EAA Airventure 2009: P-38 Lightning "Ruff Stuff"

EAA Airventure 2009: P-51 Mustang "Moonbeam McSwine"

Taxiing to the runway.

In Flight just above the runway.

The sound of a Rolls-Merlin engine is so distinctive that no matter where you are during this event you can tell when a P-51 Mustang takes off.

EAA Airventure 2009: F-86 Saber

F-86 Saber on the deck.

EAA Airventure: White Knight Two

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

To help you understand what you are looking at, I decided to include this You Tube video.

I had been at EAA Airventure about two hours when my dad pointed out that he could see White Knight Two way down at the other end of the airfield.  I didn’t know it at the time because I’m not that familiar with the layout of the airfield at Oshkosh, but White Knight Two sat on runway 27 (two seven) waiting to take-off.  We listened as the announcer on the loudspeaker announced Burt Rutan.  The chief designer of White Knight One, Mr. Rutan quickly pointed out that he did not design White-Knight Two, which is part of a company owned by Sir Richard Bransom called Virgin Galactic. 

The jet-plane portion, without the shuttle hanging from the middle, flew into Oshkosh Monday.

And much to my delight, while Mr. Rutan talked about White Knight Two, it took off.

Circled the airfield several times…

Displaying its power and beauty…

Showed its landing gear to the tower and then landed.

It taxied to where I stood.

Giving me a great look at this powerful jet…

with very beautiful nose-art.

Look closely through the window and you can see the pilot.

That’s the pilot’s hatch.

That’s the owner, Sir Richard Bransom.

EAA Airventure 2009

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

I had planned on two days in Oshkosh, which meant I had a pretty quick learning curve to be able to bring you some of these pictures.  I’ve never been to an air show, so I had no idea the types of things I would see, stunts pilots would try or the sheer number of people I would be confronted with.  Obstacles and lack of understanding aside, I have some really nice pictures to share, including parachutists, death defying stunts, impressive fly-ins, incredible fly-bys, and a whole lot of airplanes.

Since I went on Tuesday and Wednesday, I’m certain the crowds were thinner than on the weekend.  Typically, whenever you neared a unique attraction, like this vintage World War II era British Avro Lancaster, the crowds thickened.  This is a beautifully kept machine and for five bucks you could climb the ladder beneath the nose and take an inside tour of the plane.  As far as I was concerned, the British had already satisfied my price of admission because this is a very rare machine.  However the Brits weren’t done trying to please my need for historical aircraft.

This is an extremely rare P-40 Kittyhawk.  Sold to the British as part of Lend-Lease during World War II, P-40 Kittyhawks and Tomahawks helped keep the British in the fight against Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

The primary British fighter at the beginning of World War II, the Hawker Hurricane.

Hurricanes eventually gave way to an air superiority fighter that maintains legendary status to this day.

The Supermarine Spitfire.

So, as you can see, EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with tens of thousands of people present and thousands of aircraft to look at, attracts the very finest examples of aircraft from vintage warplanes to modern jets.  I’ll be posting more over the next few days.  I hope you enjoy seeing these pictures as much as I did seeing these aircraft.

Waving the Flag

More shots from EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.