Well another AirVenture has come and gone. Even after a day of relaxing I am still feeling the impact both on my body and my spirit. The legs are a little sore and I’ve gotten the start to a nice sun tan, next year I’ll have to get more walking in before the show arrives which will make my wife happy.
This years AirVenture was my vacation, though it was a working vacation. Hosting guests such as Greg Drawbaugh from Draw Decal. Greg spent his first time ever at Oshkosh, he kept saying he was in sensory overload. Sounds, sights and smells of aircraft everywhere. He was constantly peering through his cameras viewfinder taking reference pictures with future decal sheets in mind. Greg is already planning on coming back next year, but will allow for two days…you just cannot do it all in one.
While on the flight line a gentleman asked if we knew when the Warbird Show was going to occur, at the beginning of the air show or as the last act? Given it was a Warbirds Extravaganza, it normally was the last act of the show because of the pyrotechnics involved. He was faced with a choice, stay for the Warbirds and miss his tour group bus back to Appleton or leave to catch the bus and miss the Warbirds. We found out Steve was from the UK and was staying at a hotel in Appleton not far from my home. I invited him to stay, that we’d give him a ride back afterwards.
After the show ended, I called my wife letting her know we’d have another guest for supper. Steve spent a couple hours with us sharing his passion for aviation, photography and traveling. Though the time was short we all had a good time and made a new friend in the process. Another unique facet of the AirVenture experience.
The Gallery now has the last of the pictures I am planning on adding. These are just a fraction of the ones I took, many are detailed reference shots for future modeling projects. This years AirVenture is still fresh in my mind, but attention has already started towards planning for next year. Hope to see you there!
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August 4th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Just wondering if you ran into an old friend of mine a guy named Frank Arrufat. He was supposed to have just finished the restoration of his Goodyear built FG-1D Corsair, Bu.92489, NX209TW….hopefully in time for the show. Airpower is restoring it as a FG-1A Corsair and doing a beautiful job from the pictures I’ve seen. The TW is for TWA for whom we both flew back in the good airline days.
Best wishes,
Alex