The float base is a rather serene place. It's a small bay off of Lake Winnebago. Land on the lake, taxi in through the gap into the base, offload, then they drag your plane to a mooring.

I have found something slower than our Pacer. I think this is the only commercial flying Zeppelin in the US.

This is the office of a P-38. It's a twin engine, twin boom warbird and there's not many left and it's just beautiful.......unless you're trying to get away from it.

I don't remember the name of the guy, but he bolted a really little jet engine to a sail plane and does all kinds of aerobatics with it. It has a swoosh sound as it goes by. Rather graceful looking as he goes through his loops.

Every afternoon, warbirds start the afternoon airshow. This is a patriotic thing, so pay attention to the announcer when he says remove your cover.

The main mode of transport getting around is the bike. You can't take it inside the grounds, but for getting back and forth to the campgrounds, it's a must.

 The beginning of the afternoon airshow. Someone always sings the national anthem. Remember, remove your cover.

This guy landed really close to us.

Old Yeller. This was the Mustang P-51 that Bob Hoover flew for many years. The old guy is still around and we had the pleasure of listening to him the other night. You can be a hero and humble. And he epitomizes that.

The happiest DC-3 flying. This is Duggy. His main function at Oshkosh is to haul the sky divers to altitude for the opening ceremonies in the afternoon air show. Then he lands and rests for the night.

JeT Blue must have brought a charter in. Or maybe they just landed 'cause they saw a whole lot of airplanes at the field.

Just down the road from us some artistic laddies must have had some spare time on their hands (why weren't they looking at airplanes?). They converted a porta potty into a women's room. I don't know how much it was used, but it was a photographic destination for Camp Scholler.

That's probably about it for this short blog. I took about 340 pics after deleting several and you got a general representation of those.

Airventure is truly a one of a kind experience. Out of the hundred's of thousands of people that show up, they all get along. And the US Congress should follow the lead of the volunteers that make this thing run. We'll be back again. In the meantime, blue skies and tailwinds.

Bob & Bev

Meet Fifi. The last surviving, flying  B-29 in the world.

The Aeroshell airbatic team. The next time you fill up at Shell, you're helping these guys keep their job.

I'll check back later.

I was strolling through the P51's and few other warbirds yesterday aternoon. Shortly, some of the guys started strapping in. I figured that was good sign. A few mintues later, they started lighting the fires. Time for the afternoon show.

Well, you get the idea. These things can make an old guy pee in his pants. If you've stood up close to a roaring Merlin engine, then you have some understanding. Can't imagine being in a war zone with hundreds of these taxing out for a mission to protect a 500 bomber flight.

A true American hero. One of the few remaining Tuskegee Airman.

The blog post doesn't want to accept anymore pics, so will start another one. Cheers.

I hope the guys servicing the plane understood the warning. Probably was actually a simple procedure explained in Army terms.

Before we head back out, a few of Bev's pics are attached.

 A self portrait by Bev on the fuselage of a P-51.

 A nice Stearman for sale for 99K. 



We'll check in later. We're off to join the crowd.

Here's a few more pics from yesterday.



This particular stunt is not on our bucket list. Yes, the plane is upside down with the wing walking lady on the top wing.

Fighter pilot Bev. This thing has considerable more horsepower than the old Pacer.

More later. The battery is about to expire on the laptop and we can't fire up the genny until 7:30 am.
Blue skies.

There are a few of you out there that think I am rather conservative in my picture taking. I like to think I'm just selective and know when to pick the right shot. Maybe I'm just conservative from the film days. But today in short order, I took over 160 photos and could have gone higher. But there's still tomorrow. I'll pick some of those and include them in the blog.

The next three photos are not necessarily what you find at an airport near you. Well, at least not at the airports that I hang around.

The next three shots are some representative P-51's. If you were on the other team, they generally caused considerable consternation to the opposing pilots. They were active in the European and Pacific Theaters. Most now don't sport their old miltary colors, but still have that macho bravado that probably caused more than one pilot to dampen the flight suit. And they almost all have the nose art. These are also the planes that the Tuskegee Airman flew.

The air show always has some spectacular performancxes and here are a few from today.

Well, the blog sems to have ceased accepting anymore pix. So, I'll try to add those to another blog later. Twas a beautiful day weather wise and we logged a few miles  hiking the grounds. Wheels up.

Bob