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PLATINUM LEVEL SUPPORTERS

GOLD LEVEL SUPPORTERS

DeltaHawk Engines ❘ Epic Aircraft ❘ Honda Aircraft Company ❘ Honeywell Aerospace Technologies

Lightspeed Aviation ❘ Lycoming ❘ Mars Wrigley ❘ Phillips 66 ❘ Redbird Flight

SILVER LEVEL SUPPORTERS

Airbus ❘ Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) ❘ Aircraft Specialties Services

Aspen Avionics, an AIRO Group Company ❘ Cirrus ❘ Dynon ❘ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company ❘ Hartzell Aviation ❘ Icom America ❘ PowerLift Hydraulic Doors

Riesterer & Schnell ❘ RTX ❘ WACO Aircraft Corp ❘ Wipaire

BRONZE LEVEL SUPPORTERS

AeroShell ❘ ASA (Aviation Supplies & Academics) ❘ Blackhawk ❘ Bose Aviation ❘ Ballweg Implement Co. Inc

Cleveland Wheel & Brake Systems ❘ Continental Aerospace Technologies ❘ Covington Aircraft ❘ Crewchief Systems

Delta Air Lines ❘ GE Aerospace ❘ Green Bay Austin Straubel Int. Airport

Gulf Coast Avionics / Pacific Coast Avionics ❘ Gulfstream Aerospace Hangar 22 Coffee ❘ JP Instruments

Lincoln Electric ❘ magniX ❘ McFarlane Aviation Products ❘ NATCA ❘ Oshkosh AeroTech ❘ PenFed ❘ Pepsi

Piedmont Airlines ❘ Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd ❘ Poly Fiber, Inc ❘ Rotax iService and Training Centres

SiriusXM Aviation ❘ Southwest Airlines ❘ Superflite ❘ Superior Air Parts, Inc. ❘ SureFly Electronic Ignition ❘ Tecnam

Tempest Aero Group ❘ True Blue Power ❘ uAvionix ❘ United Airlines ❘ Van’s Aircraft Williams International

Wing Aviation ❘ Women in Aviation International (WAI) ❘ Zenith Aircraft

COPPER LEVEL SUPPORTERS

Avfuel ❘ B&C Specialty Products Inc. ❘ Bristell Aircraft ❘ CiES Inc ❘ DATC ❘ Flight Outfitters ❘ Flite Test ❘ Horizon Hobby Siemens Digital Industry Software ❘ SOFTIE PARACHUTES by Para-Phernalia, Inc. ❘ Starr Aviation ❘ UND Aerospace

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General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) ❘ GES ❘ Global Aerospace ❘ Honda Power Equipment ❘ JSfirm.com MATCO ALS ❘ Metro Sales Inc. ❘ Mid-State Equipment ❘ Ninety-Nines, Inc (The) ❘ Old School Model Works ❘ Pilotsmith

Scheme Designers, Inc ❘ Small Town EV ❘ Target Oshkosh ❘ Walkabout Hats ❘ WILCO ❘ Zipline

JULY 21-27, 2025

The Pilot Maker

Celebrating 90 years of the T-6 Texan By

Sam Oleson

Nobody Doesn’t Love a Blimp!

A look back at Wingfoot One’s first visit to Oshkosh

By Hal Bryan

Into a New Age

A spotter’s guide to 1945-1950 aircraft at AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

By Sam Oleson

The Ultimate How-To AirVenture Guide

Get to know the grounds and the endless possibilities of AirVenture By EAA

Staff

By the Numbers

The metrics of AirVenture By Emme Hornung

Happy Anniversary!

A variety of aircraft are celebrating at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

By Hal Bryan

Who Runs the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration?

EAA volunteers

See You at the Flightline

A week full of air shows at AirVenture 2025

JACK J. PELTON

Endless Possibilities

Welcome to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025!

BY JACK J. PELTON

AFTER MONTHS OF PREPARATION by EAA sta and more than 6,000 volunteers, we’re ready to open the gates and say, “Welcome to Oshkosh!”

Education is a key ingredient of our convention; for young people, it starts with KidVenture, at Pioneer Airport. KidVenture provides hands-on activities covering multiple facets of aviation. For those ready to get started, our Learn to Fly Center in the Four Corners area is sta ed by flight instructors who can answer questions and even arrange an introductory lesson in one of our Redbird flight simulators.

Hundreds of forum presentations provide visitors with a chance to learn firsthand from foremost experts in aviation, and our workshops get you hands-on with skills needed to build or restore an aircraft, including wood, metal, wiring, composites, fabric, and even welding.

Then there are our aircraft neighborhoods, where you’ll see an amazing variety of aircraft on display, organized by category.

Our Warbirds area presents the history of military aviation featuring beautifully restored aircraft from multiple eras. Moving south from the warbirds you’ll find the group at EAA’s roots — homebuilts. These aircraft represent innovation at its finest, as well as being among the most accessible forms of aviation.

Next up is the aerobatic area where you can learn about the world of competition flying and unusual attitudes. Continuing south, you come to the vintage neighborhood, where you’ll find antique and classic civil aircraft, all meticulously restored to better-than-new condition.

Our final display neighborhood is the Fun Fly Zone, which is home to ultralights and light-sport aircraft,

However you like to learn, take the time to immerse yourself in whatever interests you, as that’s what AirVenture is all about.

powered parachutes, and rotorcraft, displayed by both individuals and exhibitors, as well as demo flights and our Twilight Flight Fest in the evenings.

For me, the most educational part of the week is the chance not just to look at all of the airplanes on display, but to stop and talk to the people who brought them. Their stories are fascinating and their passion for aviation is infectious. However you like to learn, take the time to immerse yourself in whatever interests you, as that’s what AirVenture is all about. There’s nothing like the experiences you’ll have — and the things you’ll learn — only in Oshkosh. OSH 2025

A Membership Worth a Lifetime.

An EAA® Lifetime membership shows your commitment to aviation as a way of life, and it signals that you stand with EAA’s mission to grow participation in aviation by promoting The Spirit of Aviation®!

As a thank you for your commitment to EAA, you will receive a $100 discount on your Lifetime membership during AirVenture ® 2025. Visit EAA.org/Lifetime to learn more or upgrade your membership today!

In Their Own Words

“The financial impact of a Lifetime membership was the logical choice over an annual membership. Apart from that, by committing a Lifetime membership to EAA, it assures me that EAA will provide a lifetime of support, direction, and advocacy to its members.”

Kreg Anderson

EAA Lifetime 1008120 and EAA Chapter 702 Member

Celebrating 90 years of the T-6 Texan

The Pilot Maker Celebrating 90 years of the T-6 Texan

BY SAM OLESON

THE YEAR WAS 1935. The rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany, which included the re-formation that year of the Luftwa e in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles, was troubling to many in Europe and around the world. Few could have predicted that an airplane being developed that year by North American Aviation, the NA-16, would be responsible for training thousands upon thousands of wartime fighter pilots over the course of the next decade. As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the iconic T-6 Texan this summer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025, let’s take a brief look back at the history of the trainer known as “The Pilot Maker.”

A PRECURSOR TO THE AT-6

Designed for the U.S. Army Air Corps Basic Trainer Competition in 1935, as well as the export market, North American had big plans for the NA-16. The airplane was designed and built in a remarkably short period of time — some reports claiming in less than 10 weeks — and the first flight took place on April 1, 1935, in Dundalk, Maryland. Originally an open-cockpit design, it was soon changed to an enclosed cockpit cabin, which was tested at Wright Field in the spring of 1935. Powered by a Wright R-975E-3 engine spinning a two-bladed propeller, the NA-16 could achieve a maximum speed of 172 mph at 2205 rpm and a 1,180 fpm climb rate.

Competing against the Curtiss-Wright 19R and Seversky SEV-3XAR, the NA-16 was declared the overall winner of the basic trainer competition, and the USAAC subsequently placed an order for what became the BT-9. However, some wonder if in fact the deciding factor was the political influence General Motors (North American’s parent company) may have asserted. NAA produced 42 BT-9s (charge number NA-19), which had wider cockpit areas and di erent canopy enclosures than the NA-16. It retained the fabric-covered fuselage but had metal-covered wings and tail surfaces. The

first flight of the BT-9 came on April 15, 1936. A further derivative of the BT-9, the BT-9A, was produced at the same time. The A-model could be equipped with a K-3B camera, Type RC-16 interphone set, and a .30-caliber Browning M-1 machine gun over the right side of the nose. It was during this period of time that North American relocated from Maryland to Inglewood, California.

Over the next couple of years, North American continued to refine its product for the Army Air Corps and U.S. Navy, building a number of variants in both the basic trainer and basic combat series, including the BT-9B (NA-23), NJ-1 (NA28), BT-9C (NA-29), Y1BT-10 (NA-29 and NA-30), BC-1 (NA-36), SNJ-1 (NA-52), BC-2 (NA-54), BC-1A (NA-55-1), and finally, the BT-14 and BT-14A (NA-58).

The BT-14’s fuselage was 14 inches longer than the BT-9 and had similar wings and empennage as the BC-1A. The distinctive feature of the BT-14, of which there were 251 examples built, was the type’s downward curve over the nose.

THE TEXAN ARRIVES

The contract for what became the first real AT-6 was signed in April 1939, as Europe inevitably seemed to be heading for war, but was still o cially six months out.

As a continuation of the BC-1A, 94 AT-1s (NA-59) were ordered in 1939 for active duty training, though they weren’t

Over the course of its production run from the mid-1930s to early 1950s, more than 15,000 Texans of many variants were built, training countless Allied pilots.

delivered until early 1940 due to shortages of radio compass installation equipment. By the time the first AT-1 was delivered in March 1940, the USAAC was made aware that AT-1 had previously been used as a designation (advanced trainer designations hadn’t been used since 1928 prior to this), and all 94 aircraft were redesignated AT-6. Powered by a 600-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-47 engine, the AT-1/AT-6 had the ability to mount two .30-caliber machine guns on the nose as well as a flexible gun in the rear.

By the time Germany was invading Poland in September 1939, the U.S. Navy began to order its first true variant of the AT-6, designated the SNJ-2. While similar to the SNJ-1, the

SNJ-2 had many similarities with the BC-1A. During this time, the NA-66, which became known as the Harvard II, was in the early stages of being delivered to the British via Canada. In late 1940, the NA-77, which was designated as the AT-6A-NA in the USAAC and SNJ-3 in the Navy, entered service and was more or less the same as the exported NA-66. By early 1942, the NA-84 (AT-6B) was delivered to Wright Field.

The major wartime variant of the Texan was the NA-88, which was designated as the AT-6C and AT-6D in the USAAC, SNJ-4 and SNJ-5 in the U.S. Navy, and Harvard IIA and Harvard III in British Commonwealth nations. More than 9,000 NA-88 variants were produced at North American’s Texas facility. The first AT-6C was accepted in February 1942 and assigned to Selma Field in Alabama. AT-6Cs were similar to B-models but extensively used low-alloy steel and plywood to conserve aluminum. The D-models included a 24-volt electrical system. Later variants include the AT-6F (SNJ-6) and AT-16 (Noorduyn-built Harvards). Following the war, AT-6s were redesignated simply as T-6s in the Air Force. Over the course of its production run from the mid-1930s to early 1950s, more than 15,000 Texans of many variants were built, training countless Allied pilots.

MOSQUITO

We’re fortunate at EAA to have a number of historic flying aircraft, including a T-6. EAA’s T-6G (serial No. 49-3141), nicknamed Mosquito, was delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 1949. Following its military service, Mosquito went into private hands and was eventually donated to EAA in 2009 by the late David Lau, EAA 138418.

Sean Elliott, EAA’s vice president of advocacy and safety, heads up the flight operations department and has the privilege of flying many of EAA’s aircraft, including the T-6. While the T-6 is most famous for its role in World War II, Sean pointed out that as a type it proved valuable well after the war.

“Post-World War II, North American wound up buying back a number of C- and D-model T-6s and completely

“Even into the jet age, it still served very, very well in its role of giving pilots the right skill sets to be really competent to fly other frontline fighters and more high-performance aircraft.”

— Sean Elliott

rebuilding them, and returning them to the Air Force as advanced trainers,” Sean said. “As they figured out postwar that this was still one of the best trainers on the planet when it came to preparing pilots, military pilots, to fly more advanced fighter aircraft. Even into the jet age, it still served very, very well in its role of giving pilots the right skill sets to be really competent to fly other frontline fighters and more high-performance aircraft. They call it The Pilot Maker. And it was called that for a reason because it really, really does create strong, strong skills, decision-making, and capabilities when it comes to pilot training.”

Sean explained that David performed a restoration on the airplane prior to donating it to EAA, and it was designed to look like it would have had it been in the Korean War.

“Dave had done a beautiful full restoration on it,” he said. “Back 10 years prior to [donating it to EAA], it was restored … to appear as one of the aircraft that was used in the Mosquito Squadron, which was a Korean-era … FAC, forward air control unit or squadron, that marked targets for jet aircraft in Korea.

“The Mosquitoes were really an unsung hero of Korea,” Sean said. “There’s not a lot that is published about them, that people at least are aware of when they think of Korea, but it was a very rough environment. The pilots that flew these airplanes and the maintainers and crews that kept them flying, they flew hundreds and hundreds of hours in Korea and in some very dangerous missions. Low altitude, easily struck by ground fire. And their job in these airplanes was to mark those targets for the faster, quicker-moving jet aircraft to be able to strike and take out key enemy targets.”

T-6 PILOT REPORT

After performing a thorough preflight inspection, ensuring all cockpit mechanisms and controls are set appropriately, the fabric control surfaces are undamaged, and the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine and propeller are free of anything

concerning, Sean said starting up the T-6 is similar to other radial-engine airplanes, but also unique in its own way.

“Draining sumps, checking oil, pulling the prop through, looking for any signs of wear, making sure things are tight and fit and ready for flight. And then it’s really about the starting procedure itself, which is very quintessential radial, but also T-6,” Sean said. “You want to make sure that mixture is rich and that you pull the propeller through, make sure there’s no signs of hydraulic lock. You basically pull the plunger five to six shots on a cold engine. Still two to three shots on a warm engine. If it’s a fresh start, you still need to prime it a little bit.

“The T-6 is funny, though,” he said. “If you prime it just a little too much when it’s warm, you’ll get a lot of extra fuel in the exhaust when it does light o , and it makes a big flame out the exhaust pipe. It doesn’t hurt anything, but it’s not something you want to go do on a regular basis either. But the

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first time you do it you actually, if you’re sitting upright, you’ll feel the side of your face get warm, and you’re like, ‘What did I do?’ It’s just a little excess fuel in the priming process.”

Sean continued explaining the starting procedure.

“It’s got an inertia starter, so basically it’s a two-position pedal on the floor that … spins up the inertia starter,” he said. “Then pushing the pedal forward engages the clutch that then engages the rest of the engine. So you’ll spin it up for a period of seven, eight, nine, 10 seconds. You’ll hear the flywheel spin up, and then you’ll engage that clutch and it’ll start turning the engine over.

“You want to count about seven to nine blades of rotation before you put the ignition on. That does two things,” he added. “That verifies one more time that there’s no hydraulic lock, and it also mixes up the fuel and air real good so that by the time you’ve got those rotations of seven, nine blades through and you turn the ignition from o to both like that, and if the ignition starts sparking the spark plugs, it will light o right away. From there it’s all about keeping it at a lower rpm while you slowly and methodically warm up that 9 or 10 gallons of oil, which takes time.”

In getting ready to take o in a T-6, Sean noted that his focus is never on the gauges, but instead is on keeping the airplane tracking straight and making adjustments when necessary.

“This airplane is a heavy-duty, head-for-the-ditch, tailwheel airplane, so you’re not looking at the gauges. When you start, I call it the last chance glance [at the instruments],” he said. “As I take the runway and line the airplane up, before I

“Once you understand its characteristics, it’s a delight to fly. It’s got very well-balanced, harmonized flight controls that are very light, and it flies like a fighter.”

— Sean Elliott

release the brakes I look down one more time to verify that my temps and pressures [are okay]. A little bit of a glance over here at cylinder head temp. And then when my head comes back up, my eyes are locked outside to keep the airplane tracking straight. So if it’s a glance back in, it’s a momentary glance at best because you really need to stay focused on airplane tracking and proper control inputs. Your feet, it’s the waltz with the tiger. You’re on the rudder, and you’re absolutely doing everything to anticipate. You don’t correct in a tailwheel airplane like this. You anticipate, and you stop it before it happens.”

When it comes to landing a T-6, Sean pointed out that it’s important to plan ahead, with it being nearly a 6,000-pound airplane.

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“You’ve got split flaps, so the flaps are mostly drag and a little bit of lift augmentation but mostly drag, by design,” he said. “They’re hydraulic, so you got a pretty slow maximum flap speed. You’ve got basically 125 [mph]. It’s 150 for the gear and then 125 for the flaps. And 125 is a bit aggressive. I like to get closer to 110 to 115 just to be kind to the flaps. And you’ve got to plan. This is a big airplane with a lot of mass and a lot of inertia. You cannot just come bowling into the pattern too high, too fast, and expect to fix it easy.

“So you’ve got to plan ahead. And then as I’m doing that and configuring the airplane, like any complex high-performance airplane, I’ll be on the downwind leg,” he said. Abeam the point of touchdown. I’m going to put the gear down. I’m going to put my flaps down to the first, when I say ‘notch,’ there’s no notch. It’s just a hydraulic control, either up, down, or neutral.

“I’m going to throw out probably a quarter flap. And then as I start to descend from pattern altitude, I’m going to go to full flap so that I can carry as much power,” he said. “On a radial engine you don’t want to get below what’s called squared condition. … If I’m at 1800 rpm, I don’t want to get below 18 inches. If I’m at 2000 rpm, I don’t want to get below 20 inches because you’ll get what’s called reverse loading, which means that the propeller is driving the engine. So if I pull the manifold pressure too far back, I now will have air loads turning the prop. And that changes the force on the

thrust bearings, and you can damage the engine. Radials do not like that, especially the bigger radials. They’re very prone to damage if you do that.”

After that, Sean said you have to manage the approach.

“You have to give yourself adequate time to plan,” he said, “to keep the power and use other components of drag to minimize that power change so that I’m not having to reduce a bunch of power. It’s slow, methodical reductions in power, just the way it was slow, methodical additions of power on the takeo .

“I’m going to get the gear and flaps out to full when I start my actual descent below pattern altitude,” Sean said. “And the key number on the T-6 is 90. You don’t want to get below 90 on final. So I’m 100 on base, bleeding back to 90 on final, and I’m holding 90. If I’m going into Pioneer [Airport], I can bleed back to 85 as I’m on short, short final. But for any kind of a go-around scenario, in a normal airport environment with bigger runways, 90 is a great number.

“You’ve got lots of drag in the front of the airplane with the size of the cowl and the propeller itself that, when I do make that transition into the flare and I do now finally have to retard the power below that squared condition because I’m flaring to land, and you can’t carry the power that far, it bleeds o the energy just fine.

“It’s not a problem,” he added. “And I do prefer to wheel land the T-6. So I’ll gently stick it on the mains and lift the tail

just a little bit to pin it and then fly the tail down until the tail touches and the airspeed is reduced enough that the airplane’s not even trying to go flying anymore.”

Although Sean acknowledged that the T-6 is often regarded as a di cult airplane to fly, he said that once you get comfortable with it, it’s enjoyable.

“Once you understand its characteristics, it’s a delight to fly,” he said. “It’s got very well-balanced, harmonized flight controls that are very light, and it flies like a fighter. I mean, that was part of its charm was it really does prepare you well

to fly the Mustang, the Corsair, or the P-47. Name your frontline fighter from World War II that cadets in the military came out of this and went straight to flying those aircraft.”

With a significant number of T-6s still flying nine decades after that first prototype flew in 1935, the history of the Texan and its importance to the war effort is, thankfully, still being told.

“They’re telling the story of World War II advanced air training and how good our military was and is at preparing people, preparing pilots in the military to be e ective fighting units,” Sean said. “This airplane was the culmination of a very, very thorough system that didn’t take years, but yet was extremely detailed and thorough, that when our military cadets came out of the training programs graduating with the T-6, they absolutely were ready, capable, and competent to move into any frontline fighter and go o to theater and fight. And that was the most important role that this airplane played is really enabling our pilots to graduate through a training program, and be e ective at going into theater, and being able to fight.” OSH 2025

Sam Oleson, EAA 1244731, is EAA’s senior editor, contributing primarily to EAA’s print and digital publications, and loves studying aviation history. Email Sam at soleson@eaa.org.

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Nobody Doesn’t Love a Blimp!

A look back at Wingfoot One’s First Visit to Oshkosh

Nobody Doesn’t Love a Blimp!

A look back at Wingfoot One’s first visit to Oshkosh

BY HAL BRYAN

Back in 2015, Goodyear brought its new airship, Wingfoot One, to Oshkosh for the first time. Wingfoot One is the first of three airships built in partnership with ZLT Zeppelin Luftschi technik in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance in southern Germany, and one of two we expect at AirVenture this year as Goodyear celebrates 100 years of airship operations. This feature is a look back at that first visit 10 years ago, and the extraordinary experience I had one day. — Hal

For Dad and Bill

“OKAY, JUST STAND RIGHT here, and the pilot is going to bring the airship right to you.”

It took a moment for those words, spoken with an easy, routine competence by a member of Goodyear’s ground crew, to register: The pilot is going to bring the airship to me. In my head, the whole thing seemed preposterous: “Yes, of course he is — bring the airship to me, my good man, and be quick about it! And fetch my robe and scepter while you’re at it!”

This couldn’t possibly be happening.

I turned and looked at EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Jack J. Pelton with a raised eyebrow and an unspoken “How did we get here?” and he just smiled and nodded, and then we both looked up. There, just a hundred feet above us, was the impossible thing that insisted on happening anyway: Goodyear’s newest airship, Wingfoot One, descending gently, literally being brought to me. And I, after some 47 years of what I’d suspected were pointless dreams, was about to go for a ride.

And, if I got really lucky, I might just get to fly it.

I’ve loved aviation my entire life. I’m a second-generation pilot whose parents met on a DC-6 when both worked for United Airlines in the late ’50s, so I firmly believe that my passion for all things that fly came preinstalled. I took my first airplane ride when I was 6 months old, and all of my favorite childhood toys flew — whether they were meant to or not. The oddities of aviation have always held a special attraction for me — autogyros, flying cars, one-o s and weird prototypes, and, of course, airships. I wasn’t born until 1968, but my fascination with airships in particular dates back to the 1930s. My late father, like any good dad, told a lot of stories, but one of my favorites was one from the summer of 1934. He was 5 years old and playing outside his family home in Los Angeles, California, when he heard what he described as a “purring sound” and ventured a look up.

What he saw was the massive USS Macon, the ZRS-5, one of the U.S. Navy’s rigid airships that were built by the Goodyear-Zeppelin company for use as scouts and, remarkably, flying aircraft carriers. At 785 feet long, the Macon was less than 20 feet shorter than the largest flying machines ever built, the ill-fated German Hindenburg and its sister ship, the Graf Zeppelin II. To a 5-year-old already in love with flight,

the scene was almost unbearably magnificent, and had the e ect of making him feel “… infinitesimal by comparison.” As humbled as he was, he was equally transfixed. As he told it, “As I watched the pale, yellow light reflect alternately on the surrounding clouds and the airframe and flight controls, I knew I was witnessing something very grand indeed, and that no one who hadn’t seen it would believe me.”

This event made a profound impression on Dad and, through his retellings over the years, on me as well. About 45 years later, when I was a wide-eyed 9-year-old living on a private airstrip southeast of Seattle and walking, talking, breathing, and dreaming aviation every day, I had an idea. We were hosting a small fly-in, and wouldn’t it be cool if the Goodyear blimp would come? Given my standards at the time, I was pretty sure it would be cooler than Fonzie, Batman, and Han Solo put together. (My standards may have matured since then, but not measurably.) With this in mind, I did what seemed normal in those barbaric, pre-internet years: I wrote a letter to Goodyear’s Public Relations Department. In my letter, I described our idyllic little airpark, Evergreen Sky Ranch (51WA), and made extravagant o ers of things like free co ee and sandwiches to all blimp pilots and crew if only they

I’m mostly a low-and-slow pilot, and this was definitely and beautifully both. The airship rides just how you think it would, smooth and gentle, like, well, a ship, but in the air.

could make an appearance at our little 20-airplane get-together. I casually mentioned their blimp Columbia by name, as it was based on the West Coast and would be the appropriate choice, proving that I’d done my homework and was quite serious about my invitation.

I also remember hinting that relations were somewhat strained among some of the neighbors, and that the arrival of a blimp would certainly unite everyone. If memory serves, I even quoted Goodyear’s own PR, cleverly reminding them that “Nobody doesn’t love a blimp.” And, in what I was sure at the time must have been the ultimate act of selflessness, I didn’t even ask for a ride.

Goodyear did not send a blimp to our little fly-in.

It did, however, send a kind personal letter and a gift: a copy of the then-new The Blimp Book, by George Hall and George Larson. It’s a terrific book that delivers a photo-rich history of the first half-century or so of Goodyear’s airship operations, and it remains one of my favorites to this day. It lives happily in my collection alongside a replica set of zeppelin pilot’s wings and a piece of fabric skin from the original Hindenburg . Like most people, I was always happy and excited to see a blimp, but from that point on, there was something else, a more personal connection. I’d see one of its airships overhead and say, usually but not always to myself, “They sent me a book!”

Over the years, I tried here and there to get a ride, but they’re not easy to come by. At some point, Goodyear did sell rides out of the Miami base, but that wasn’t all that accessible to a kid who lived in the opposite corner of the country. I entered drawings here and there, and always asked nicely at air shows, but even for someone who’s gotten pretty good at talking himself into some pretty interesting aircraft, it just wasn’t in the cards. Not until AirVenture Oshkosh 2015, that

is, thanks to my first o cial writing assignment as senior editor for EAA.

And so it was that I found myself standing on the grass at Pioneer Airport on a flawless July afternoon as Goodyear pilot Mike Dougherty, EAA 783773, brought me an airship. While only a fraction of the size of its golden age ancestors, Wingfoot One is, at 246 feet, roughly the same length as an A380 or 7478. When it’s descending e ectively on top of you, it seems, approximately, like the biggest thing you’ve ever seen.

You can’t really talk about airships without going into a bit of history and, especially, without defining a few terms. Goodyear’s newest blimp technically isn’t a blimp at all, at least by the long-standing earlier definition. A blimp has no internal frame to support the envelope, or “bag” as it’s a ectionately known. Wingfoot One is a semirigid airship, which means it has a keel of sorts, but not a full skeletal structure like the Macon and Hindenburg. Like those earlier airships, Goodyear’s newest is a Zeppelin, manufactured in partnership with ZLT Zeppelin Luftschi technik in Germany. While the term “zeppelin” eventually came to refer generically to all rigid airships, it was, and is, a brand name.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin originally patented his designs in Germany and the United States in the late 19th century. The Macon, as mentioned, along with many others, was built by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp., a joint-venture that began in 1922 and dissolved in 1940 with the onset of World War II. Relations had been strained for some time, as the United States controlled the world’s helium supply and had banned all exports of the gas in 1927, leading the Germans to use hydrogen in their airships. As anyone who has seen the infamous photos and film of the Hindenburg crash understands, hydrogen is extremely flammable.

After the loss of the Macon, Goodyear built only blimps, nonrigid airships that take their name, perhaps apocryphally, from the sound made when you tap the inflated envelope with a finger. These airships became the Goodyear blimps that “nobody doesn’t love.” To make things more confusing, however, every Goodyear airship, including all of their blimps, was given a GZ-designation, for Goodyear-Zeppelin. If you’re asking yourself where dirigibles fit into all this, that term is simply a Latin-derived word that means “steerable” and doesn’t exclusively apply to airships. Technically speaking, I drove a dirigible to work this morning, and, yes, I love the sound of that.

The upshot is this: Wingfoot One and its sisterships are zeppelins and dirigibles but not, by the traditional definition, technically blimps, but Goodyear has too many decades of goodwill behind that term not to use it. So go ahead and call them Goodyear blimps if you like; that’s what Goodyear has chosen to do, and not even an insu erable pedant like me is going to complain.

Boarding Wingfoot One was a somewhat delicate a air, as the pilot was actively using vectored thrust from the three 200-hp Lycoming IO-360s to hold the airship firmly on the ground, but it was free to weathervane into the wind. Goodyear’s ground crew did a masterful job of helping us time our hops onto the airstairs and into the gondola in a “two-o , two-on” rhythm as we swapped places with passengers from the previous flight.

Once aboard, the first thing I noticed were the windows: They’re huge, and they seem like they’re everywhere. The visibility in every direction is staggering, except, of course, for straight up. We sat down, fastened our seat belts and, after

a short brief from the co-pilot, took o . Takeo feels like leaning back in your favorite recliner just as it happens to start floating up into the sky. The angle is steep, but not aggressive, and the noise is minimal. Unlike Goodyear’s earlier airships where the engines were mounted directly to the gondola, Wingfoot One ’s semirigid structure means they can be mounted much farther away — two on either side of the envelope well above the gondola, and the third in the tail section.

All three engines provide vectored thrust depending on whether the airship is in cruise flight mode or takeo /landing mode. In addition, the aft engine actually drives two propellers, one that can be vectored to provide vertical and horizontal thrust, and the other that controls yaw, much like the tail rotor on a helicopter. In takeo mode, the aft propeller is pointed straight down, while the two side props are vectored to 30-40 degrees or all the way to 90 if you want to make a true vertical takeo . Once airborne, the aft propeller is rotated to provide forward thrust when the airspeed passes through 25 knots. At this speed, there is enough airflow to allow the three ruddervators to control pitch, roll, and yaw, more like a conventional fixed-wing aircraft.

On my flight, we leveled o at about 500 feet and began a leisurely cruise around the west side of the AirVenture grounds. The view was amazing, and at one point, one of the aft cabin windows was opened completely, so we were able to take turns watching the air show with our heads and elbows out in the breeze, a first for me. I’m mostly a low-andslow pilot, and this was definitely and beautifully both. The airship rides just how you think it would, smooth and gentle, like, well, a ship, but in the air. Turbulence is a nonevent,

Takeoff feels like leaning back in your favorite recliner just as it happens to start floating up into the sky.

introducing a slight roll here and there that only adds to the relaxing and, if I dare say it, buoyant sensation of the flight.

After a few minutes, I worked my way up to the cockpit, and Mike kindly invited me to take the right seat. The visibility in the cockpit was even better than in the cabin, thanks to an unobstructed view forward and large “landing view” windows by my feet. Mike gave me a quick overview of the panel, which was a typical Garmin glass layout with the addition of a few exotic terms like helium, swivel, and ballonet. The latter refers to two bags inside the larger envelope that are filled with air to provide ballast and to compensate for the changes in volume as the helium expands and contracts in response

to temperature fluctuations. I was surprised to learn that the airship was operated at slightly negative buoyancy — when we took o , Wingfoot One actually weighed about 800 pounds.

I asked Mike if I could follow him through on the controls, the polite pilot’s way of saying “I desperately want to fly this thing, but if you’re not comfortable with that, I get it.” He said that was no problem, and so I rested my hand gently on the small sidestick while he took us through a couple of turns. And then he said those magic words every pilot wants to hear: “Do you want to take it?”

Somewhere deep inside me, my inner 9-year-old giggled and passed out. Luckily, my outer 47-year-old was slightly more composed, and I’m fairly certain my voice only barely cracked when I nodded and said, “Sure — love to.”

With that, I was flying an airship.

The first thing I noticed was that the controls were exceptionally light. This wasn’t surprising, since it’s fly-by-wire. Still, given the size of the thing, it’s impossible to shake the idea that there should be a giant wooden ship’s wheel and an engine room telegraph in the cockpit instead of a tiny sidestick. It only occurs to me now that the largest aircraft I’ve ever flown (to date, anyway) also happens to have the single smallest control stick. There are no pedals, which, for an old stick-and-rudder guy like me, took some getting used to.

The airship was considerably more responsive in pitch than I was expecting. At first I thought maybe the aft propeller was vectoring and giving us a boost, but it only does that in takeo /landing mode or when station-keeping. I struggled to hold altitude for a moment or two, until I relaxed and stopped chasing the needle. Turns felt a lot more like what I’d expected. They were smooth and slow but didn’t feel heavy or ponderous. After the first couple of turns, I had it pretty well dialed in so I was able to sit back and really enjoy the sedate cruise around and above the AirVenture grounds.

At this point, I caught myself starting to feel a little guilty, or nearly so, because I was having such a ridiculous amount of fun. I was supposed to be working, on my first major assignment, no less, and instead I was grinning like an idiot and enjoying what was truly a lifelong dream come true. I take my responsibilities seriously and was starting to admonish myself a bit when I stopped and asked myself a pointed question: Would EAA members, my real bosses, rather have someone in this position who didn’t love to fly? The answer was self-evident — and hopefully not too self-serving.

After a few more circuits it was time to let someone else have a turn, so I stepped back into the cabin to talk with one of the other passengers, a special guest of EAA. His name was Bill, and he was a longtime pilot who has volunteered for EAA many times over the years, working telephones, helping out at our conventions, you name it.

When we invited Bill to join us on our flight, his first response was abrupt, to the point, and not entirely printable: “You’re full of (it)!” You see Bill, like me, had wanted to go for a ride in a Goodyear blimp his entire life. He’d been waiting

We know there’s nowhere you’d rather be than in the cockpit. That’s why Phillips 66® Aviation Fuels and Lubricants o ers the quality products you need to safely reach the skies — and stay there.

a little bit longer than I have, however. At the time of the flight, Bill was 99 years old. Bill was born in 1916, less than 13 years after the Wright brothers’ success at Kitty Hawk, which means that nearly all of modern aviation was developed in his lifetime. Flying the Atlantic, breaking the sound barrier, orbiting the Earth and then landing on the moon, all of these things happened in roughly the first half of his life. Bill hadn’t so much lived a life as an epoch, one that may never be equaled, at least not in the world of aviation.

All too soon, Mike transitioned Wingfoot One into landing mode, and we made our steep descent back to the grass runway at Pioneer Airport. After we stepped o , I asked Bill if he’d enjoyed the flight. He said he did, that it was incredible, and that “… I’ll never have a better day than this!” I started to politely disagree but caught myself because, at 99 years old, there was every statistical possibility that he was right. I certainly hope he wasn’t, but I couldn’t bring myself to disrespect him by arguing, however well-intentioned it would have been. Regardless, I hope when I’m his age, or even anywhere remotely close, that I’m still out checking things o my list and having the best days of my life. We should all be so lucky.

In my dad’s airship story, he said that he was afraid nobody would believe him if he tried to describe what it was like to see the gigantic Macon overhead. I believe him, and I’ve felt that same fear as I’ve struggled to tell my own. I think of him, and remember his story, every day of my life when I walk the

halls at work. You see, while the Macon was lost in a crash several months after my dad’s sighting, at least one of its propellers survives and is prominently displayed in our EAA Aviation Museum in an exhibit that is now dedicated to his memory.

I know I shouldn’t, but I confess that I’ve touched that prop once or twice, and tried to imagine what it was like for my dad as a little kid staring up at — and hearing — that same propeller as it cruised, purring, overhead. I think, too, of 9-year-old me, reading The Blimp Book until he had it nearly memorized, and of 99-year-old Bill whose dream intersected with mine on that flawless and happy July day.

And, inevitably, I think about the events that brought me to EAA, a life well-if-haphazardly lived that has not only let me connect with this artifact that had such a profound e ect on my dad as a child, but also put me at the controls of another Goodyear airship more than 80 years later.

It took 47 years for me, while Bill had to wait more than twice that long, but it was unquestionably worth the wait for both of us. OSH 2025

Hal Bryan, EAA Lifetime 638979, is managing editor for EAA print and digital content and publications, co-author of multiple books, and a lifelong pilot and aviation geek. Find him on Facebook, X, and Instagram at @halbryan or email him at hbryan@eaa.org.

Into a New Age

A spotter’s guide to 1945-1950 aircraft at AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

By Sam Oleson

EIGHTY YEARS AGO, thegreatest conflict the world had ever known was, mercifully, coming to an end. As the Allies closed in on Germany from all sides in the European theater and the Americans pounded Japan into submission in the Pacific, the conclusion of World War II signaled the beginning of a new era, particularly when it came to military aviation. Early jet engine technology began to take shape in the latter half of the war, with Germany introducing the first operational jet-powered fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, in April 1944. A few months later, the British Gloster Meteor entered service for the Royal Air Force.

Although jets ultimately didn’t play a large role in WWII, the years following were a crucial stretch for the development of the engine technology and airplanes designed to use it. But while the future for military ocials was clearly jet aircraft, the traditional piston-powered airplanes of WWII weren’t going to go straight to the boneyard. Many of them were still useful and served critical roles well into the 1950s and 1960s, and in some cases even longer.

Here’s a look at some of the aircraft that were either designed or operated during that transitionary period in aerospace development, 1945 to 1950 and into the Korean War, that have made an appearance at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in recent years or are expected to this summer.

FIGHTERS

de Havilland Vampire

As the second operational Royal Air Force jet fighter and the first to be powered by a single engine, the Vampire was introduced just after World War II in 1946. The Vampire served with the RAF in numerous conflicts through the mid1960s including the Suez Crisis, Malayan Emergency, and Rhodesian Bush War.

Gloster Meteor

The first jet fighter to enter service for the RAF, the twin-engine Meteor was the only production jet aircraft used by the Allies during WWII. The Meteor was introduced in 1944 and served in a limited capacity throughout the rest of the war and into the 1950s before being phased out in favor of swept-wing fighters.

Fairey Firefly

Introduced in 1943, the Fairey Firefly served as a carrier-borne fighter for the Royal Navy and other Allied navies during WWII before transitioning to strike operations and antisubmarine warfare following the war. Despite being outclassed by its jet fighter brethren, the Firefly served until 1956, performing ground attack operations during the Korean War from various aircraft carriers.

Grumman F7F Tigercat

The U.S. Navy’s first twin-engine fighter, the Grummanbuilt F7F was introduced in 1944 but never saw combat during WWII. During the Korean War, the Tigercat operated as a night fighter and attack aircraft and was retired shortly after the war, in 1954.

FIGHTERS

Grumman F8F Bearcat

Introduced in May 1945, the Bearcat entered service too late to see action during WWII but was used by the U.S. Navy in the years immediately following the war. As Grumman’s last piston-engined fighter, the F8F is widely regarded as one of the most capable propeller-driven fighters ever produced, though it had a short service life. About 200 Bearcats were used by the French in the French Indochina War, and 28 of those served with the Republic of Vietnam Air Force until 1963.

Hawker Sea Fury

Like the American-built Bearcat, the British Sea Fury is regarded as one of the greatest prop-driven fighters ever produced, entering service shortly after WWII in 1947. It was used by the Royal Navy during the Korean War primarily in a ground attack role. The Royal Navy retired the Sea Fury in 1953, but a number of other countries operated the type through the decade and into the 1960s.

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star (Static)

The first operational U.S. jet fighter, the P-80 (later redesignated the F-80) entered service with the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1944. Although the P-80 never saw combat during the war, two YP-80As were used in a reconnaissance role in Italy. Production P-80s served extensively in the Korean War, first in an air superiority role before transitioning to primarily ground attack duties with the introduction of the F-86. The U.S. Air Force retired the Shooting Star in 1959.

Messerschmitt Me 262 (Replica)

The world’s first operational jet fighter, the German-built Me 262 was the only jet fighter to see combat during WWII, entering service in April 1944. The Me 262 was used as a light bomber, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft, and it was an e ective dogfighter as well. Fighter versions were known as the Schwalbe, or Swallow, while fighter-bomber versions were called Sturmvogel, or Stormbird. Although the 262 had a relatively minimal impact during WWII, its design influenced the designs of numerous future American and Soviet aircraft prototypes.

FIGHTERS

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

Introduced in 1949, the Soviet-designed, swept-wing MiG15 jet fighter proved to be a formidable adversary during the Korean War, particularly against straight-wing opponents. The airplane was originally designed to intercept American bombers, specifically the B-29, and held an air superiority advantage early in the war until the swept-wing F-86 entered the scene. More than 12,000 MiG-15s were built in the Soviet Union, with thousands more built under license in Communist bloc countries.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

Developed from the MiG-15, the MiG-17 first flew in 1950 but didn’t enter service until 1952 — too late for action in the Korean War. With a thinner and more highly swept wing than the MiG-15, the transonic MiG-17 controlled much better than its predecessor when nearing Mach 1. The MiG-17 first saw combat in 1958 during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis and was used extensively by North Vietnamese pilots during the Vietnam War, proving effective against newer and more advanced American aircraft such as the F-105 and F-4.

North American F-86 Sabre

Arguably the most significant American aircraft to see service during the Korean War, the swept-wing F-86 Sabre was introduced in 1949. Powered by a General Electric J47 turbojet, the transonic Sabre directly countered the MiG-15 and maintained an impressive 5-to-1 kill ratio against its capable opponent. Although the U.S. Air Force began to pull the Sabre from frontline service by the mid-1950s in favor of more advanced supersonic fighters, the type continued to serve with a variety of foreign air forces for many years.

North American FJ-4 Fury

As the final development of the F-86, the carrier-capable FJ-4 Fury entered service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1954. The Fury was intended as an interceptor, but a number were also modified to serve in the fighter-bomber role. FJ-4s had a short service life, with the Navy retiring them in 1964.

FIGHTERS

North American P-51 Mustang

One of the many heroes of WWII, the P-51 continued to serve with the U.S. Air Force even with the development of jet fighters. Designated the F-51 beginning in 1948, Mustangs were sent to Korea at the beginning of the conflict, where they were outfitted with rockets and bombs and served primarily in a ground attack role.

North American F-82 Twin Mustang

Designed as a long-range escort for the B-29, the Twin Mustang arrived too late for WWII but served through the rest of the 1940s and the Korean War as an escort fighter and all-weather day/night interceptor. Operating out of Japan, F-82s actually hold the distinction of being the first U.S. aircraft to destroy North Korean aircraft, with the first being a Yak-11.

Republic F-84 Thunderjet (Static)

Plagued by development problems, the Republic-built, straight-wing F-84 didn’t become fully operational until 1949 but ultimately served an important role during the Korean War as a strike aircraft. The Thunderjet’s performance left much to be desired from a fighter pilot’s perspective, but as a fighter-bomber, it could carry 4,000-pound bombs, including the Mark 7 nuclear bomb. During the Korean War, it was responsible for destroying 60 percent of all ground targets.

Supermarine Seafire

As the carrier-capable version of the Spitfire, the Supermarine Seafire entered service in the midst of WWII in 1942 but continued to be used by the Royal Navy into the 1950s. During the Korean War, the Seafire operated in ground attack and air patrol roles before eventually being replaced by the Sea Fury and first-generation jet fighters.

FIGHTERS BOMBERS

ATTACK

Douglas A-1 Skyraider

Introduced shortly after WWII in 1946, the piston-engine A-1 (formerly AD) Skyraider served on the frontline into the 1970s despite the rise of jet aircraft all around it. Initially operated by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the Skyraider was used in the Korean War primarily for strike missions. The type was later used by the Air Force during the Vietnam War for search and rescue air cover and “Sandy” helicopter escort before its retirement in 1973.

Vought F4U Corsair

While more famous for its contributions to U.S. Navy air superiority during WWII, the F4U Corsair remained a key part of the U.S. carrier-borne arsenal into the 1950s. During the Korean War, the Corsair served in a close air support role. The Navy retired the Corsair in 1953, but the type continued to serve with the French Aéronavale into the early 1960s.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress, the iconic four-engine WWII bomber most famous for dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, continued to serve after the war into the 1950s before the onset of jet bombers. During the Korean War, B-29s flew 20,000 sorties and dropped 220,000 tons of bombs, though it proved vulnerable to MiG-15s during initial day bombing missions and was soon restricted to night operations. B-29s, and the later B-50 variant, were phased out following the Korean War in favor of the jet-powered B-47 Stratojet.

Douglas A-26 Invader

Designed and operated during WWII as a light bomber/ ground attack aircraft, the twin-engine A-26 (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) served for many years after the end of the war, including in Korea. Invaders participated in bombing missions in Korea, as well as in the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs operation in 1961, and eventually the Vietnam War.

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CARGO/TRANSPORT

Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor

The militarized version of the Beech 18, the C-45 served as a light transport for the USAAF during WWII and continued in that role for years after the war ended. The advanced trainer version of the Beech 18, the AT-11 Kansan, trained thousands of future bomber pilots and navigators during WWII.

Curtiss C-46 Commando

Introduced in 1941, the twin-engine C-46 was one of the primary USAAF cargo/transport aircraft during WWII, famous for its operations flying over “the Hump” in the China-Burma-India theater. After the war, C-46s were used by a number of civilian air carriers and continued to serve military purposes as well, seeing action in Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts.

Douglas C-47 Skytrain

Arguably the most notable cargo/transport aircraft of WWII, famous for its role in the D-Day paratrooper operations, the C-47 continued to be used well after the war. Many were converted for civilian use, but the Air Force continued to regularly operate C-47s through the Vietnam War, with a number of them converted for electronic warfare and ground attack.

Douglas C-54 Skymaster

Developed from the DC-4 airliner, the four-engine C-54 was introduced in 1942 and served through the rest of WWII, and for many years after that. The Skymaster hauled coal and food during the Berlin airlift, served in Korea, and wasn’t retired by the Air Force until the 1970s. The type also holds the distinction of being one of the first aircraft to carry a U.S. president, transporting Franklin D. Roosevelt during WWII.

CARGO/TRANSPORT

HELICOPTERS

Lockheed C-121 Constellation

The military transport version of the Lockheed Constellation airliner, the C-121 was introduced a few years after WWII and was used by both the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Connies proved to be versatile aircraft for the military, hauling cargo and passengers, and notably operated as VIP transports, with both Pres. Dwight Eisenhower and Gen. Douglas MacArthur using one as their airplane of choice.

Bell H-13 Sioux

As one of the most recognizable aircraft of the Korean War, the H-13 Sioux, developed from the Bell 47, served a variety of purposes with the U.S. Army after entering service shortly following WWII. It’s perhaps best known for its medevac role in Korea, but it was also used for reconnaissance, observation, and search and rescue. The H-13 continued to serve in an observation capacity until the early stages of the Vietnam War, when it was replaced by the OH-6.

Sikorsky UH-34

As a further development of the Korean War veteran H-19, Sikorsky’s H-34 was used by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as a number of foreign militaries. While not deployed to Vietnam by the Army, the H-34 served with the USMC in Southeast Asia before its retirement in 1973.

Sikorsky S-52/HO5S-1

With fewer than 100 produced, the S-52/HO5S-1 is one of the lesser known aircraft of the era but proved useful to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, which used it for observation and scouting during the Korean War. The Marines also operated the HO5S-1 for medevac, as it was able to carry two stretchers internally.

LIAISON

Aeronca L-16

The militarized version of the Aeronca Champ, the L-16 saw extensive action in Korea in a liaison/observation role. Many L-16s were transferred to the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) beginning in 1955.

Cessna L-19/O-1 Birddog

Introduced in 1950, the Cessna Birddog entered service as the L-19, operating as a liaison and observation aircraft for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. More than 3,000 Birddogs were built over the course of its 10-year production run, with the aircraft redesignated as the O-1 in 1962. The O-1 was used in a number of capacities in Vietnam and eventually replaced by the O-2 and OV-10. Many O-1s were operated by the CAP in the 1970s before being replaced by Cessna 172s and 182s.

UTILITY

Antonov An-2

A massive, radial-engine biplane, the Soviet-designed An-2 entered service shortly after WWII. A utility aircraft, the An-2 first saw military action during the Korean War and was later used by North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War. A number of nations are reported to still be using the An-2 today.

PATROL

Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer

Developed from the WWII-era B-24 Liberator bomber, the PB4Y-2 Privateer served with the U.S. Navy as a patrol bomber from 1944 to 1954. In addition to its patrol-bombing duties, the Privateer was also used for “Firefly” night illumination missions during the Korean War. After its retirement from the Navy, the PB4Y-2 served with the Coast Guard until 1958.

Lockheed P2V Neptune

A patrol and antisubmarine warfare aircraft introduced shortly after WWII, the twin-engine P2V Neptune served in the U.S. Navy as well as a number of other foreign militaries. Redesignated the P-2 in 1962, the Neptune was eventually replaced by the P-3 Orion beginning in the mid-1960s, though

TRAINERS

de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk

As the first postwar aviation project from de Havilland Canada, the Chipmunk single-engine trainer entered service shortly after WWII and was used by the RCAF, RAF, and other air forces as a primary trainer, in many cases replacing the Tiger Moth. More than 1,000 Chipmunks were built during the type’s production run. While retired by the RCAF and RAF, the Portuguese air force still operates a small number of Chipmunks.

Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star

Developed from the P-80, the T-33 advanced jet trainer served with the U.S. Air Force and Navy beginning in the late 1940s, through the 1950s, and into the early 1960s. More than 6,500 T-33s were built over a period of 11 years. The type was eventually phased out in favor of the T-37 and T-38 (Air Force) and T-2 and TA-4 (Navy).

North American T-6 Texan

While the North American-built T-6 is best known as the advanced trainer that taught thousands of fighter pilots to fly during WWII, it was used after the war as well. In Korea, a number of T-6s operated as forward air control (FAC) aircraft with a smaller number doing the same more than a decade later in Vietnam.

North American T-28 Trojan

First flying in 1949, the radial-engine T-28 Trojan served as a primary trainer for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. The Air Force began to phase out the Trojan in the 1960s, but the Navy and Marines used the airplane into the 1980s. During the war in Southeast Asia, a number of T-28s were used for counterinsurgency, reconnaissance, searchand-rescue, and FAC purposes.

AIR/SEA RESCUE

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Although phased out as a bomber immediately after WWII, a number of B-17s continued to serve in a few di erent roles, notably as an air-sea rescue aircraft. Designated the SB-17G, those Flying Fortresses served with the Air Force through the Korean War, while Navy B-17s (designated PB-1W) served until 1955 and with the Coast Guard until 1959.

Consolidated PBY Catalina

While many PBYs were retired by the U.S. Navy immediately following WWII, amphibious versions of the aircraft continued to operate for the next decade in air-sea rescue and maritime patrol capacities. The final Catalina in U.S. service was retired from the Naval Reserve in 1957.

Grumman HU-16 Albatross

Developed from the Grumman Mallard, the twin-engine amphibious flying boat HU-16 entered service in 1949. The Albatross served with the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard and the RCAF as a search-and-rescue aircraft, seeing extensive action during the Korean and Vietnam wars. The Air Force retired its final HU-16 in 1973, the Navy in 1976, and the USCG in 1983. OSH 2025

Sam Oleson, EAA 1244731, is EAA’s senior editor, contributing primarily to EAA’s print and digital publications, and loves studying aviation history. Email Sam at soleson@eaa.org.

The Ultimate How-To AirVenture Guide

Get to know the grounds and the endless possibilities of AirVenture

The Ultimate How-To AirVenture Guide

Get to know the grounds and the endless possibilities of AirVenture

By EAA Staff

US FOLKS HERE AT EAA know just how fun it is to find a spot on the flightline and watch as airplanes fly overhead during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. But, being the like-minded people we are, we have some suggestions and tips for you that go beyond looking up. Afterall, AirVenture isn’t just something you watch or attend; it’s something you do. So put those walking shoes on and grab a map. We’re going to make the most of your Oshkosh experience and show you how to successfully do AirVenture.

First, you might find it useful to get your bearings straight; the convention grounds span more than 1,500 acres! The grounds can best be understood as a city with various neighborhoods that each have their own unique o erings. Keep in mind, when looking at the o cial map on Page 66, you’ll see north is left of the map, not the top. That being said, let’s start at the northmost (leftmost!) neighborhood on the grounds.

AirVenture [air-ven-cher]

Noun — The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration Verb — Discover, explore, and experience aviation

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALDEN FRAUTSCHY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRETT BROCK

THE NORTH 40

First up is the north end of Wittman Regional Airport, where you’ll find an overwhelming sea of airplanes that makes up the North 40. Whether it’s your first time at Oshkosh or you’ve come for years, it’s hard not to stare in awe at the 5,000 airplanes that, with their accompanying tents, seem to cover every little bit of the color spectrum, not to mention the grass. At first, you’ll struggle to make out individual types as the rows run together, seemingly endlessly. After an adjustment period, you’ll make sense of things and start to see some familiar airplane faces, and probably some unfamiliar ones, too.

Take some time to chat with the aircraft owners; a great way to meet fellow enthusiasts and hear unique stories is to stroll through the rows of aircraft of the North 40 and other camping areas. Each of those aircraft was flown here by someone, and each of them has a story.

Heading farther east, we come to a gate. Despite already seeing thousands of airplanes and their pilots, we are just at the beginning of our journey, not the end of it.

WARBIRDS

As we continue east, we come to the Warbirds area, home of our EAA Warbirds of America division. Always popular amongst newcomers to the aviation world, this is the home of former military aircraft that are now owned and operated by civilian pilots.

The warbirds are organized broadly by role and type, in typical structured military fashion, fittingly enough. First up are the L-birds, pristine examples of liaison aircraft dating back as far as World War II. They share a border with our reenactor camp, home of dedicated history bu s who appear to be transplants from the 1940s. As we progress through

Warbirds, we’ll arrive at the home of the aircraft we call “Red Stars.” These are foreign warbirds, mostly trainers, including many Chinese Nanchang CJ-6s, along with their cousins from the former USSR, the Yakovlev Yak-18s and Yak-52s.

Continuing on, we come to the Beech T-34s, along with the North American T-28s and countless examples of the

many variants of the iconic T-6 Texan. As we continue our journey, trainers give way to transports and bombers. Here you’ll find an eclectic mix of everything from Cessna UC-78s and Beech C-45s to A-26s, B-25s, and C-47s. Depending on the year, a Fairchild C-123 or maybe a flying boat, like a PBY or Grumman Albatross, will call this spot home for the week. At the east end of Warbirds, we enter the jet age. From the Lockheed T-33 and North American F-86 to Cold War spoils like the Soviet-era L-29 Delfín and L-39 Albatros trainers and MiG-15 fighters, the variety is remarkable.

Moving on from the jets, as hard as that can be to do, you’ll find yourself immersed in naval aviation, walking among storied classics like F4F Wildcats, F4U Corsairs, TBM Avengers, and maybe a Dauntless or Helldiver. At this point, we’re headed back to the west and reaching an area known as Fightertown. This is where you can find a score or more of P-51 Mustangs, in addition to a Yak-9, a couple of P-40s, a P-38 or two, and potentially a Spitfire.

Before continuing to the next neighborhood, hop on the Warbirds Tram Tour (tell ’em Vic sent you) for an engaging 30-minute tour of scores of aircraft calling this area home for the week. Learn more about specific aircraft through the daily Warbirds in Review presentations, where you’ll hear the legendary stories of visiting aircraft and often the veterans who flew them.

And for young aviation enthusiasts, the Warbirds Youth Education Center is where kids can try their hand at flying the P-51 Mustang and the F4U Corsair on one of five Redbird flight simulators.

HOMEBUILTS

If we head south, we get to the airplanes that started it all for EAA — homebuilts. Starting on the west end of the area, there is a campground that may remind you of the North 40, with one key di erence — all of these airplanes were painstakingly built by EAA members. Across from homebuilt aircraft camping, you’ll see a sea of Van’s Aircraft RVs.

Zigzagging back to the east takes us into homebuilt showplane parking, where proud builders show o their prized projects. You’ll see everything from early classics like Pietenpols and Baby Aces to high-end “fast glasses” like Glasairs and Lancairs. You’ll see Kitfoxes, Thorps, Stardusters, GlaStars, even a Dyke Delta or two. Then you’ll come to the canards, largely classic Burt Rutan designs like the VariEze and Long-EZ, but you’ll also spot some Cozys and Velocitys

in there as well. And you’ll have the chance to learn about some of these aircraft from the proud builders themselves through daily Homebuilts in Review presentations.

A tour of the Homebuilts area is a monument to perseverance. Anyone can build an airplane, but it takes a special blend of dedication, patience, support, and encouragement to see the project through to the finish. We can help with the support piece; on the south end of homebuilt aircraft camping, you’ll find the Forums Plaza where daily forums and workshops with hands-on lessons will build your knowledge and skill on topics like aircraft restoration, composite construction, TIG welding, fabric covering, and more. You can walk into a workshop never having held a power tool and walk out with the confidence to get started on your dream homebuilding project.

PHOTOGRAPHY

AVIATION GATEWAY PARK

If you head a bit south to Aviation Gateway Park, you’ll find an outdoor exhibit area featuring leading universities, flight schools, and aviation industry leaders.

In addition to outdoor exhibitors, the Career Center is the ideal place for aspiring aviators to network and interview with a variety of leading aviation companies and organizations with aviation-focused career opportunities. The Education and Career Center will feature colleges, universities, and tech schools that o er programs in aviation and STEM-based curriculum. Attendees are able to learn how and where they can take the next step into their aviation adventure.

Tucked behind Aviation Gateway Park is the AeroEducate Center, which has a vibrant schedule of events for youths

interested in aviation. There are stations set up to help young people get started in their AeroEducate journey, daily activities, as well as daily presentations from young aviation professionals and industry leaders.

Finally there is the WomenVenture Center, located directly across Knapp Street from Aviation Gateway Park. This spot features weeklong programming to celebrate a passionate community of women in aviation, with this year’s theme of Lifesaving Missions recognizing the women who bravely step up to the plate when disaster strikes. A schedule of events includes the traditional WomenVenture activities: Ice Cream Social, Annual Group Photo in Boeing Plaza, Power Lunch at Theater in the Woods, and an evening program at Theater in the Woods, plus daily presentations.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ZABACK, BAILEY NOEL, AND KEN COBB

CELEBRATION WAY AND BOEING PLAZA

Continuing south on Knapp Street, you’ll hit the aptly named Celebration Way that runs from our Main Gate at the west end to the area known as Boeing Plaza at the east end. Boeing Plaza is where you’ll see the biggest aircraft on the grounds such as Samaritan’s Purse DC-8, helping to promote one of this year’s themes, Public Benefit Flying. You’re also likely to see a C-5 or a C-17 alongside an A320 or a 737, frontline jets like the F-22 and F-35, in addition to B-17s, a B-24, or B-29, among many others.

Surrounding the plaza, you’ll find the main outdoor exhibit area, home to most of the 800-plus exhibitors who travel from around the world to show o their latest aircraft, avionics, pilot supplies, you name it. And take a look at the control tower as we pass by, in particular the banner proclaiming it the world’s busiest. With more than 100 aircraft movements per hour, they’re not kidding.

Get back on Celebration Way and start heading west to the Four Corners; you’ll find all sorts of resources for getting involved in aviation. At the EAA Member Center, you can get assistance from EAA sta members to find a local EAA chapter back home, explore EAA member programs and benefits, and even talk to the experts from EAA’s advocacy team on the latest in aviation advocacy and safety. This year at the Member

Lifting Americans.

Center, each day you’ll be able to meet some of the talented air show performers who dazzle the sky above Oshkosh.

Directly across the way is the EAA Learn to Fly Center. If you’ve ever dreamed of flying, this is the place to chat with certificated flight instructors, experienced pilots, and those fresh out of training to help answer any questions you may have about flight training.

If you have a young aviator with you, you’ll want to stop at the Youth Welcome Center to grab a special youth-focused map to make your family’s day smooth and to learn about all the different youth programs EAA offers. Kids can also unleash their creativity on a giant aircraft coloring wall, rivet their own keychain, and sign up for a free Young Eagles flight in their local area.

The Four Corners rounds out with the EAA Merchandise Center, one of the many spots to pick up a souvenir to remember your trip to Oshkosh by. And if this merch spot doesn’t have what you’re looking for, make your way to the EAA Wearhouse just south of the tower. It’s the largest EAA merchandise spot on the grounds, and it’s also where you may just meet your favorite aviation author at Authors Corner, where authors covering the spectrum of aviation — astronauts to historians and adult nonfiction to children’s books — can connect one-on-one with readers and sign book copies.

Just a touch west, you’ll come upon Exhibit Hangars A-D, where you’ll find even more exhibitors to interact with, make purchases, and discover new products. Whether you want to try out some new technology or buy an entire aircraft, you can do it at AirVenture. On top of that, many exhibitors participate in the weeklong Aviation Job Fair, so if you’re in the market for a new job or are looking to break into the industry, find out what exhibitors are participating at EAA.org/JobFair and bring a few copies of your résumé!

EAA AVIATION MUSEUM

Now, keep heading west and locate the Bus Park just north of the Main Gate area; you’re going to want to catch a ride to the museum. This area is easy to miss, but don’t because you’ll find the EAA Aviation Museum, the EAA Education Center, and Pioneer Airport. The museum is home to more than 200 historic aircraft, including such rarities as the prototypes for the Taylor Aerocar, Van’s RV-1, and the Breezy; one of four XP-51s (the oldest P-51 in existence); and the remarkably sleek and retro-futuristic 1938 Bugatti 100P racer. Like AirVenture itself, the museum o ers the chance to see a tremendous variety of aircraft, in addition to other supporting artifacts, interactive exhibits, and numerous forums and film presentations.

Adjacent to the museum is the EAA Education Center. Split into two parts, here you can find the Pilot Proficiency Center and the Youth Education Center. The Pilot Proficiency

Center features a state-of-the-art skill building and training center for general aviation pilots. It combines relevant safety forums with challenging simulator training sessions that address key flight safety issues. The facility focuses on improving pilots’ overall aeronautical decision-making skills. The Youth Education Center brings aviation-centric experiences to the EAA Aviation Museum year-round. The 15,000-square-foot Youth Education Center provides youths, their parents, and their teachers access to interactive and project-based activities that inspire and nurture the next generation of aviators.

Facing the museum is Pioneer Airport, a grass airstrip with several period hangars that house another 40 of the museum’s display aircraft. We use this airstrip year-round to provide museum visitors with rides in vintage biplanes and to o er free rides to kids as part of the EAA Young Eagles program.

During the fly-in, part of Pioneer Airport becomes a heliport, where we operate a fleet of vintage Bell 47 helicopters that take visitors on aerial tours of the grounds, and this is also where a number of visiting helicopters are parked. Also located at Pioneer is the RC Flying Field. Here you can watch radio-controlled model aircraft zip around, or you can bring your own model to join the fun.

The majority of Pioneer Airport, however, is transformed into KidVenture this week, which, as the name makes clear, encourages children and teens to explore several areas of aviation. It’s a can’t-miss spot being the largest area at AirVenture dedicated to young people with hands-on fun like aircraft building stations, flight simulators, life-size replicas of space capsules, and more.

Now, get back on the bus to the main convention area. Believe it or not, we still have more ground to cover.

FLY MARKET AND AEROMART

Upon entering the Main Gate again, immediately head south to the Fly Market. This outdoor market has a vast array of products, aviation related or not. Here, you’ll find leather goods to die-cast models to custom embossed dog tags.

In between the Fly Market and Hangar D is the Aeromart, sta ed by the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association. It’s a combination swap meet/consignment sale/hangar clean-out where aviators buy and sell thousands of unused or extra aircraft parts and tools. It is a great place to find that carburetor, cylinder, fitting, fuselage, instrument, magneto, oil pump, spinner, wiring, wheel, or whatever else you’ve been looking to pick up for your own airplane. Who knows, you may just find the exact part you need to finish that lingering project or sell the scrap piece you’ve been hanging on to.

At this point, you are likely to see a fence, but don’t think our tour is coming to an end. Just outside the fence, rich with friendly and interesting visitors, is Camp Scholler, AirVenture’s drive-in campsite area. This pop-up city boasts a population of approximately 40,000 people, and it comes with its own unique culture and happenings such as extravagant campsite setups and delicious meals prepared by various chapters at the Chapters Pavilion. It’s a city that never sleeps, the kind of place where friendships are forged and rekindled year after year. If the fly-in itself is a family reunion, a stay in Camp Scholler is a trip back to your old hometown, even if you’ve never been here before.

A bit farther west you’ll find the Fly-In Theater. Reminiscent of drive-in theaters, classic films to recent blockbusters are projected on a five-story-high screen as hundreds of campers and attendees cozy up for the nightly feature. Be sure to arrive in time to catch the entertaining movie introduction with special guests ranging from Hollywood stars to aviation legends, which starts around 8:30 p.m. There’s even free popcorn!

CAMP SCHOLLER

PHOTOGRAPHY

THEATER IN THE WOODS

Remember the fence? Keep going east and you’ll come to Theater in the Woods. This is home to relaxed, informative, and entertaining live programming that provides the perfect conclusion to a busy day spent on the grounds. We have quite a lineup of notable personalities sharing presentations on topics covering the entire spectrum of aviation — NASA missions,

aviation on the silver screen, military past and future, air racing, and more. Supported by Mars Wrigley, the open-air pavilion has seating for as many as 3,500 people under its spacious roof, though many more visitors bring lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the evenings’ programs from spots adjacent to the seating area.

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VINTAGE

Continuing east brings us to the next neighborhood: Vintage. Yes, more airplanes! This is a haven for those who love old airplanes, as the newest type you’ll see was built in 1970, and most of them are considerably older than that. Just as with Warbirds, the Vintage area is broadly grouped by type. As we head south, you’ll see the past grand champions on your left and then Antiques on your right. By definition, these are the oldest of the old, constituting airplanes built before 1945. As you meander through these rows, you’ll see Staggerwings, Stinsons, Howards, and Cubs. There’ll be timelessly beautiful biplanes from companies like de Havilland, Travel Air, and Fleet, and gleaming examples of rarities like the Spartan Executive or a Harlow PJC-2.

Farther south, you’ll transition from Antiques to Classics — aircraft built between 1945 and 1955. This is where you’ll find the Aeronca Champs, Cessna 140s and 170s, Bellanca Cruisairs, and early Bonanzas. At this point, you’ll also see a number of twins, usually a stable of Beech 18s, oftentimes

with a Lockheed Electra or two in the mix, and scores of Ercoupes all parked together, across from a proud group of Cessna 195s in a well-marked area of their own.

Continuing south, there’s a loose and gradual transition from Classics to the newest of the old, the category known as Contemporary, for vintage aircraft built between 1956 and 1970. This area is home to a wide variety of types, including early Cessna 172s and 182s, some more Bonanzas, early Piper Cherokees, Mooneys, and more.

Like Warbirds, a trip through Vintage is a trip back in time; in this case, though, it’s one that celebrates the personal side of aviation history. You’ll have the opportunity to learn more about some of these vintage beauties during daily Vintage in Review presentations with stories of Antique, Classic, or Contemporary aircraft. For kids and teens, check out the Charles W. Harris Youth Aviation Center for hands-on activities, as well as Teen Night for group activities and root beer floats.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CRAIG VANDER KOLK , TOM CROCKETT, GARY DANIELS, AND LEWIS BERGHOFF

AEROBATICS AND AIR SHOWS

Double back north just past Boeing Plaza, and you’ll find Aerobatics, the home base of EAA’s International Aerobatic Club. Wander through this area and you’ll see Pitts biplanes — from classic S-1s to the sturdy Model 12s with their 400-hp Russian-built radial engines. You’ll see those same big radials on Yak-54s and Yak-55s, alongside such other aerobatic mainstays as Extras, Decathlons, Christen Eagles, and more. If you’re interested in learning more about aerobatics or how to get started, catch one of the forums in the Vicki Cruse Educational Pavilion.

This general area also marks show center for the air shows that take place every afternoon. In addition to the exciting daily air shows, you’ll want to stick around Wednesday and Saturday evening for the spectacle that is the night air show. Airplanes rigged with lights, smoke, and pyrotechnics; hundreds of synchronized drones; an extravagant fireworks display — you won’t be able to take your eyes o the sky.

ULTRALIGHTS

Now, head back toward Vintage and keep going until you arrive in Ultralights, an area better known as the Fun Fly Zone. The Fun Fly Zone is an airport within an airport, with scores of aircraft operating o their own grass runway, essentially independent of the activity that is going on elsewhere. The area is an eclectic mix of types, displayed and flown by both private owners and commercial exhibitors. It’s home to Quicksilvers, Hummelbirds, Belites, Challengers,

Mini-Maxes, and Legal Eagles, among many others. This area also hosts rotorcraft, including light helicopters like the Mosquito and Safari, as well as gyroplanes from companies like Magni and Calidus.

In the still hours shortly after sunrise and just before sunset, the runway is turned over to powered-parachute and paraglider pilots. Watching these slowest of flying machines is a perfect example of the pure pleasures of flight, a gentle reminder that it doesn’t have to be complicated to be fun. On Saturday morning, witness the colorful thrill of the hot air balloon launch.

On evenings without the full night air show, the Fun Fly Zone is the place to be. Twilight Flight Fest featuring STOL demonstrations, Red Bull skydivers, jaw-dropping 3D RC aircraft performances, and more are sure to keep you entertained.

THE SOUTH 40

Once we’ve left Ultralights, we continue south through an area of parking that’s set aside for amphibians — Seabees, Lakes, Caravans on floats, you name it. This is also where we’re going to catch a bus, but not yet. Before we do that, we have to take a look through the South 40. As its name clearly suggests, this is the aircraft camping area that bookends the grounds at the opposite end of the North 40.

The airplanes you’ll see run the gamut of general aviation, so if you haven’t seen it elsewhere on the grounds, you’ll probably see it here. There’s a decidedly di erent feel to this area, however, and not just because the airplanes are older, or at

least tend to be. It’s quieter, more peaceful, bordered not by a city street or lots of hangars and infrastructure but by farmland and cornfields.

And speaking of peaceful, it’s time to double back and catch that bus for a trip to one of the best-kept secrets of the fly-in.

THE SEAPLANE BASE

We get o the bus after a short ride to the south and walk a few hundred yards along a grassy trail through a forest. Just about the time you start to wonder if this was a trick, you’ll

step into a clearing that looks out across a well-sheltered lagoon that’s startlingly pretty, and the steel drums playing in the background transport you to paradise. You can feel time slowing down as you walk the shoreline or take a free boat tour of the lagoon, part of Lake Winnebago, that’s full of dozens of seaplanes, resting easily at anchor. You’ll see a wide range of types, from classic Piper Cubs, newer Cessna 206s, 1930-era biplanes, and burly de Havilland Beavers to homebuilt Coots and GlaStars. If it flies and floats, it’s welcome at the EAA Seaplane Base, and so is anyone who wants to spend some time at this most serene corner of our annual fly-in and convention.

Our hypothetical tour would end with us getting back on the bus for the trip north to the main convention site, maybe to take in a movie or a forum presentation, visit with a new old friend in the campground, or just wander the rows some more, taking in as many more airplanes as we can while the light fades.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES DURING AIRVENTURE 2025

At this point, you must be wondering “What can’t I do at AirVenture?” or “How do they still have more suggestions?” or even “Why is AirVenture only one week with this much to do?” We get it. AirVenture can be overwhelming with possibilities, so whenever you’re ready to slow down and recharge, we’ve got you covered.

You’ll find a wide variety of food vendors scattered across the convention grounds serving breakfast to dessert and everything in between. We have American fast-food classics like Papa Johns and Dunkin’/Baskin-Robbins, local favorites like Stone Arch Brewpub and Osorio’s Latin Fusion, and specialties like cheese curd tacos or exotic jerky.

What is a little leisure time without some entertainment? While you scarf down your food to get onto the next activity, tune into EAA Radio 96.5 FM/1210 AM to hear the latest up-to-the-minute happenings around the grounds, or crack open the daily AirVenture Today newspaper for stories and coverage on all things AirVenture.

CATCH A RIDE

Even if you didn’t fly into EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, there are still ways to get up in the air while attending the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. Rides are available in EAA’s historic B-25 Mitchell Berlin Express and Ford Tri-Motor, and you can see Oshkosh like you never have before from the seat of one of our Bell 47 helicopters.

EAA’s B-25 is a medium bomber from WWII, of the type made famous for its use by Jimmy Doolittle and his legendary Raiders. Buses leave from the AirVenture grounds to Appleton International Airport Monday through Sunday, and tickets

can be purchased in advance or at the walk-up booth in the Warbirds area, just north of Taxiway Papa 1.

The Ford Tri-Motor was America’s first mass-produced airliner, and this gorgeous golden-age Ford flies proudly to this day. Flights leave from the AirVenture grounds Monday through Sunday, and tickets can be purchased in advance or at the Tri-Motor building, which is also located in the Warbirds area north of Taxiway Papa 1.

The Bell 47 is the first helicopter certified for civilian use and, with its full bubble canopy, o ers unmatched visibility of all that happens around the grounds on a typical Oshkosh day. From the Sunday before AirVenture until the last day of the convention, tickets can be purchased at the Pitcairn Hangar at Pioneer Airport to take an unforgettable aerial tour of the Oshkosh grounds.

SALUTE TO VETERANS

In honor of our nation’s veterans, Friday is designated Salute to Veterans Day at AirVenture. The annual Parade of Veterans will take place on Friday, when all veterans in attendance are invited to meet in Warbird Alley at 1 p.m. for a special Warbirds in Review program, followed by assembly and parade departure at 1:45 p.m. The parade route will leave Warbird Alley and travel south along the flightline to Boeing Plaza, where there will be a welcome ceremony and group photo taken at 2 p.m.

In addition, the Old Glory Yellow Ribbon Honor Flight will arrive around 6 p.m. on Friday carrying veterans who have spent the day in Washington, D.C., touring war memorials and monuments. Northeast Wisconsin’s Old Glory Honor Flight organization coordinates the Washington, D.C., experience, which includes police escorts throughout the city. The public is invited to honor the returning veterans at Boeing Plaza as they arrive on an American Airlines charter.

THE MAGIC OF OSHKOSH

Many of us often have said that our annual fly-in, whether you know it as our convention, EAA AirVenture, or just plain Oshkosh, isn’t an event we create; it’s really just a party we host. The magic that is Oshkosh isn’t created here, but it is assembled here, by volunteers and attendees from around the world. Because of this, the real story of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is an entirely personal one — one that’s written during one week every year by hundreds of thousands of authors. If you’re interested in becoming part of the action, check out the Volunteer Center in Camp Scholler to find out how you can join the 6,000 other enthusiastic volunteers!

Now, this is a pretty thorough how-to AirVenture guide, but there really are endless possibilities. Check out the daily schedule to discover more activities and presentations. When all is said and done, you may have worn half your shoe soles away or gained an odd tan line, but you did AirVenture. Give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve made the most of your Oshkosh experience. OSH 2025

CARAVAN TURBOPROPS

CESSNA PISTONS

By the Numbers

By the Numbers

The metrics of AirVenture

By Emme Hornung

HAVE YOU ASKED YOURSELF, “How many airplanes are here?” or wondered, “How many people does it take to pull this all o ?” Well, you’re in luck. We did the math, so you don’t have to wonder a second longer (or do any math, for that matter).

We don’t call AirVenture the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration for nothing — each convention builds upon the previous, bringing together thousands of people and airplanes for one incredible week each year. Check out how we did last year for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.

The metrics of AirVenture

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ED HICKS, CRAIG VANDER KOLK, LAURIE GOOSSENS, SCOTT SLOCUM, LEWIS BERGHOFF, DAVE WITTY, AND JACK FLEETWOOD

686,000 total attendance

2,581 international visitors from 98 countries checked in at the International Visitors Tent

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRETT BROCK, TOM CROCKETT, AND CONNOR MADISON

40,024 museum guests during AirVenture

40,000+ campers across 15,000 campsites

10,000+ aircraft

16,780 aircraft operations at Wittman Regional Airport from July 18-28

An average of 113 takeoffs/landings per hour during airport hours

2,846 SHOWPLANES

1,200 vintage aircraft 82 aerobatic aircraft

975 homebuilt aircraft 65 seaplanes and amphibians

337 warbirds 23 rotorcraft

154 ultralights and lightplanes 10 balloons

961 Ford Tri-Motor passengers

1,600 forums and workshops to learn from across 65 venues

401 B-25 Berlin Express passengers

2,595 Bell 47 helicopter passengers

1,250 student pilot certificates issued in the Learn to Fly Center

PHOTOGRAPHY

872 people hired for AirVenture registration, retail, security, parking, and more

AVIONICS FOR AMATEURS

You’re not a professional aircraft builder. Your panel shouldn’t require a degree to install.

Choose ADVANCEDPANEL Complete from Dynon and Advanced to install your avionics in days, not months. Or, the new ACM Jumpstart Kit allows you to get started with the same foundation of electronic circuit breakers and tailored prefab harnesses we use when we build an ADVANCEDPANEL

15 interns gained professional experience

6,000+ volunteers contributed

250,000+ hours to make this week possible

11,000+ youth visitors to KidVenture

3,800 completed four activities, earning future pilot/mechanic pin

8,000+

3,689 completed eight activities, earning a tool kit sponsored by Wing Aviation visitors

32 youths participated in the pedal plane parade

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ZABACK, GARY DANIELS, AND EAA ARCHIVES

24.7 MILLION REACHED on social media

47,236 new followers

17 MILLION video views

142,000 HOURS of AirVenture livestreaming and on-demand videos were viewed

33 AIR-TO-AIR photo missions to capture aircraft in flight for magazine stories

BECAUSE EVERY LANDING COUNTS

Our premium Goodyear® Flight Custom III™ tires are the ONLY General Aviation tires with Kevlar® and the trusted tire of every Goodyear Blimp.

Come see us at Booth 489 on the flight line. 861 exhibitors

52,849 square feet of items printed in EAA’s Sign Shop

99,000 maps distributed Compared to a football field at 57,000 square feet

1,459 portable toilet units on the grounds

1,260 acres of grass mowed

2,700 feet of weeds trimmed

4,850 pounds of grass seed planted

61,000 newspapers delivered 12,200 pounds of newspapers

4,429 toilet paper rolls used

1,307 miles; equivalent to the distance from Oshkosh to Orlando, Florida

4 miles of plastic barrier fence

121,212 kWH of electricity used per day Equivalent to 8,000 homes

485 waste containers disposed

30 tons of recyclables

44,000 feet of underground utility wire installed to support improved sites, Aviators Club South, food vendors, and exhibitors

8,600 pounds of surplus food from Red One Markets donated to Oshkosh Area Community Pantry

$38,554 raised for participating chapters at the daily Chapters Pavilion pancake breakfasts

5,582 meals served in the pavilion

PHOTOGRAPHY BY HAYDEN SMITH AND BERNIE KOSZEWA

127,868 total retail transactions

23 different countries’ currencies logged

269,838 pieces of merchandise sold

50,074 T-shirts sold

13,736 cups of coffee sold

Sleeve-to-sleeve: 25 miles

$2.81 million raised at The Gathering for various EAA programs

1,000+ attendees

Happy Anniversary!

A variety of aircraft are celebrating at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

By Hal Bryan

EVERY YEAR, EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH becomes home to thousands of aircraft. Some of them are here to be displayed or perform in one of the air shows, while others form the centerpieces of thousands of campsites. In some cases, though, there’s another reason, one that’s cause for specific celebration — the anniversary of an aircraft type’s first flight or introduction, or the founding of a notable aircraft company. At the time of this writing, we know of several types that are here to celebrate this year. So, as you walk the convention grounds, if you happen to see one of these aircraft, be sure to stop and wish it — or its company — a happy birthday.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRADY LANE, CHRISTOPHER LOHFF, LEONARDO COREA LUNA, CONNOR MADISON, SCOTT SLOCUM, DAVE WITTY, AND EAA ARCHIVES

100 YEARS TRAVEL AIR MANUFACTURING CO.

TRAVEL AIR IS KNOWN for its touring biplanes, in particular the 4000 series, as well as the 6000, a highwing monoplane that served as a small airliner, and its classic and dominant racing monoplanes, the Type R Mystery Ships. But arguably the company’s most notable place in history is the fact that it was founded by three men who would go on to be household names in aviation — Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman. The company’s early successes after its 1925 founding helped establish Wichita, Kansas, as the “Air Capital City.”

100 YEARS FAIRCHILD AVIATION CORP.

THE FAIRCHILD AVIATION CORP. was formed in 1925 by New York native Sherman M. Fairchild. Beginning with the innovative FC-1, the company, through its various incarnations, produced civil and military aircraft (and, later, missiles and spacecraft) for more than 75 years. The company’s notable designs include the classic Fairchild 71 seen here; the well-known Fairchild 24; the PT-19, PT-23, and PT-26 World War II-era primary trainers; the C-82, C-119, and C-123 transports, and, under the umbrella of the Fairchild Republic division, the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II.

100 YEARS GOODYEAR AIRSHIPS

90 YEARS CONSOLIDATED PBY CATALINA

THE GOODYEAR TIRE & Rubber Co. was founded in 1898 in Akron, Ohio, and began producing nonrigid airships, eventually known as blimps, for the U.S. Navy toward the end of World War I. Then, in 1925, the company launched a new airship, christened Pilgrim , for a new customer — Goodyear itself. Pilgrim carried a crew of two, a pilot and an engineer, and two passengers, and at more than 100 feet long, it quickly became an advertising icon. One of the company’s most modern airships, the semirigid Zeppelin NT Wingfoot One , has been painted in Pilgrim ’s livery to celebrate the centennial.

THE FIRST FLIGHT OF the venerable PBY Catalina flying boat took place on March 21, 1935, and went into service as a patrol bomber the following year. Operated by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Air Forces (as the OA-10), the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Canso), the type chased down enemy submarines, escorted convoys, carried cargo, and performed countless air-sea rescue missions. After WWII, Catalinas were operated for decades as aerial firefighters. More than 4,000 were built from 1937 to 1945, and the surviving flying examples are a welcome sight at air shows.

ON APRIL 1, 1935, the prototype that would lead to more than 15,000 T-6 Texans, also known as the AT-6, the SNJ, and the Harvard, made its first flight. That airplane was the NA-16, which was modified into the NA-26, and the evolution continued from there. The type served U.S. and Allied forces through WWII as an advanced trainer, and it also served as a forward air control aircraft during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Small numbers were used by various countries in light attack and close airport roles. The “pilot maker,” as many called it, remains a popular warbird to this day.

90 YEARS DOUGLAS DC-3

JUST 32 YEARS TO the day after the Wright brothers’ success at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, one of the most iconic and successful airliners and transports made its first flight. The third in the Douglas Aircraft’s commercial airliner series, the DC-3 helped transform the nascent idea of airline travel from a novel option to a ubiquitous necessity. Only several hundred were built, but the type was developed into its military cousin, the C-47 Skytrain, and Douglas produced more than 10,000 of those to meet wartime demand for troop transports, cargo carriers, and glider tugs.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON AND CHRISTOPHER LOHFF

LANDING

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ANOTHER DOUGLAS TYPE HAS a birthday this year, and that’s the AD-1 (later just A-1) Skyraider, a burly attack aircraft that first flew on March 18, 1945. The Skyraider was a defiant throwback in those early days of the jet age, with a massive Wright R-3350 radial engine powering the 18,000-pound beast through service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the U.S. Air Force, the Royal Navy, the South Vietnam air force, and the French air force. Skyraiders first went to work in 1946 and served with distinction in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. It was during the latter that the type became famous for escorting rescue helicopters into combat zones. embryriddle.edu/oshkosh

Learn more!

70 YEARS LOCKHEED U-2

TOWARD THE END OF 1945, the advanced, all-metal Beechcraft Model 35 with its distinctive V-tail configuration, made its first flight. While a number of manufacturers were competing to produce light civil aircraft for the expected postwar flying boom that never materialized, Beech’s Bonanza must surely be considered the most successful, as it remains in production to this day, 80 years after the prototype’s first flight. More than 18,000 have been built so far, and the type continues to evolve. It also served as the basis for the T-34 Mentor, a military trainer that entered service with U.S. forces in 1953, and the ultimate variant, the turbine-powered T-34C, remains in limited use by the Navy even now.

ONE OF LONGEST-SERVING TYPES in U.S. Air Force history, the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance platform first flew on August 1, 1955, at what eventually became known as Area 51. Designed by the legendary Clarence “Kelly” Johnson and his celebrated Skunk Works team, the U-2 combines jet propulsion with an enormous 100-plus-foot glider-like wing. That wing, along with the airplane’s large fuel capacity and ability to operate at altitudes greater than 70,000 feet, make it a model of eciency, with an endurance of 12 hours and a range of more than 7,000 miles. The “Dragon Lady,” as it is nicknamed, was introduced in 1956 and was operated by the CIA and NASA, in addition to the U.S. Air Force, which still operates the unarmed airplane over the world’s hot spots, providing vital imagery and other reconnaissance and intelligence information.

50 YEARS ROBINSON HELICOPTER CO.

WHILE IT WAS FOUNDED by Frank Robinson in Torrance, California, in 1973, the Robinson Helicopter Co.’s remarkable successes began with the first flight of the two-seat R22 in 1975. The R22 is a two-bladed single-engine helicopter that has proven enormously popular as a trainer, with nearly 5,000 produced since 1979. The R22 led to the even more popular four-seat R44 (pictured), which is also still in production, with almost 7,000 built since 1990. The R44 led to the fiveseat R66, which, unlike its piston-powered-predecessors, is powered by a Rolls-Royce turboshaft engine. Earlier this year, Robinson announced its biggest model yet, the forthcoming 10-seat R88, which is intended for use as an executive transport, as well as an aerial firefighter and ambulance. OSH 2025

Who Runs the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration?

EAA volunteers

VOLUNTEERS MAKE EAA AIRVENTURE OSHKOSH — and just about everything else EAA does — possible. Over the past year, we’ve highlighted numerous AirVenture volunteers in EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Sadly, we cannot capture all the thousands of volunteers who give so much to the community every year. So, next time you see a volunteer at AirVenture (or elsewhere), however they are pitching in to make EAA better, be sure to thank them for it. It’s the least we can do.

Here are just a few of the volunteers we’ve highlighted over the past 12 months.

Judy Knight

COMING FROM ALASKA EVERY year, Judy Knight is a proud volunteer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and has been for 29 years. Judy started working with the Hospitality Tent for a few years, then Protect Our Planes (POPs) requested some additional help, so she moved there and was assigned to Vintage to patrol the area. When the POPs pro gram disbanded, Judy went to volunteer at the Volunteer Center in 2014 and became the chairman in 2015.

“I’ve been there ever since, and I have a great group,” she said. “They really are outstanding volunteers.”

The Volunteer Center serves as an information center, giving directions to anyone who asks and answering as many questions as possible about the event that volunteers can, but it is mainly a place for individuals who come to EAA eager to volunteer their time but are unsure what areas need the most help or where the best fit would be.

“That’s one of the things that we try to do here at the Volunteer Center, is to find an area that people want to come back to [volun teer] and become part of that family,” Judy said. “We have several volunteers that don’t want to be stuck in just one place, who want to experience di erent things. They’re my roamers.”

After being named chairman with only a year of experience, Judy knew that it would be a challenge in the beginning.

“That first year it was definitely a learning situation on what to do and what not to do, and hopefully handle things correctly,” she explained.

Judy said she continues to return because it’s fun and she’s made many connections with volunteers who come year after year.

“I enjoy meeting the people here, seeing my friends here. This is like a homecoming, and I really enjoy being here,” Judy said. “When one doesn’t come back or you find out there’s health issues, it kind of breaks your heart because you’re not going to see them again. And that’s happened obviously within 29 years.”

Throughout her years at EAA, Judy said she has also seen fam ilies and generation after generation of volunteers continuing a legacy.

[That’s] something that I really like about EAA, just because we’ve been around for so long and you get to see that so often. And that spirit of volunteerism is what runs this whole show. That was something that Paul encouraged a lot. And it brings people closer together,” she said.

Outside of Oshkosh, Judy is a pilot who has owned a variety of aircraft throughout the years, and her husband, Dan Knight, is a flight instructor. Judy’s father was a P-61 Black Widow pilot in the Pacific, and when she was in college, she went for a ride with him and fell in love with flying. The aviation bug never left her, and it’s turned into a family a air.

La Roche Family

ANDREW LA ROCHE, EAA LIFETIME 479669, volunteers at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh working for the trams, and he’s made it an entire family a air.

His introduction to aviation came when he was young, starting with his grandfather, Herb Ritzman, EAA 76158. His grandfather used to attend the fly-in convention and camp for the week, volunteering with trams starting back in 1984. By Andrew’s 13th birthday, he was volunteering with his brother, Joe La Roche, EAA Lifetime 474798; his uncle, Todd Ritzman, EAA Lifetime 268631; and his grandfather.

They started out with the four of them working together, but now it’s expanded to the majority of the La Roche family, including Andrew’s wife and their two children, his brother Joe and his four kids, his sister Elizabeth Hayden and her two kids, his parents Susan and Jerry La Roche, EAA 560971, and his aunt Colleen Kerr, EAA 1140767, and two of her grandchildren. Some years they have other nieces and nephews join as well. They all work at the tram station, following in Andrew’s grandfather’s footsteps since his passing about 12 years ago.

The tram duties include a variety of evening maintenance to prepare them for the volunteers who drive them during the day. When the La Roche family started volunteering, there were at most eight trams. For AirVenture 2024, they had 33! At the end of every day, the La Roche family take the trams, clean them to look for any trash, fuel them, and then they wash them.

Andrew said it’s important to him to keep the family tradition alive with his own children, teaching them what it means to be an EAA volunteer.

“That part is the most important to me, just trying to carry on what he started. I know he was volunteering all the way until he had passed,” Andrew said. “So that aspect is important to me and my family.

“From our perspective, we have to train our kids to be able to take over for us,” he explained. “I think one way or the other, I expect that we’ll be doing this through the rest of our life and am kind of hoping that the next generation continues it, too.”

Helping others is why Andrew’s grandfather started volunteering in the first place, Andrew said, and those roots are what led him to search for an opportunity to help people out.

“Anytime you can volunteer … especially these days to just give [your] time back toward something,” Andrew explained. “We’ve always appreciated EAA, and we have many pilots in our family, so we appreciate their show.”

Volunteering with EAA has also created a second family for the La Roches, and the connections that they make keep them coming back for more.

“You grow an expectation that it’s almost like a family reunion where when we show up, you’re expecting certain people to be there,” Andrew said.

The La Roche family will only continue to grow their connection with EAA and with their family’s history. The a air started with one, but it’s so much bigger than that now.

Learn from Experts

In the Forums Plaza at AirVenture, the very best from the aviation world come together for one week to share their knowledge with you. Hundreds of innovators, authors, experts, and legends create the most comprehensive collection of aviation knowledge available anywhere.

EAA WORKSHOPS

Go Hands-On

Homebuilding gets to the heart of EAA, and you can learn virtually every skill and gain the confidence you need to build an airplane while at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Patterned after the highly successful EAA SportAir ® Workshops, these mini workshops let you experience a taste of aircraft building.

Andrew Rezmer

FOR MANY EAA MEMBERS, the weeklong escape to Camp Scholler each summer is something they look forward to all year. Andrew Rezmer can relate; he started coming to AirVenture Oshkosh in 2001 with his family when they moved to Wisconsin, and now that he has completed his time with the Navy, he’s excited to be back on his old stomping grounds and picking up where he left o .

When Andrew was a young teenager, his mom decided to start volunteering for EAA’s Print Mail Center during AirVenture, and it became a family activity for one week a year. He pitched in by delivering the daily AirVenture Today newspaper to vendors in the exhibit hangars on the grounds.

When he wasn’t busy with his paper route (or checking out the thousands of visiting aircraft), he and his friend Drew enjoyed riding their bikes around. “One time, two days before the convention started when you could still ride on the grounds, we were riding our bikes down the flightline, and an old man passed and waved us down,” he said. “It was [EAA founder] Paul Poberezny, and he talked to us for a while. That was a memorable moment; he was out there mowing grass and working like everyone else.”

Andrew’s annual camping trip and volunteering came to an end when he left for the Navy. Coming from a family full of Navy veterans, he proudly followed in their footsteps. During his time serving, he spent three years in Japan as a calibration technician and then was stationed in Oklahoma City as an air crewman for six years. One of his favorite parts of living near Tinker Air Force Base was hearing the B-1 take o throughout the day.

Before Andrew finished his time with the Navy in December 2023, he had garnered 1,800 hours of flight time. These days, he is happy to “stay on the ground for a while” and watch the aircraft from below. “Modern fighter jets are my favorite, the ‘burst the eardrum’ kind of planes,” he said. What better place to get his jet fix than AirVenture? Andrew was excited to return to Oshkosh for AirVenture 2024 — and his newspaper delivery route — now that he’s out of the Navy and has moved back to Wisconsin. Perhaps in a twist of fate, the B-1 also made a return appearance at AirVenture 2024 after years of absence. Welcome back, Andrew!

AviationMuseum

NOT READY FOR AIRVENTURE® TO END?

Come visit the EAA Aviation Museum™! Open year-round, this world-class museum offers the perfect antidote for those post-AirVenture blues.

OPEN MONDAY – SUNDAY

10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

EAA MEMBERS GET 10% OFF ALL ITEMS IN THE BOUTIQUE!

LOCATED WITHIN THE EAA AVIATION MUSEUM ™

3000 POBEREZNY RD, OSHKOSH, WI

Shop EAA-branded apparel and accessories, along with other aviation-themed books, toys, and more in the atmosphere of a 1920s barnstorming adventure!

Mary Pennington-Hoyt

MARY PENNINGTON-HOYT, EAA LIFETIME 1057675, is passionate about empowering young girls and women to participate in aviation, and each year she gets to dive into that passion at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and WomenVenture.

“I’m an Air Force brat. My dad was an air tra c controller, so I’ve been around aviation since the early years in my childhood … so I really enjoy being around airplanes,” Mary said. She started her career working as a secretary at the same base where her parents met each other, McClellan Air Force Base. After she successfully balanced full-time work and college, she used her degree in finance to manage construction projects for 20 years. After that, Mary worked as a weapons project manager for the F-35 program at Lockheed, which she retired from three years ago.

“But the passion for little airplanes, general aviation, didn’t start until after I married my husband,” she said. Her husband, Patrick, EAA Lifetime 373507, decided to get his private pilot certificate, but the aviation fever didn’t stop there. Being active and making friends at EAA Chapter 25 in Minnesota, Patrick was inspired to act on his dream to build his own airplane, and so the couple built a Zenith 601. Aviation fever is chronic, as many of you know, and the couple is now building a Zenith 750 Cruzer at their airpark home in Texas.

As annual AirVenture attendees, Mary and Patrick have attended countless seminars and workshops. “I’ve learned a lot, especially when we were building our first airplane,” she said. Though, as the years went on, she found herself looking for something new to do while in Oshkosh. “I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll start doing some volunteer ing,’” she said.

Mary’s first volunteer gig was helping with the first One Week Wonder in 2014, in which a Zenith was built start to finish during AirVenture. She also volunteers as an aircraft greeter, welcoming pilots as they

land in Oshkosh, but her interest has found its way to WomenVenture as well.

In 2022, Mary assisted Val Westedt, EAA 535650, to create the first women-only building class during AirVenture to show women how to rivet and more with a generous project donation from Zenith. The class was hosted for its third year at AirVenture 2024.

“Aviation has been primarily a male-dominated field, so this class provides an environment where women can come together, collaborate together, help each other,” Mary said. “To do this build class, without your husband or partner assisting, provides a sense of empowerment for women.”

“I mentored women in construction for a while up in Minnesota. I was part of the National Association of Women in Construction, and we would mentor young girls and do girl power days and those kinds of things,” Mary said. “So, getting back with the WomenVenture group and this women-build class, I feel like it’s coming full circle. That’s my passion.”

For Mary, the best part of AirVenture isn’t the airplanes or the learning opportunities, “It’s the camaraderie that I personally have been witnessing in the last few years; it’s amazing,” she said. “It’s just a lot of fun. I mean, it really is about the people you meet.”

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1 Be a current EAA ® member and meet the pilot requirements

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3 Join a chapter or order Young Eagles materials

4 Complete Young Eagles flight registration/waiver form

5 Take flight: Fly Young Eagles!

Kyle Breon

KYLE BREON, EAA 1335139, has been coming to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh pretty much since he was born. His dad, Shawn Breon, EAA 501777, has always loved aviation, volunteering as a teenager at the local air show in their hometown of Rockford, Illinois. Shawn started volunteering at AirVenture in the late ’90s, “and when I was born, my dad always brought me up, and over the years, I just fell in love with the place,” Kyle said.

Kyle started volunteering about 10 years ago with his dad at the EAA Seaplane Base, greeting arriving guests and helping with their luggage. “I really liked when I was doing that, seeing where they came from, how’d they figure out how to come here and all that type of stu ,” he said.

These days, Kyle helps with preconvention setup by preparing the docks and getting boats in the water, and then

during the week he serves as a tugboat driver, bringing seaplanes to and from the docks.

While the Seaplane Base is often considered AirVenture’s best-kept secret, Kyle also assists at the even lesser-known Warbird Island, an alternative landing spot for seaplanes during bad weather. “I help set up Warbird Island,” he said. “We have five [temporary mooring locations] out there that we have to set up, and then if anyone needs to land over there, I’m one of the people who will go out. We have a boat down there, so we can ferry people back and forth.”

“I really like the Seaplane Base and the seaplanes, but I really like the community we have here. It’s a lot more close knit; everyone knows each other,” Kyle said. “We work really hard to get this all running smoothly, and we just have as much fun as possible.”

After graduating high school this last spring, Kyle has his eyes on a future in aviation. “I plan to do aerospace engineer ing. I’m looking at ROTC with the Air Force and going that path,” he said. “I would love to work on rockets, so working for places like NASA, SpaceX, Boeing. I’ve always loved avi ation and space, and I want to continue that when I get older.”

YOU CAN BUILD IT

See You at the Flightline

See You at the Flightline

A week full of air shows at AirVenture 2025

COMING TO WITTMAN REGIONAL Airport from around the world, thousands of spectators flood the flightline each day during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh to witness the spectacle that is an air show. From low-and-slow to the latest innovations to aerobatic maneuvers that amaze, and everything in between, our performers are ready to put on a show. On Wednesday and Saturday, the fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down; the night air shows will be filled with fireworks, drones, and pyrotechnics to paint the night sky for an experience you’ll never forget. Welcome to Oshkosh!

American Drone — Agricultural application drones

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMERICAN DRONE

Ace Maker — T-33s

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GREG COLYER

Randy Ball — MiG-17

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AL SAUER

Paul Bennet — The Wolf Pitts

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GAVIN CONROY

Bob Carlton — FoxJet

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS

Vicky Benzing — P-51 Plum Crazy

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

BETA Technologies — ALIA CTOL (CX300)

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN JENKINS

Jeff Boerboon — Extra 330SC

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY DANIELS

The Chuters — Skydivers

Class of ’45 — P-51, F4U-4 Corsair

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK MOORE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY DANIELS

Susan Dacy — Stearman

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL J. GALLAGHER

Jerry Conley — de Havilland Vampire

PHOTOGRAPHY BY R. NEWBERRY PHOTOGRAPHY

EAA ® Four Corners

From first-time visitors to seasoned attendees, new EAA members to Lifetime, and aviation enthusiasts and pilots, the EAA Four Corners has something for everyone!

EAA Member Center

•Join, renew, or become an EAA Lifetime member™

•Explore EAA’s many member programs and benefits

•Photo opportunities and airshow performer meet and greets

•Speak to an EAA Advocacy rep about MOSAIC/LSA2.0

EAA Learn to Fly Center

•Enjoy daily “Learn to Fly” forums

•Take an introductory flight lesson on a Redbird flight simulator

•Apply for your student pilot certificate

•Ask our friendly volunteers all your “Learn to Fly” questions!

EAA Youth Welcome Center

•Learn about youth activities on the AirVenture ® grounds

•Delve into interactive aviation activities and rivet your own keychain

•Explore EAA’s youth education opportunities

EAA Merchandise

•Shop official AirVenture event merchandise

•Find event apparel, mini windsocks, aviation toys, and more

•EAA members receive 10% off

•Each purchase helps support EAA programs

Erik Edgren — Taylorcraft

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINA BASKEN

Aaron Fitzgerald — BO-105

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BERNIE KOSZEWA

Kyle Fowler — Long-EZ

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS

Michael Goulian — Extra 330SC

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WITTY

Kyle Franklin — Super Cub

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF

Flight of the Cats — Hellcat, Tigercat, Bearcat, Wildcat

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE KUTZ

Legacy LEAVE YOUR

Leave your mark at a historic EAA® landmark with a personalized tribute.

EAA.ORG/TRIBUTE

Nathan Hammond — Chipmunk

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS

Ed Hamill — Folds of Honor Pitts

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY GRACE

IAC Demo Team — Extra 330SCs

PICTURED: BRITT LINCOLN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY M. BORCHERT PHOTOGRAPHY

RJ Gritter — Decathlon

PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOLLY CHILSEN

CATCH US IN A CITY NEAR YOU

Scan the QR codes below to see the Ford Tri-Motor and B-25 Berlin Express tour stop schedules.

Greg Koontz — Decathlon

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM CROCKETT

Jerry Kerby — T-28

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEWIS BERGHOFF

Gather up your friends and family, pack your blanket and lawn chairs, and settle in for an outdoor movie experience that is one of a kind! Relax and unwind while watching blockbuster and classic aviation movies on a five-story-high screen.

2025 Schedule

David Martin — AJI T-610 Super Pinto

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER LOHFF

Jarrod Lindemann — Jet Waco

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY DANIELS

Presented by

Gather up your friends and family, pack your blanket and lawn chairs, and settle in for an outdoor movie experience that is one of a kind! Relax and unwind while watching blockbuster and classic aviation movies on a five-story-high screen.

EAA® Aviation Education Center

Misty Blues — Skydiving

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ZABACK

NextGen Eagles Aerobatic Team — Christen Eagles

Northern Stars — Pitts Specials

Racers — P-51s Bardahl Special, Plum Crazy, Thunderbird

WE LOVE OUR EXHIBITORS!

EAA ® is thankful for our long-term exhibitors and welcomes our new ones for 2025!

WELCOME NEW EXHIBITORS

3D Creative LLC | A HEALTHY LIFE, LLC | Aerista | Aero Tech Aviation Design, LLC

AeroLift Hangar Space Solutions | Aeroshare-Ventures | AIR Avionics | Air Creation

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) | Airspeed Insurance Agency | Alaska State Troopers All American Outdoors, Inc DBA “SAVIOR” (The Savior Brand) | Arising Custom Aircraft Trailers

AviatorPro | Aviomania Gyroplanes of Texas, LLC | Bakers School of Aeronautics | Baxter Aerospace

Big Sky Traders | Bilboaero Inc | Blaze Anti-Fog | Blue Gold Flight | Bold Aviator | Bombardier Brass Aircraft Recovery | Bravo Golf, LLC | Bushpilot Adventures | Bye Aerospace | Canyon Moon

Caruso & Freeland GmbH | Cascade Aircrafters, LLC | Centauri | Cherokee Federal | Chore Warrior

CJ Mobility Scooters | DawgMuffs LLC, a Texas limited liability company | Defense Hearing | Designer Palms Devos, LLC | Dynamic OK Edition | Element Materials Technology | Elevated Access, Inc.

Everything Life Saving | Evolve Aviation Solutions | EZ IFR, LLC | EZNATURE Co.,Ltd | Fairings-Etc | Findoor Flare Bourbon LLC | Flite Test, LLC | Flutter Eyewear | Flybuyer | FlyHire LLC | FMS Model | Ford Trucks

FOX Factory Vehicles | Fred Astaire | Freedom Aviation Network | FTair | Fulltron Aviation LLC

GarageExperts of Fox Valley | GippsAero Pty Ltd | GoPro Inc. | Hangar Door Drives Inc. | Hilo Aviation

Historical American Aviation Art | Iowa Lakes Community College | Jackson Jet Center

Jetstream Avionics Inc. | JK Specialty Products | John Ford Photo | JSSI | June’s Room Creations

AeroLEDs - A Whelen Aerospace Company | Air Safaris International Barrett Precision Engines, Inc. | Beringer Aero USA | DUC Propellers USA, INC Honda Aircraft Company | Horizon Hobby | Kitfox Aircraft Lockwood Aircraft Corp. | Scion Helicopter LLC | Soaring Society of America Sporty’s Pilot Shop | Stewart Systems | Tecnam Aircraft | Trio Avionics 10

YEARS

ACME Suspensions LLC | Aeromarine LSA | Air Cargo Carriers Airbus Americas, Inc. | Best Tugs, LLC | CiES Inc Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. | EnerSys | Frazier Aviation Products LLC Game Composites LTD | Healing of the Nations, LLC | HEM INC. / HE&M Saw JSfirm.com | Kip Motor Company, Inc. / Kip Aero | LIFT Aviation | Method Seven Middle Tennessee State University | Mid-State Aerospace, Inc.

Murphy Aircraft Mfg | National Gay Pilots Association | Oasis Scientific, Inc.

One Mile Up, Inc. | Parkland College | PEDAL PLANES by AVIATION PRODUCTS Petro Nuts | Piedmont Airlines | PSA Airlines | runway THREE-SIX Silveraire, LLC | State of Minnesota - Aeronautics | uAvionix Corporation

UFlyMike | Utah State University | Walkabout Company (The) | Weldon Pump Williams International

K & M Industry LLC | Kate & Company | Kincer Engineering & Design, LLC | King’s Campers

Kohler Services Wisconsin | Korea Light Aircraft Research Association | La Crosse Technology

Levrack LLC | Liquid Measurement Systems, Inc. | Lite Enterprises Inc. | Mad City Windows & Baths

Midwest Panel Builders LLC | Miller Aerodynamics | Mobile Transponder Certification, LLC | Monarch Flyway Mortgage Nerds | Motive.aero | National STOL | NAVAIR | Nighthawk Flight Systems

Nulite Instrument Lighting System | Operation Airdrop | Orlican Americas - Eagle M8 | Pilot’s Apparel (The)

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

Spielbauer Fireworks — Fireworks

Starlight Aerial Productions — Drones

BLUE BARN

Your go-to destination for EAA Chapters and EAA Young Eagles® at AirVenture®.

> Attend a forum about growing your chapter, engaging youth, and more

> Represent your chapter by placing your pin on the chapter map

> Become a Young Eagles or Eagle Flights volunteer

> Learn about chapter resources and best practices

> Connect with chapter leaders and EAA’s Chapters staff

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE GOOSSENS

Philipp Steinbach — GB1 GameBird

Bill Stein — Edge 540

Tora Pyro — Pyrotechnics

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ZABACK

Trojan Thunder — T-28s

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY DANIELS

TITAN Aerobatic Team — T-6s

PHOTOGRAPHY BY HAYDEN SMITH

Skip Stewart — Prometheus 2

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE SWARTZ

U.S. Air Force Academy Glider Demo — DG 1000S Glider

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF 94TH FTS

U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight and Demos — F-22, F-35A, P-51

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR MADISON

U.S. Air Force Tanker Demo — KC-46

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAM SASIN

U.S. Air Force C-17 Demo — C-17

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM RAEDER

Bernie Vasquez — P-47 Bonnie

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WITTY

U.S. Navy Rhino Demo — F/A-18

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER LOHFF

U.S. Army Golden Knights — Skydiving

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CPL. CLARA SORIA

U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Demo — F-35B

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MILLER

Wisconsin National Guard — Various

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY DANIELS

Patty Wagstaff — Extra 330SC

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WITTY

Matt Younkin — Beech 18

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE SWARTZ

Scott Yoak — P-51 Quick Silver

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WITTY

STREAMLINE YOUR TERMINAL PROCEDURES WITH GARMIN SMARTCHARTS

Simplified, dynamic departures, arrivals, approaches and airport diagrams are here. Learn more at the Garmin exhibit on Celebration Way.