OSH12 Wednesday 7-25-12: The Best Place On Earth! (10 Pix)

A dad and son make a unique Red Barn ice run Wednesday morning in Camp Scholler

(10 pix - click any pic to enlarge)

 This post and the rest of the OSH12 posts are being put up several days late due to my computer get caught (and rendered inop) in a surprise and extremely intense rain storm on Thursday at Oshkosh. After getting a day of rest on Monday, I'm using backup resources to get caught up on everything. Things should be back to normal in a couple more days.

 I'm a firm believer that the EAA gathering at Oshkosh each year is the absolute best place on Earth. I don't know of any other event that brings so many people together for so many days and remains calm, clean and so encouraging. And you can add to that a great sense of humor too... like the fun little winged go-kart pictured above. With dad 'flying' from the back seat, the little guy gets strapped in up front, and some simple OSB wings and tail surfaces complete the airplane theme. That's a pretty slick way to get around Camp Scholler. You still see some unique vehicles like this, tho I don't know why we haven't seen another official 'Crazy Camp Vehicle Contest' like we did back in 2009.

 Anyway, here are several more pix from the day on Wednesday at the greatest aviation gathering in the world, and most likely the greatest human gathering in the world too : )

So how about putting a little 120hp turboprop on your Zenith CH 701? That's what the cool guys from EhPro Custom Fabrication in Trinity Texas did! They scratch built the CH 701 and then adapted one of those surplus JFS-100-13 turboshaft starter motors from the old A-7 Corsair II and made it into a turboprop! They also seem to have designed that slick little wing tent seen under the right wing. These guys are forward thinkers that have another project in the works that draws from what they've learned on the turboprop CH 701... no details are available on it for now, but I think we should keep an eye on these guys. Really interesting stuff and great work done here!

Andy Chiavetta (in the gray t-shirt) answering questions about his debut aircraft, the Aerochia LT-1 Bobcat... it's a smallish composite aircraft becoming available as a kit that can cruise in the 160 mph range on 55hp! I sat in the cockpit and found it very roomy and quite comfortable. This is definitely an airplane to keep an eye on.  I've got more pix and info coming soon.

Click to read more ...

The 'Hinky Hog' Makes A Brief Return During OSH12

My version of the twitter 'fail whale' - it's the AirPigz 'hinky hog'

 I was nearly done with the post for Thursday at Oshkosh when I left my computer running unattended for about 10 minutes while I went to get a quick bite to eat. It was set up in what would normally be considered a very safe area, however, an intense storm of high winds and heavy rain arrived very quickly and the rain was driven in thru some open windows before I was able to get back to the laptop. The bottom line is that it's still not booting up from getting very wet that day. That's why there haven't been any posts the last few days.

 I'm back home now and I'm using the old laptop to get back at it. I should be able to get caught up in rapid-fire fashion with the remianing OSH12 posts and then get back to the regularly scheduled avgeekery here at AirPigz soon. Thanx for hangin' in there with me during my challenging time... and sorry you had to say hi to the 'hinky hog'. (may I suggest that you should eat some bacon today to help balance everything out : )

OSH12 Tuesday 7-24-12: Living the Oshkosh Life (8 Pix)

One of the most beautiful one-of-a-kind homebuilts ever: 1970's era Polen Special

(8 pix - click any pic to enlarge)

 
 I'm definitely playing catch-up this year getting great images captured and put up for you to check out, please hang in there with this one-man-operation as I try to get a grip! I've pulled 8 images to share with you from Tuesday at Oshkosh... it was a very nice day with waaayyyyy too many things to see and do. Of course, that's one of the awesome things we love about Oshkosh!

 Anyway, a handful of pix here to see with short captions to once again remind you why you should be here OSH12 - I hope you enjoy them : )

RV formation demo that includes my cousin Bill Gunn in the red RV-4 on the left wing

The big and very wide nose of a C-17 Globemaster III on display in Phillips 66 Plaza

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OSH12 Monday 7-23-12: A Great Day To Go Flying! (15 Pix)

Me in the co-pilot seat flying Cory Robin's WilgaBeast on his last leg into OSH from Utah

(15 pix)

 The first day of Oshkosh 2012 was fantastic for me as I had the great opportunity to meet up with Cory Robin and his WilgaBeast early in the day down at the Portage Wisconsin airport, about 60 miles southwest of Oshkosh, and ride along on his final leg from Utah. I'm very familiar with the Polish-built Wilga as my dad had one back in the late 80's that I got to fly a fair amount, including bringing it up to OSH88, so getting a little stick time in the Wilgabeast was a ton of fun. It was a gorgeous day and the arrival process into the airport with the world's busiest tower worked great... and we got some GoPro video from out on the wing that gave an awesome view of the approach and landing on 36L. The video screenshot (2nd pic below) gives you an idea of how cool the video will be once I get it posted sometime after Oshkosh.

(click any pic below to enlarge)

The awesome view of 36L at OSH from inside the Wilgabeast - great day for flying!
 

The GoPro video camera view of the approach (camera mounted at the tie-down ring)

  The large and unusual Wilga after we parked in the Warbird area - more on that later

 Getting to arrive on opening day via the air was a really special treat for me, but you don't have to arrive from the sky to have an incredible time at Oshkosh. The following are some additional images from the first day of OSH12 without a lot of explanation... mostly they'll just show you that if you aren't at OSH12, you should be. I know it's often difficult to make the trip to Wisconsin work out from both a time and money point of view, but if you can only do one aviation event a year, this is the one to get to!

A great view of people and airplanes... that's what Oshkosh is all about!

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OSH12 Sunday 7-22: Collings A-36 Apache Arrives (CoolPix)

(click pic for hi-res)  The beautiful Collings Foundation's A-36 Apache arriving at OSH12

 In recent years I pushed as hard as possible to put up a large number of images from each day at Oshkosh but there just isn't enough of me to go around these days - so for now I plan to scale back the OSH posts, sometimes giving you just one big pic that's definitely worth seeing. I think this CoolPix of the Collings Foundation's recently completed North American A-36 Apache is one worth seeing! 

 The A-36 is a lot like the early P-51's in that it has the razorback multi-panel canopy and higher aft fuselage behind the cockpit, as well as having the Allison engine, but it differed in a variety of ways, mostly by having dive brakes built into the wings. 500 of them were built but only three remain, with two them now airworthy. This A-36 is in nearly perfect condition after the restoration... it's was amazing seeing (and hearing) it taxi in after arriving today. I'll have more pix and info on this aircraft before long.

 And just so you know, I'm capturing a huge number of images each day, but it's just too time consuming to be able to get very many posted at the end of the day.

OSH12 Will Be The Best Oshkosh Ever!

(click pic for hi-res)  The amazing collection of Cubs that'll arrive at OSH on Sunday

 It's the time of the year once again for me to remind you that Oshkosh 2012 will be the best Oshkosh ever simply because it's the one we can live right now. Every other Oshkosh is only a memory, but the one that starts on Monday will be a living, breathing aviation extravaganza! And the humble little Piper Cub will play a very real part in making this OSH a fabulous experience. That's why I've posted this CoolPix image of the rather massive collection of Cubs at the Hartford Wisconsin airport from this afternoon... and most of these Cubs will be making the 50 mile trip to Oshkosh early Sunday morning for the mass arrival as part of the special 75th anniversary celebration of the Cub.

 I hope you're here to experience all that Oshkosh has to offer for 2012, but if for some reason you aren't able to get here this year, no worries: I hear the Oshkosh next year will be the best one ever!

Lots Of Cub Yellow At Hartford Wisconsin For 'Cubs 2 OSH'

The classic lines of the 'perfect Piper Cub' at Hartford, WI for the Cubs 2 OSH gathering

(7 pix)

 I finally got all of the jagged little pieces of my life to fit together and left northern Indiana for Oshkosh 2012 this morning. But the plan this year was to stop off in Hartford Wisconsin on the way and take in some of the Cubs 2 OSH gathering. Piper Cubs from all across the country are coming together to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the airplane that's all about low and slow flying with the door open. And then Sunday, 75 of them will join together for a mass arrival at Oshkosh.

 So here's a nice little collection of pictures showing some Cubs doing what they do best on a perfectly beautiful day in southern Wisconsin. Hopefully the great weather continues and we'll see the 45 to 50 Cubs already on-site swell significantly on Saturday.

 Lastly, I wanna say that the Hartford Wisconsin airport is awesome! It's humble, has both a hard surface and grass runways, and is full of people who love to fly... you know, the way airports used to be.

Beautiful taildraggin' Cubs line up on the dry grass that's pretty much Cub Yellow too!

From back in the day when airplanes sat on their tail and were painted with COLOR!

A Cub on takeoff with a passenger in the back enjoying the ride... Cub = smiles

The versatility of the Cub style door is just hard to beat for fun flying perfection

Not all Cubs are yellow! This beautiful Clipped Wing Cub has 90hp and a pressure cowl

Another Cub arriving... this was later in the evening on a truly perfect weather day

Free Bacon! #OSH12 AirPigz Bacon Parties At #CampBacon

AirPigz Bacon Parties on Wed 7-25 & Sat 7-28 (6-8pm) at #CampBacon (map) OSH12!

 I sure hope you can stop by to chew the fat and talk airplanes at CampBacon in the EAA's Camp Scholler at Oshkosh 2012... it's the official AirPigz Bacon Parties - one on Wednesday 7-25 and the second one on Saturday 7-28, with both running from 6pm until 8pm.

 It's also where any winners of the Caption Contest or Name The Plane game need to come to consume their bacon sandwich prize for stellar avgeek performance. 

 Check out this map of the campground to see exactly where CampBacon is located, and then get yourself over there either Wednesday in the middle of the event or Saturday near the end between 6pm and 8pm to say hi and chew some fat : )

CoolPix (Poll): Life's A Beach... And Then You Fly!! Blue Angels 2Fer

The world right-side-up: Blue Angels at Pensacola Beach Airshow (photo: facebook)

(click each pic for hi-res CoolPix version)

 This amazing picture was posted Monday on the Blue Angels facebook page - and of course you should go hit the like button there right now if you haven't already! Then today they made it the cover pic for the facebook page. However, they have the pic as it was taken, which is actually flipped from the way I have it posted above.

 I decided it should definitely be a CoolPix image, so I also tightened it up quite a bit to make it 'pop' a lot more, and then just for fun I flipped it from the way it was originally taken. Wow, for me it just came alive when flipped! But you might disagree... so I figured I should have a poll to see if more people wanna see this pic made available in a variety of desktop sizes with the world right-side-up as I have it above or with the world up-side-down as seen below. The first one to get to 100 votes will be made into the desktop pix for anyone needing another stellar Blue Angels image for their computer. Please vote now!

The world up-side-down: Blue Angels at Pensacola Beach Airshow (photo: facebook)

Video: FlyingMachinesTV - RIAT 2012 in Super SlowMo!

 I just finished two weeks of intense and nearly non-stop work in two of my other lives... one as a ceramic tile installer and the other doing graphic design/magazine layout. I feel like I've been run over by a truck. But I'm happy to say that this super slo-mo video captured at the 2012 Royal International Air Tattoo by FlyingMachinesTV was remarkably calming and satisfying. I'm feeling a little better already.

 I love to watch props and rotors turn in slow motion, and I really enjoy seeing smoke from display aircraft in flight as it traces the track of the air around them.  And my favorite moment is the view of the Lancaster. That was enough to make my whole day : )

Video screenshot of the Lancaster bomber captured in super slo-mo at RIAT 2012