and I were discussing the fact that neither of us have gone down to the football HoF down in Canton. We’re planning on rectifying that sometime when weekends slow down.
That was one of the museums I worked on, back when I did museum exhibit engineering. It’s certainly worth a look.
Ladies get in free on Fridays!
Sounds fun.
That museum looks pretty neat
Cool
Nice write-up CPRM!
I’ve been to AirVenture a few times and it’s absolutely worth the trip. It’s great to get up close and personal with so many cool airplanes.
And that P-38 in the museum. Wood.
It’s not aluminum?
Faaaake!
It was also the first design from what would later be known as the Skunk Works.
It was an amazing airplane.
You’re deliberately ignoring the joke, aren’t you?
Such a badass plane.
Furthermore.
The F-22 is the one that is wood. Literally.
Yeah…the P-38. Perfect illustration of the best laid plans…..everything about it was perfect from concept to build. Just that one little hitch about the performance.
Suthen – Allison V-12 x2 versus RR Merlin V-12 x 1 in a P51D.
@Suthen that plane shot down more Japanese planes than any other fighter. I think you may be recalling the troubles they had during development because once it was deployed it was a beast.
Here’s more.
Tundra – I’m thinking that wound up in the Pacific for reasons of range and the fact that the Zero got outclassed pretty quickly.
@Sensei: It was actually late to the Pacific theater since so many had been sent to N Africa.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-lockheed-p-38-lightning/
As I recall the unforeseeable problem was that at top speeds, and it was a beast, especially in a dive the airflow caused a turbulence between the tails that would tear them off of the plane if it hit just right. They were great but the pilots had to resist topping them out.
If they had had time to solve that one problem it would have been even further out the top fighter in the war. It was not meant to be a fighter but turned out to be a real badass machine.
Plus, the P-38 could do lightning attacks, which killed nearly everything in range
Tundra – I didn’t realize they came that late to the theater.
I did remember this:
The first P-38 victory in the Pacific came about as more of an accident than a deliberate attack. For several weeks the P-38 pilots had little success at encountering Japanese aircraft; the Japanese pilots seemed to be avoiding the twin-boomed fighters. In late November, a flight of P-38s was patrolling over the Lae Airdrome and issuing taunts to the Japanese over the radio when one of the Japanese fighter pilots decided to take off. A young P-38 pilot from New Orleans named Ferrault went down to attack the Japanese fighter, then remembered he was carrying bombs and quickly jettisoned them. His plan was to come around and attack the Japanese fighter as soon as its wheels were retracted. The bombs fell in the water off the end of the runway. The unfortunate Japanese pilot flew into the water that had been tossed skyward by the explosions and crashed into the bay. General Kenney kidded the young Cajun that he did not deserve the promised Air Medal that was to go to the first P-38 pilot to achieve a victory since he had not shot the Japanese plane down, but later that evening he went over to the squadron and gave him the medal.
Environmental damage doesn’t count!
OT from ded thred. Smart sheets is automated form system. It’s clunky but it works. Replaces manual submissions of what used to be paper forms back when we had those and people to process them.
Thanks! Obviously I could have searched, but I love PRs that don’t explain anything.
It comes from my past life as a stock analyst.
We use it a lot for form submission, intake requests, or one offs. Basically surveymonkey for business. I’m sure there’s more to it but that’s what I know.
Soros is buying 220 radio stations and since an election is coming up… The FCC is fast-tracking approvals.
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1838562719672259032
Meanwhile Fish and Wildlife is slow walking approvals for SpaceX launches.
Do you want to see my shocked face?
It’s stuck that way, isn’t it?
Somebody slapped him on his back.
Today I learned – there are still radio stations.
Which will have mandated access in your auto:
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2024/09/18/car-am-radio-bill-passes-house-panel/75277567007/
Joke’s on them, I own a Ford – the sound system broke years ago.
I thought the very same outfit had rules against that sort of thing.
Speaking of shocked faces…
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/companies-are-quickly-firing-gen-z-employees/ar-AA1r4jLB
“You’re not the boss of me!”
Kids these days.
OT – Nothing better than your typical Philly sports fan.
https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/09/dont-launch-a-norwegian-murder-hoax-over-a-us-fantasy-football-group-chat/
Just shared that to one of my league’s group chats. 🙂
The author looks exactly how you would expect a deputy editor at Ars Technica to look.
Unsullied by testosterone.
“Those stupid fuckers actually believed our prehiring promises! Worse, they want us to honor those promises.”
More shocking news – James Carville is an asshole. The kind of asshole who is much tougher on the phone than in person.
https://x.com/joma_gc/status/1838564897531011361
This is news?
Let me get this straight…Carville is pissed having to deal with the useful idiots that he actively helped to create? Do I have that right?
“This ditch full of dead people. Why did you bring me here?” <—- hopefully it wont come to that for a few million 'studies' majors.
Also, not mentioned in the xeet – which one has pink hair, the dumb, fat bitch or the out of touch faggot?
L O L
If you’re shaken up over a few slurs, you’re in the wrong line of work.
Might I recommend Hermit? The pay is miniscule, but you’re not going to hear anyone talk to you.
Carville doesnt pull punches. He actually does have some stones. He is dead wrong about everything, which is quite a feat, but he is no coward. If more than single digits of R’s had half his brass we would not be where we are now.
Perfect punch line.
Hahahahaha!
Blazing Saddles, “Watch! Me! Faggots!” Is the first thing that came to mind.
Only clip I found requires age verification.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NGy1yKy3qyI
More shock at the staff composition of the DNC.
Sounds like an Edith Piaf song. “Et la joie est disparue.”
Nice article CPRM. Now where’s my $2 for the name drop
We actually bill for shout-outs. You need to send us $20.
Same as in downtown Oshkosh.
icwutudidthar
See, the problem here is that… my little brother, this morning, got his arm caught in the microwave, and uh… my grandmother dropped acid and she freaked out and hijacked a school bus full of… penguins, so it’s kind of a family crisis… so come back later? Great.
I think there should be a separate awards show for funniest movies (if such a thing should exist at all).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qao4nkmR7Qs
Why are all the longshoremen at all the ports represented by one union? And why hasn’t the union leadership been “disappeared” now that they walked away from the negotiating table?
We need antitrust provisions for organized crime.
The DNC would fight hardest against this since they are the largest organized crime outfit in the nation, so it ain’t gonna happen.
So what you’re saying is we need to bust them up into smaller outfits.
Unions are specifically exempted from the antitrust laws.
Unions have too many protections, they are businesses engaged in extortion and need to be treated as such.
Beep one out for Cincinnati Microwave’s and Valentine Research’s Michael D. Valentine.
https://www.cincinnati.com/obituaries/pwoo0946236
RIP smart man.
You ever buy buy one of his RDs?
I had a Passport. Great unit.
I still have a gen1 Valentine One on my CBR900RR. Wonderful system, remote display & audio. Had to add a capacitor to stabilize the 12V supply on the bike.
A quick search:
https://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=332177
A friend had the original Escort. The Passport was essentially the same specs and filtering, just in a much smaller and with the ubiquitous 80s LED signal strength meter.
The V1 was really the next evolution with the filtering and DSP processing and the directional indicators.
I had the Passport as well. Saved me many times.
Good Old Boys of the Ring.
Lol. Very nice.
I find the AI creations a bit creepy. That Frodo creature is extra creepy. Twink hobbit? Yikes.
It is plain to me that they are studying how to appeal to human psychological weaknesses through subconscious cues. I know when someone is trying to manipulate me. The way I am built that immediately makes me take a deep dislike and mistrust towards that….entity.
The Jetsons one got a lot of applause recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOnC8hdX8k
Better than anything Amazon put out.
Hey, it’s my people! I’ve been there 30+ times, really the best-run event I’ve ever been to. I built a plane and flew it there in ’22. One of these days I’ll finish up the series of articles about it. This is a Zenith 750 with a Jabiru 120hp engine. https://share.icloud.com/photos/027zzIMnpvQwcopeXW–xR39Q
That plane looks like it shrank in the wash.
I get that it is a small, single person craft, but the proportions are unexpected and look… off.
837 lbs empty weight. It’s actually way wider across the shoulders than a Cessna 150 or even a Piper Archer. Here’s a full side view. Yeah, it’s boxy, most parts came off a flat cnc machine but if all the holes line up you know it’s about right. https://share.icloud.com/photos/0190S729I-zJ1NOjN1WBi_yqg
Here’s the arrival with traffic and a pic of my passage past Chicago.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/033qeUqu0JBPAP4-umS6Igh5Q
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e4avSh6Ck0YpouTKtUzTpbLw
I have a friend who is a huge GA fan so I knew about the airplane, but not the motor.
Looks like Australia was none too pleased with the manufacturer initially.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabiru_3300
Very nice!
You did a great job on the paint! What avionics package did you get?
It’s a GRT Sport Sx PFD with GRT engine monitor. Trig comm and transponder, there’s a stratux for adsb-in. It’s ok, and vs the price of Garmin I’m satisfied. https://share.icloud.com/photos/08bo-BqPYM11kAdRXFhixGUJg
The plane is just plain (ha) white paint and polished aluminum, the green is vinyl so I can change it someday
Well, that didn’t go well.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/satellite-images-suggest-test-of-russian-super-weapon-failed-spectacularly/
“That’s a shame.”
“Vell, back to the drawink board Natasha.”
A dude at church who is a meteorologist went up there for the air show for work and my husband’s best dudebropal was there also. I didn’t even know it was a thing 3 months ago and then it’s all I see since I learned of it.
Pilot Makes Emergency Landing On I-25, Fixes Plane, Then Takes Off Again
Since it’s GA day.
Wondered how he pulled off the repair…
“The pilot, also a mechanic, was able to fix the plane and then took off again from the Interstate.”
LOL.
Loose hose? Bolt needed tightening?
Thermostat needed replacing.
Nah, the thermostat just needed checking – the filter needed changing.
Reboot the avionics.
Jiggled a couple wires. Tapped on a thingy.
Probably put some gas in it
I’ve been actually working all day (and still in a meeting with our Asian overlords), sad I missed this so far.
I am an officer and board member in our local EAA chapter and while I haven’t ever been to the famous week long midsummer airshow at Oshkosh, I did attend an EAA leadership conference where we were taken on a special tour of the EAA museum and got to see some non public areas and parts of the collection. I actually got to climb up in and sit in the cockpit of a Dehavilland Mosquito bomber, and Paul Poberezny’s (founder of EAA) personal P-51 Mustang.