My trip to Oshkosh

[jumpinjan]

P51 accident - You probably heard about the fatality of the P51s that collided on landing, here is a picture that I took of the two P51s before their air racing stunt show which took place in a few hours:

A friend of mine sent this picture to me:

Check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWlWYFiG47U

DH4 flys to Oshkosh -no replica, original- I was lucky to see this DH4 at Oshkosh on Friday. It flew from St Louis, but it took about 5 days to arrive (it had numerous breakdowns on the way). My friend, Corey Butcher & I strolled over to get some closer views. This was the oldest aeroplane at Oshkosh and is the only "flying" DH4 in the world. This is a Peck restoration and was found in a barn in Georgia (believe it or not!) and was advertised in Trade-a-Plane as a large WWI aircraft with low hours! Here is Peck's web site
http://www.peckaeroplanerestoration.com/dh4.htm

 

[jumpinjan]

SE5 & Flyboys N17 I like the old restored or replica aircraft from WWI. This is a full size SE5 replica (powered by belt driven, 3.8 V6 Ford) owned by Roy Gilliam. This aeroplane will be flying at the Dayton Dawn Patrol in about 6 weeks. Robert Baslee brought one of the Flyboys N17s (actually used in the movie) to display. We had a great cook-out that evening sponsored by the Replica Fighters Association (another club that I belong to)
http://www.replicafighters.org/

I have about 200 pictures of more airplanes & stuff and I must have walked about 15 miles from 7:30am to about 10:30pm when I finally left.
It was worth the trip

 

[Nickodell]

Those are great pictures, Jan. Thanks. The picture of the P51B and D are poignant, seeing as how they will both be junk soon and the "B" pilot dead.

The SE5a replica is great. I noticed that there were no red flags on the control surface locks. Hope he doesn't forget to take them off one day before a flight. Happened to an RAF friend of mine, who managed to control roll with rudder application so long as he didn't open the throttle. Managed to bring it down in one piece.

 

[skywords]

Thanks for posting that. The DH-4 is owned by a dear freind of mine Al Stix. I stopped and had dinner with him and Albert his son also a dear freind on my bus trip home from NY. I did not have time to get to see the airplane while we were there but we talked about it at dinner. Albert had a hell of a time finding parts to make it run. They removed the cooling jackets from the cylinders to clean them from years of build up and eventually built new jackets for the cylinders. What a beautiful bird. A real tribute to Glen and the people at Creve Coure. You should visit that airport some Sunday and just sit by the gas pumps with a camera and a grin. Thanks again Jan you made my day

 

[Paul A]

I have about 200 pictures of more airplanes & stuff and I must have walked about 15 miles from 7:30am to about 10:30pm when I finally left.
It was worth the trip

Jan: When I lived in Wisconsin I made several trips to Oshkosh. It is a most remarkable gathering of people and equipment! I'm not a pilot anymore but the opportunity to view hundreds of airplanes was irresistable. Somewhere I have hundreds of photos, all taken with a 35mm.

Like you and many others, I walked for hours and put on many miles. It is a unique opportunity for lovers of airplanes.

 

[weaselkeeper]

Thanks for posting. beautiful pictures. I'm jealous and hope to make that pilgrimage one day.

 

[jumpinjan]

I just found this great article on the DH4
Read about this neat adventure
http://fairchild24.com/osh2007.htm