CoolPix: OSH12 - Super Corsair Pointed At The World's Busiest Tower

(click pic for hi-res) A great pic of a great airplane at a great place! Super Corsair at OSH12

 
 AirPigz is still running in 'safe mode' after my primary computer (laptop) got rained on at Oshkosh last Thursday. It's still currently reduced to being not much more than a really big paperweight. I thought I had it worked out for a new one to be here today, but I hit another snag... hopefully by Monday I'll have a solution.

 To make my work easier today (because I'm also buried in 'everyday' work this week) I decided I'd put up a CoolPix from OSH12 instead of the string of pix I wanted to get up from Thursday there. I think this pic of a Super Corsair racer pointed toward the 'world's busiest control tower' makes a pretty nice substitute! Be sure to click the pic for the hi-res version.

 I was just walking by when I looked over and saw this view of the Oshkosh control tower and the Super Corsair in the relatively early morning sun. The combo of having this amazing airplane, the interesting angle, the great sunlight and the tower in the background makes a great Oshkosh image to enjoy. When time and energy allow I'll try to format this pic for desktop use... but for now you'll just have to enjoy it as a basic CoolPix : )

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

Click to read more ...

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!

Click to read more ...

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

Goodyear Blimp Coming To OSH12 (With Retro OSH71 Blimp Pic)

(click pic to enlarge) Goodyear Blimp & N8407 Ford Tri-Motor (now EAA's) at Oshkosh 1971

 The Goodyear blimp will be coming to Oshkosh 2012 and that makes me very happy! I think having an airship overhead while living the avgeek life at the greatest place on Earth is both calming and exciting.  The Zeppelin NT was awesome last year and the Goodyear Blimp will be fabulous this year. Looks like it's scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, July 25th and then will be departing Saturday, July 28th.

 I did a little digging thru the AirPigz family photo album and found this nifty pic of the Goodyear Blimp 'America' from way back at the second Oshkosh in 1971. The annual EAA fly-in and convention was held at Rockford Illinois before making the move to Oshkosh in 1970. I was fortunate to make the last Rockford in 69 as an 8 year old. Then I caught the first Oshkosh in 1970, and every one after that until I finally missed one in the early 90's. This year is something like my 35th Oshkosh experience... and I can hardly wait for it to start!

 Another interesting part of that pic above is the Ford Tri-Motor... it's N8407, the 4-AT (slightly smaller than the 5-AT) that wound up being blown over in a wind storm a couple years later. It's the one that the EAA rebuilt and has at Oshkosh every year. Pretty cool seeing it way back in the day here. It's especially cool for me because my dad and I got to know Chuck LeMaster really well about a year later. Chuck flew this Tri-Motor at Oshkosh and let me take the control wheel that year when I went for the co-pilot ride! A few years later I had the amazing opportunity to travel with Chuck and his crew several times in the 5-AT N414H that he operated in the ride business thru the mid 70's. And I got to do even more of the same with them when he operated N7501V, one of only two Bushmaster 2000's built.

 So I think an old 1971 pic of N8407 and the Goodyear Blimp is a perfect way to keep our eyes on July 23rd and the start of Oshkosh 2012!

CoolPix - Air Racer: 3 Blade Rare Bear At The Phoenix 500 In 1995! (+ Video)

(click pic for hi-res) John Penney in the 3 Blade Rare Bear at the 1995 Phoenix 500

 Race permit & insurance in place... tickets are on sale now for Reno 2012: Sept. 12-16

 If there was one event I could make you go to this year it would be the Reno Air Races. And while this CoolPix is actually an old film image of Rare Bear I captured at the 1995 Phoenix 500 air race, I've posted it now to point to the fascinating race history an airplane like Rare Bear has. At Reno this year there will be a mix of aircraft that have years and years of race experience along with some airplanes (and pilots) that are experiencing air racing for their first time ever. But interestingly, the most important thing to be at Reno in 2012 will be the fans. Without the fans supporting Reno style air racing in a big way this year, it'll run the risk of simply going away. Given the challenges the event has faced since last year's tragedy, the support that comes from fans buying tickets and participating in the local Reno economy are more important than they have ever been.

 Please, go to the official Reno Air Races website, airrace.org, and buy some tickets to support the event... even if you won't be able to attend (better yet, buy some tickets and show up!) - take my word for it that this sport both needs your help and is worthy of your support!

 As for the pic of the awesome Grumman F8F Bearcat named Rare Bear above from the second and last attempt at having air racing in Phoenix (back in 1995), I must say that the 3 blade prop was the most awesome propeller I think I've ever seen on an airplane. Massive blades snagged from a P-3 Orion, modified and mounted in a 3 blade hub, this polished prop also put out a fabulous sound. I wish the airplane was still spinning just 3 blades, but for detailed reasons I don't know, they switched back to 4 blades in 2004. Regardless of the number of blades tho, I'm still a Rare Bear fan at heart and I'll be hoping that this is the year that Strega might finally see a serious round engine challenge for the big trophy!

 Mostly tho, I want you you and me both to be there to show our support for the fastest motorsport in the world!

Desktop Downloads: Rare Bear at the Phoenix 500 in 1995

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3 blade Rare Bear at Reno in 2003 - wow! (youtube video from metalmelvin)

CoolPix 2Fer: Dave Folk's F4U-5 Corsair At The 2012 Indy Air Show

(click pic for hi-res) Dave Folk's awesome F4U-5 Corsair in the sunshine at Indy

(6 donations received so far - thank you, I really appreciate it)

I'm without a long lens of any kind for my awesome Canon T3i camera so I'm having to think up-close and personal this time around at the Indy Air Show. This might be a good time to mention how much I could really use YOUR support. Please don't be fooled by a good looking website that just keeps cranking out high-quality content... I promise you I am one of the poorest people you know! I continue to struggle so much financially that I slept in the car last night - not because I wanted to save some money, but because I didn't have the extra $60 for a hotel room. And I do work a day job, but climbing out of the massive hole in my life that 2008/2009 created has been extremely tough. So if you like what I do thru AirPigz.com, and you've been blessed financially, please consider making a donation (any size) via the PayPal 'donate' button above and to the left. I don't usually ask for support, and I don't usually get it. Now I'm asking.

 So, with me having to think up-close, I decided that the incredibly beautiful F4U-5 Corsair brought to Indy by Dave Folk would be an excellent subject for some nice tight images, kinda like what I did with Glacier Girl a while back: P-38 Glacier Girl - Up Close & Personal... Real Close! (23 Pix) - so I spent about an hour early today getting about 50 images of the Corsair, and I was gonna get a handful of them posted now, but there were so many good ones that there just isn't enough time to get all that prepped up. So I'm taking the easy way out and just giving you two images, in the CoolPix super size, to give you an idea of what to expect before long when I get 25 or 30 images strung together for you to enjoy.

 The first image above is the whole airplane so you can see what an F4U-5 Corsair looks like, if for some interesting reason you don't already know. And then the second image below begins the journey into looking at the Corsair more closely, and with a slightly skewed perspective. The beautiful sky and sunshine make these pix all the nicer... be sure to click them to open up the biggie size. And then keep an eye out in the next week for a big string of fabulous Corsair images to appear. I can hardly wait!

(click pic for hi-res)  Big prop, big sky: F4U-5 Corsair at the 2012 Indy Air Show

Video: The Arizona Desert, A B-17, And A B-25 - Wow!

 Seeing the B-17 Sentimental Journey and the B-25 Maid in the Shade flying around the Arizona desert doesn't exactly make sense to me, but this video is so enjoyable to watch that it doesn't need to make sense. It's actually some fabulous footage taken from a helicopter of the airplanes flying during a weekend event in conjunction with Veterans Day back in 2010. And of course, the setting for historic warbirds like these never really matters, they are simply awesome to see when in the air... especially when they are being used to honor those who have served the United States Armed Forces.

 This video also convinces me that airplanes were meant to have propellers! Wow, do I ever love to see spinning discs with the sun shining on them. Can we agree on this right now? From this day forward all airplanes that have an engine MUST have a nice big prop! Ok, we could never make that work, but wow, I love me some big props : )

Screenshot: the awesome and beautiful B-17 Sentimental Journey on takeoff

Screenshot: the almost as beautiful B-25 Maid in the Shade (if only it was a taildragger!)