Pitts Special: 70 Year Celebration At Oshkosh 2015!

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Oshkosh 2015: July 20-26
 

 It's no surprise that mixing a large gathering of the iconic Pitts Special, at Oshkosh, along with a fabulous retro graphic to promote it all is exactly the kind of hard-hitting triple play it takes to snap this Pig out of his hibernation. I'm back (at least at some level) to talk airplane-airplanes-airplanes.

 Wow, over 70 examples of one of the greatest airplanes ever made, the revolutionary aerobatic biplane from the late great Curtis Pitts, his incredible little Pitts Special. First flown by Curtis himself in 1945, the Pitts Special is arguably the most important aerobatic aircraft the world has ever seen.

 The IAC will be celebrating with the 70th Anniversary Pitts Exhibit at the IAC Pavilion. There will also be a wide range of Pitts forums to expand the minds of anyone interested in building, buying, flying or maintaining this amazing aircraft. 

 You can be sure I'll be spending quite a bit of time breathing in the Pitts exhibition at OSH... my avgeek heart was forever changed after spending 45 minutes with Billy Werth in his Pitts S2C doing aerobatics, followed by an hour of takeoffs and landings in the 260hp two-holer. It was the absolute most perfect flying experience of my life! This 70th celebration will certainly fuel my Pitts dreams for a long time to come!

 Please Note: I plan to be at OSH all week, but I will NOT be running CampBacon. It's a long story and I won't go into any details, but if there's a Camp Bacon at OSH this year, you won't find me there, and I won't be doing any bacon parties. I will however, be somewhere in the campground.

Reno Qualifying Crash Claims The Life Of Lee Behel In The GP-5

Highly experienced pilot and racer Lee Behel in the one-of-kind GP-5 at Reno 2012

Statement From The National Championship Air Races:

 Reno, Nev. – At approximately 3:30 p.m. today, Sport Class pilot Lee Behel, 64, from San Jose, Calif. was involved in a fatal accident during a qualifying heat of the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport. Behel was flying a GP-5, “Sweet Dreams.” This was single-plane incident and no other pilots or spectators were injured.

 In addition to being one of the founders of the Sport Class and its current president, Behel was a retired Air Force fighter pilot and a loving father. Behel was a former Sport Class champion and longtime Air Race pilot.

 “Lee was a very talented pilot but, more importantly, an enthusiastic and compassionate friend and the entire Air Race family will miss him deeply,” said Mike Major, chairman of the Reno Air Racing Association. “This is a difficult day for all of us and our thoughts and prayers are with Lee’s family and friends.”

 At this time, the Reno Air Racing Association will not speculate on the cause of the accident, which is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). As is standard procedure, we will evaluate all race planes prior to returning to the race course.

 Qualifying for the 51^st annual National Championship Air Races will resume, as scheduled, at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9 and the event officially opens to the public on Wednesday, Sept. 10. A tribute for Behel is currently being planned and will take place later this week. More details will be provided as they become available. Please visit www.airrace.org for more information.

Epic Video: Aaron Knight's Denali Adventure... Via Sonex (Heaven On Earth)

 I could try to say something of value to add to this incredible video... but I don't see that making your experience with it any better. I do suggest selecting HD, going full screen, and don't question anything. Just watch, listen, and see another vivid example of why we fly.

 Here's Aaron's video description from youtube:

My July 2014 Sonex trip to the Yukon Rockies & Denali Alaska. 14.5 hours of HD handheld & wingcam video condensed down to 5.5 minutes of Epic Insanity & a perfect film score. 7000+ miles, 80+ hours, in only 8 days!

Psalm 36:5-6 - Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.

aaronknight.com/sonex

Video screenshot: wow.

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Warsaw Indiana Rocks A Great Little Airshow! (Plus Hot Air Balloon CoolPix)

(click pic for hi-res)  Friday night at the Warsaw Indiana Airshow  (photo: Andy Kerr)

 This post is really all about having the chance to share the awesome photo above captured in my hometown by local photgrapher Andy Kerr during last weekend's Warsaw Airshow. This was the second year for an airshow at the Warsaw Airport (ASW) and even more than last year's kind-of-a-surprise success, this event was awesome with great attendance! Congratulations to the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors that made it all happen. (note: I wasn't involved in any way other than to participate) - I did however help my son-in-law with the hot air balloon tethered rides on Friday evening and the Saturday morning launch. His balloon is the one in the air in the pic above, tethered late evening rides!

(click pic to enlarge) The C-54 Candy Bomber flew several times and was open to tour

 I've been living in Warsaw Indiana for almost 20 years now... it's a nice, small city of about 14,000 that has a good sized airport due in part to the city being the Orthopedic Capital with major players in the industry headquartered here. While the Warsaw Airport doesn't usually show a fun side, this Friday evening and all day Saturday it was pure passion and sport aviation central! I'm thrilled to see that this is possible right here in my backyard : )

(click pic to enlarge) Great weather Friday, and nice Saturday for airplanes & people

 The big features this year were the C-54 (DC-4) Candy Bomber from Berlin Airlift Histrorical Foundation, plus Dave Folk's F-4U Corsair,  along with a T-33, several T-6's, and a variety of other aircraft on display. The airshow included all the big aircraft mentioned plus a Pitts, a Chipmunk, and a Super Stearman, as well as some fun runway races between cars and airplanes, and a motorcycle racing the Chipmunk as well as doing a wingtip handshake with it! There were also lots and lots of airplane rides sold both days in Waldo Wright's New Standard 4-pax biplane, along with helicopter rides, hot air balloon rides and some local 172 rides. I was very pleased to see how much business they were all doing! Great food and both live and recorded music gave it all a nice festival atmosphere too. 

(click pic to enlarge) 4 passengers at at a time! 1931 New Standard biplane 

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Video: The 'SLICK' Look At Oshkosh 2014 (Must See!)

 SLICK (Wesley Perkins) has crunched down the footage and his OSH14 video hit the streets (of youtube) over the weekend! This year's version is more of what we've come to expect in the way of a great video that captures the incredible aviation diversity that is Oshkosh, the world's greatest aviation event.

 With such strong attendance this year in both people and aircraft, there's no reason to think that OSH won't remain king of the hill for a long time to come. The reality tho is that Oshkosh isn't about being a mega event, it's really all about people with a passionate love for flying (and building, re-building, or restoring) airplanes of every imaginable kind. It's grass roots. It's down to earth. It's real. If for some reason this isn't the Oshkosh you know, may I suggest that you're doing it wrong. I've experienced 36 or 37 Oshkosh weeks since I was just 9 years old in 1970, and I love my time there every bit as much today as I ever have. 

 Thanx SLICK for another fabulous video reminder of how great Oshkosh Is!

(I've no idea what this A********e thingy is... I've never been to one of those and I never will. To understand what I mean, read reason #1 under 'WHY IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN'  : )

other Slick OSH videos:
OSH13
OSH11
 OSH10 

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OSH14: Wednesday July 30 - It's A Wonderful Life! (QED CoolPix)

(click pic for hi-res)  The big and beautiful beast... Gee Bee QED replica!

 After a busy but perfect day of sunshine and very comfortable temperatures followed by an evening with a very successful Bacon Party (about 60 people attending, including the guys from glass.aero) and then some quality #CampBacon time around the fire pit with s'mores, I only have enough energy left to post one wonderful CoolPix.

 I hope you enjoy this great pic of the Gee Bee QED on takeoff for its flight demo today.

 This is Oshkosh!

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OSH14: Tuesday July 29 - Another Big Day (CoolPix Triple Play)

(click pic for hi-res)  The very tall (and very awesome) Just Aircraft Super STOL

 Tuesday at OSH14 was a lot like this big and bold Super STOL from Just Aircraft... but then everyday at Oshkosh is like that. So much to see and do, it's not even close to possible to take it all in. You simply have to pick the things you want to learn, or see, or experience hands-on and then chase the day.

 With it being difficult to keep up with everything I have decided to only post a CoolPix triple play here, and not a lot of words. I strongly suggest you check out what the Super STOL has to offer and then please enjoy these really wide angle hi-res pix by clicking on them.

 I like unusual airplanes. I like extreme airplanes. I like taildraggers. I really like the Super STOL!

(more tomorrow from the world's greatest aviation event!)

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OSH14: Monday July 28 - Day One Starts Big And Beautiful! (10 Pix)

The amazing Gee Bee QED replica taxiing in from its OSH14 arrival this morning

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 It was a great opening day at OSH14... the weather was very nice and there were airplanes and people all over the place. I made a couple runs thru much of the grounds and found lots of interesting to take pictures of. The following are some of those pix with simple captions captions. I hope you enjoy!

Rich Alldredge: QED pilot and project leader (after the passing of originator Jim Moss)

A very unique view of a very unique airplane!

As you can see, the Gee Bee QED is a really big airplane!

The cockpit of the big Gee Bee beast

Cessna 170's and other classics in the Vintage parking/camping

The one-week-wonder Zenith project begins on day number 1

A busy build team and lots of observers of the Zenith CH750 quick build project

I'll try to post some updated pix of the project each day

It was my first chance to see a V-22 Osprey fly... I was impressed!

More pix and a little info tomorrow.

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OSH14 Will Be The Best Oshkosh Ever!

Owner/pilot John Magoffin opens the hatch on the only flying Lockheed Vega
 

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 It's time once again to make the simple but bold statement that OSH14 will be the best of Oshkosh ever... because the best Oshkosh is the one you are at RIGHT NOW! And with the annual fly-in and convention ready to start tomorrow morning, thousands of people just like me are here and ready to make it all happen. This is something like my 36th Oshkosh, and while I have a huge amount of awesome memories from over all those years, being at OSH in the here and now is always the best ever. I love this place : )

 I arrived Saturday afternoon, shortly after I had the huge pleasure of stopping by Hartford Wisconsin to finally get a BFR and become a 'current' pilot after an 18 year dry spell! I had a perfect time with Steve Krog (Cub Air Flight) and an 85hp Piper Cub (N70186) and it honestly felt like I picked up exactly where I left off. Back in the day I got a lot of hours in a clipped wing Cub, but yesterday's time was my first ever flying a full span Cub. It was a piece of cake and a pure joy... sure feels good to finally be back!

 Anyway, OSH14 is about to begin, so I made a quick run out thru the display area early today and found two wonderful airplanes to bring to your attention. The first is the recently completed Lockheed Vega owned and flown by John Magoffin. The Vega is parked out front of the Vintage Hangar and it's sure to attract a lot of attention this week. It looked wonderful in the sunshine getting a little tlc to make it look spotless for tomorrow's start. This Vega is the only one currently airworthy, and it's also notable for being the last one built, and one of only nine that were built with an aluminum fuselage, rather than the wood fuselage that the first 123 of them had. I hope to have a lot more info on this fabulous airplane to share before long.

The speedy and very red Nexus Alar, designed and built by Richard Eaves from Canada

 The other fascinating airplane I ran across in my quick trip thru the display area is the one-of-a-kind 'Nexus Alar' designed and built by Richard Eaves from London Ontario Canada. Wow, what a pretty and sleek airplane! Fast too... 200 mph on 180 hp. Richard named the airplane as he did because Nexus means 'a connected group or series' and Alar means 'to have wings'.

The gorgeous Nexus Alar, with Richard Eaves in the large hat answering questions
 

 Richard built 14 airplanes before the Nexus Alar, his first was a Baby Ace in 1960, and believe it or not, he started this airplane when he was 80 years old! He built it in just three years with the first flight in 2013. Richard is 84 now and a true delight to visit with... and his workmanship is excellent. This man is such an example of what the Spirit of Aviation is all about.

Nexus: a connected group or series... Alar: to have wings

 So I hope you're here or plan to be here for some of OSH14. If you aren't, then I highly recommend you start right now making plans to include Oshkosh next year in your summer plans. For one week out of the year, this is the absolute best place on Earth!
 

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Oshkosh 2014 And The AirPigz Bacon Parties! (Hog Heaven : )

AirPigz OSH14 Bacon Parties:
Wednesday (7-30) and Thursday (7-31) from 6pm to 8pm

#CampBacon location map (pdf)

 Oshkosh 2014 is almost here! That means the widest variety of airplanes, the coolest collection of aviators, and of course... a side order of bacon! The Bacon Parties are on different days this year so take note that you can swing by CampBacon between 6pm and 8pm on either Wednesday or Thursday this year (link to location map above) to chew some free crunch pig AND talk airplanes. And hey, you can definitely talk with your mouth full at CampBacon : )

B-25 Lady Luck at OSH11

 I'm bringing a full size household oven this year to cook the bacon, and I'm expecting this will increase my output significantly, so please spread the word about free bacon from AirPigz at CampBacon. Attendance has been growing the last few years, and I'd love to see 75 or 100 people at each party, so be sure to tell your friends.

Beautiful Wittman Tailwind from OSH13

 Download the CampBacon location map and then mark your schedule for either Wednesday evening or Thursday evening (or both) from 6pm until 8pm for great airplane chat and free bacon. And thanx for being part of the crazy AirPigz world!

North American FJ-4B at OSH13