Airventure 2024: A Vintage Enthusiast's Journey

For one week every year, Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH) is said to become the busiest airport in the world. Having flown in there a number of times now, both VFR and IFR, I can attest that it's busy. Even crazy! But it's much more than that – it's an experience unique, fun, and fulfilling for aviation enthusiasts of all kinds. Everyone's experience is different as are their tastes and inclinations. As an antique enthusiast here are my thoughts about this year.

I look forward to going every year and begin planning, as most do, months ahead of time. 2025's show is already on my calendar. I had moved my Waco UMF 3 to Poplar Grove for a new intercom installation and that's where I met up with Rob Lock on the Wednesday before the start to work, again, on my Hayes brakes which have been problematic, and often dangerous the entire time I've owned the airplane. While Rob worked on the brakes, my friend Les Banta and I changed out Phillips screws for slotted ones. Phillips, you see, were invented in 1934 and weren't generally used until the war.

After the prep work was accomplished, we flew as a two-ship, Rob in a Rare Aircraft UPF 7 that had once belonged to his father Robert Lock, and Les and me in the F3 over to Brodhead. They were beginning their annual Pietenol Fly-In with lots of interesting antiques and I also needed to prepare my "new-to-me" Fleet Model 1 for the show. Scott and Annie Woods were there with family and friend Josh Brownell so the hangar flying got started in earnest.

We met several new friends stopping by and at the museum including Thomas from Germany who was still suffering jet lag. Clay Adams joined us in another Rare UPF7 along with Bryan Brannon in his beautiful, recently repaired square tail Stearman with its massive Pratt and Whitney engine. The next morning Steve Thomas, who had kindly played host to all of us at Poplar Grove, met us at 7 a.m. and we flew as a four-ship to OSH. The arrival was not crazy at that hour, and the controllers were doing their usual outstanding job. For me though the landing was a bit frightening.

I made an error and decided to three-point the landing instead of wheeling it in assuming that the brakes were now fine. They weren't and the left one grabbed starting an exciting few seconds of just about ground-looping the plane. This is the second time we've adjusted the brakes and had them not work properly right after. It's also the last! The plane is now at Rare Aircraft in Faribault, Minnesota getting fitted with Cleveland's.

There was a lot of confusion about parking, and I got to do it three times! Vaughn Lovley was on hand to help, and he got a good-natured piece of my mind about that, but we got things sorted and the planes parked. There isn't much going on at AirVenture three days out, but a lot of folks get there early and it's good to catch up with friends and make new ones. Vintage attendance was down considerably this year. I think there might have been a dozen or so Wacos but only about half of last year's attendance. The show was crowded with people though and at least half a million visitors rolled through the gates on peak days.

Jared Calvert arrived in my Fleet Model 1 on Saturday and Les and I began the daily ritual of cleaning airplanes. Monday, Ron Price from Sonoma Skypark arrived at the Fleet early in his bright yellow Fleet t-shirt and handled question answering for judges and visitors alike. Ron was a friend of Paul Siebert's, and it was Paul who spent thirty years restoring this pretty plane – ably assisted with copious cash by Scott Woods and Nando Mendoza's shop West Coast Air Creations.

We had some rain, which comes like clockwork every year during the show, but aside from that the weather was beautiful. Days here are spent visiting with other airplane nuts and catching up with lots of people. This year was no different with visits from John and Carol Reed, Jeff Nelson, Oren Redsun, CK Lee, Luigi Moretti, Cam Harrod, and lots of others. It was a treat for me to sit in the shade of the Fleet and learn a lot more about this type from experts like Luigi, Cam, and Ron.

When I go on vacation with my family, especially my wife, they like to do a little shopping. That's why I have so many sweaters I never wear. At Oshkosh though it's not shopping it's relief from the darned military jets and their headache-producing, hearing destroying, noise that drives me into the big hangars in the afternoons! While there I don't shop. I buy! This year I bought 30 cases of oil – it takes a lot to keep lots of thirsty radials lubricated! That probably wasn't enough, but the price was right and included free shipping. I have two hangars 1500 miles apart and it seems there are never enough headsets so two more David Clarks are on the way. I found an awesome plastic and general spray cleaner at Sun N Fun from Aviation Laboratories and another couple of cases are on a UPS truck headed this way. The big purchase was another AC Air Technologies remote-controlled tug. I've been trying to buy another used one for a couple of years and just gave up. A couple hundred off and free shipping. I got another set of molded earplugs for my other Campbell Aero Classics helmet. They really help cut down extraneous noise and are worth the money, but the AirVenture discount helps too. The last purchase was another cloth helmet for passengers up front. My friend Les had his hand on his head practically the whole way to OSH and it's hard enough to see around a big radial as it is. All in all, I got some needed things, enough of a discount to pay for dinners, and avoided the noise.

A highlight of Tuesday, for the whole week really, was meeting Tom Brown and handing him a check for his Waco ZPF 6 project. This project, which will take a few years and a not-inconsiderable amount of money to complete, brings me one more step closer to realizing my dream of collecting an example of every Waco F model! I only need to find the first F model, an RNF or INF, to complete the set. I went immediately to work visiting with a number of the craftsmen I'll need to help me – who were all in one place here at Oshkosh – to learn about capability, cost, and time availability.

Tuesday evening, I hosted a dinner in Fond du Lac at Salty's for the California crowd including Rafe Tomsett, Ron Price, Scott and Annie Woods, and Jim Roberts formerly of Skypark. Lots of fun and laughter with flying stories all told for a new audience! The next day I met Sparky Barnes whose aviation writing I've enjoyed for years who interviewed me about the Fleet. Budd Davisson came by for a chat and to get photo releases signed. I don't know who is writing the story, and neither do they, but one is planned later this year about Paul and his daily labor of love rebuilding the Fleet.

One of Paul's dreams was to bring the Fleet to AirVenture, but he didn't live long enough. I wanted to fulfill that dream, at least for Marilyn, and Chris Price (Ron's son), Ron Price, Les Banta, Jared Calvert, Jay Berendez, and Rob Lock all helped to make that possible. Not only did the plane make it there but it received a great reception from visitors, fellow Fleet owners, and judges alike. In the end Paul, Scott, Nando, and I won the Silver Age Open Cockpit Biplane Runner Up award for Paul's painstaking work. I'm looking forward to receiving the actual plaque and presenting it to Paul's wife later this year.

The listing of all those names reminds me of what I said to many people this year which is that these beautiful airplanes all come with stories of vision, dedication, and even sacrifice from lots of people. Those of us who share a passion for antique aviation know that, while the planes themselves are important, it's the people that matter most. This year was busier for me than any other AirVenture I've been to, but it was also the most satisfying.

Saturday night is the Vintage Banquet where the awards are handed out. Eight days there is enough for me, so I didn't make it again this year. But this morning I read the judging results and was very pleased to see that Paul Siebert's Fleet Model 1 which I am now the custodian for won Silver Age Outstanding Open Cockpit Biplane Runner Up! I also note that my UMF 3 won Silver Age Outstanding Open Cockpit Biplane. I'm grateful for those two awards but also perplexed as some of the planes that didn't win, and some that did, make little sense to me. And the F3 wasn't qualified for the award it received which leaves me scratching my head.

As Les and I sat in the airport café at Janesville after dropping the Waco off at Brodhead I said, "I feel exhausted even though I slept well last night". "Me too" he replied. Talking with Rob this morning I learned he's gotten sick from all the stress of his activities here, which is his story to tell, but the point is that as fun as a week at AirVenture is we need to build in a few days to get over it. With that said, there are only twelve months until the next one. I can't wait!