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

click any pic to enlarge

 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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My First Landing At Oshkosh Was In A Citabria In 1974... At Age 13 (8 Pix)

Here was the Oshkosh 74 campsite with the Citabria in the North 40

3-seat Citabria?

 With OSH14 being just weeks away now, I got to thinking about the first time I made a landing at Oshkosh. I guess I dream about the past since once again I won't be flying into Oshkosh... it'll all be ground-bound again this time around. Nothing wrong with driving in, but of course it's always better to be able to fly in. While things are indeed better for me now than most of the last 5 years, I still seem to have crazy strong headwinds in my life. No matter what direction I go, strong winds are on my nose. It gets tiring, the fuel burn is high, and the ground covered is greatly reduced. Oh well, this is my life.

 Back to that first OSH landing. It was Oshkosh 1974, I was just 13 years old, and I made a nice wheel landing on runway 27. If I remember correctly there was a little light rain at the time, and I know the tail was riding just a little lower than on most of my wheel landings. More on that in a minute. I was in the front seat of our still-smells-new 7KCAB Citabria, which we had picked up at the Bellanca factory in northwest Wisconsin earlier in the year. My dad had taught me early on to fly the Citabria out of the Elgin Illinois airport. The north/south runway there was very narrow and there always seemed to be a crosswind. And I learned in the winter. It was a perfect place to learn to fly a taildragger! By Oshkosh time, still 13, I was quite proficient with the airplane and felt comfortable flying it in various conditions.

 This trip to Oshkosh was a bit unusual. My dad was in the back seat for our flight from Elgin to Oshkosh, which was about an hour and a half long. But today, he was really in the middle seat. My dad had a habit of bending rules whenever it suited him, and for this trip, our Citabria was a 3-seater. My sorta girlfriend/neighbor Cindy, who was also 13, was riding in the baggage compartment along with a small tent and some basic Oshkosh supplies. I think we were still within the CG limits since she was probably only about 80 pounds, but I'm guessing the lack of a seat and seatbelt made this trip a little on the outside of the FAR's.

 Me at 13 with my sorta girlfriend/neighbor (Cindy) in the donut tent at Oshkosh 1974

 Since we had left Elgin with quite a bit of fuel onboard, and with Cindy in the baggage compartment, the airplane definitely was heavier on the tail. If I had been really thinking I would have added 5 mph to the approach speed to compensate, but I didn't. No worries tho, the tail was just a little low as I squeaked the mains on the nice big and very wide runway 27 at Oshkosh.

 I should probably mention that the view from the baggage area in a Citabria is fantastic. The large rear windows extend all the way to the back so Cindy had a great view for the ride. However, the trip back home a few days later was pretty bumpy and she wound up tossing her cookies. It wasn't a big mess tho and we continued on with her feeling better after the upchucking. She was a great friend back in those days and a real trooper for being willing to sit in the back seat of our 3-seat Citabria!

 Below are more pix I found from that Oshkosh 74 trip. There's some pretty cool stuff to see. And of course by now you should now that OSH14 will be the best Oshkosh ever... because the best Oshkosh ever is the one you are at right now! (previous best OSH ever posts: OSH09 / OSH10 / OSH11 / OSH12 / OSH13)

Oshkosh 1974 the day we arrived when I made my first landing at Wittman Field

First year for the War Aircraft Replicas (W.A.R.) and the VW powered FW190

Click to read more ...

Video: Fascinating Historical Account Of The 1965 Reno Air Races (Progress In The Air)

 This recently uploaded gem of a video is an old-school professionally produced film that chronicled the wide variety of aviation related activities taking place during the 1965 Reno Air Races. It's 21 minutes long but very well worth your time if you have any interest in the era that defined so much of what modern aviation is all about today.

A young Bob Hoover talks about how the 23 year old P-51 design still flies beautifully

 National air racing had just returned the year before in 1964 when the first Reno Air Races took place at the Sky Ranch airport just north of Sparks Nevada. Bill Stead was the driving force behind the rebirth of national air racing and it's great to see him in this video.

 Lots of dirt and a short runway were pretty much all they had, but the event included aerobatics, parachuting, hot air ballooning, the US Air Force Thunderbirds in the F-100D Super Sabre, and of course various classes of air racing. Those first two years of the Reno Air Races were an amazing celebration of a love for flight no matter the machine used to accomplish it.

Before the Red Devils, before the Eagles Aerobatic Team... a young Charlie Hillard

 I was fortunate as a young kid to experience Reno from 1967 thru 1970, and much of what is seen at the Sky Ranch in this video reminds me of the early years at Stead Airfield. It's interesting to note several things about the Stead name as it relates to these early Reno years. Bill Stead, a late 1950's world speed boat champion, pulled the first two events together after retiring from boats and moving on to racing airplanes. The location for these first two years was the Sky Ranch, but the airport was barely up to the task of handling the larger aircraft. Tragically, Bill Stead was killed a short time later in 1966 in a Florida crash of his midget racer in preparation for the St Petersburg races. The airplane was the newly acquired Deer Fly racer that had been the winner in the 1965 races at Sky ranch, as seen in the video.

A fascinating look at the early days of the modern hot air balloon movement

 For 1966, the National Air Races moved from Sky Ranch to what had been Stead Air Force base, named in honor of Bill Stead's brother Croston Stead who had been killed in a P-51 training accident at the base in 1951. When the base was deactivated in 1966 and turned over to the city of Reno, it was renamed Stead Airfield. Today it's known as Reno Stead Airport. The excellent facilities of Reno Stead have served the races well for nearly all of the 50 year history of the modern National Championship Air Races, known simply as the Reno Air Races... and the memory of two Reno brothers lives on.

Mira Slovak trying to win again, but Darryl Greenamyer started his win streak instead

This is definitely a must see video if you're interested in sport aviation history!

The Thunderbirds after replacing the short run F-105's with the F-100D Super Sabre

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Start Your Week With A Perfect Avgeek Video: Kyle Franklin & Skip Stewart (Must See!)

SkipStewartAirshows.com

FranklinAirshow.com 

 Once in a while a perfect mix of airplanes, pilots and filmaking all come together to achieve as close to perfection as we'll ever get. This video from the MikeL vimeo page is a pixelworkers production that pushes avgeek videos to the highest level. I'm not usually a fan of music mixed with airplanes in videos, but here it's done to great benefit. And the communication value of the details in this video are off the scale. #perfection

Video screenshot: Kyle Franklin being chased by Skip Stewart!

 You might have noticed that MikeL is also where the recent video of Skip flying UNDER a jumping motorcycle came from. This video work is simply as good as it gets. And high-fives to Skip Stewart and Kyle Franklin for being world-class airshow entertainers!

Video screenshot: perfect view of Skip Stewart and Kyle Franklin in formation

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Video: Sean Tucker And The Extreme Machine!

 I listened to Sean Tucker talk at an event in the Theater in the Woods at Oshkosh last year and I went from being a guy impressed with Sean's flying to being a guy impressed with Sean as a person.

 This short but extremely well done video on vimeo shows why you should be impressed with his flying... and if you haven't already, hopefully you'll get to hear him talk or even have a chat with him yourself someday to see what an interesting man he really is.

 And he gets extra points from me since his extreme machine has two wings. Enjoy!

Sean Tucker pushing it hard and lovin' every minute of it

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CoolPix: The Beauty Of Biplanes - Antique Airfield 2013 (+Desktop Pix)

(click pic for hi-res) Meyers OTW with a Stearman in the background at Antique Airfield

 Today is the first full day of the new AirPigz! The fine people at Oregon Aero have partnered up with me to give me the opportunity to make AirPigz sizzle once again... more on all that later, but right now I hope you'll check out their website (or the catalog download to the upper left below the AirPigz logo) and get to know the products and services they offer. You should also note the 10% discount coupon in the right column! I'm hoping you'll do business with Oregon Aero which will in turn keep AirPigz in the revenue-generating world : )

 The CoolPix image above is another from the 2013 Antique Airplane Association invitational fly-in in Blakesburg Iowa last year. The fabulous Ryan SCW CoolPix from the other day was from the same event. I think you can see that Antique Airfield is an amazing place to experience the beauty and majesty of the golden age of aviation. I'm just now realizing that I have several awesome images from the event that I should be sharing with you, so now I am!

 The Meyers OTW (Out To Win) in the foreground looks classic and timeless, but if you're not familiar with the airplane you might be surprised to note that the fuselage is actually aluminum instead of tube and fabric like most biplanes from the 1930's. When you click the pic to enlarge it (or download a desktop size below) you'll really be able to see the rivets. And of course the yellow Stearman in the background is a true icon of the era.

 I hope you enjoy the free desktop pix and the new 'sponsored' look of AirPigz.com!
 

Biplanes at Antique Airfield 2013:

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CoolPix: Ryan SCW At Antique Airfield 2013 (Perfection!)

(click pic for hi-res)  The incredibly beautiful Ryan SCW owned by Russell Williams

 AirPigz is indeed back! I probably won't be posting everyday but you can expect several posts each week. You'll also soon see an update to the look with an exclusive sponsor of AirPigz... it's all pretty exciting stuff : )

 One thing I'd really like to ask of you all... if you like what you see here, if a post specifically connects with you or you thinks it's worthy of sharing with your avgeek friends, then please use the 'email article' feature at the bottom of the post. Or, if you see the link to the post on facebook or twitter, please share it with your followers. The time is right for AirPigz to increase its reach, but that happens most effectively when you let others know about what's going on here. Your help this way would be greatly appreciated!

 The CoolPix here today is of the Ryan SCW owned and flown by Russell Williams from the Seattle area. I had first seen his SCW at the Antique Airplane Association fly-in at Antique Airfield in 2012. It was one of the first airplanes I saw when I arrived onsite, which was the first time I'd been to an AAA fly-in since I was a kid over 40 years ago. But I have been a fan of the relatively rare SCW since I was very young... that long tapered wing is easy to fall in love with! I included some pix of Russell's in that first post about the 2012 event and then later in the year when we connected via facebook, Russell saw that I had an interest in his glistening beauty and offered a ride at the 2013 event. (more AirPigz SCW posts here and here)

 The pic above is from the day I got my ride at Antique Airfield in 2013. What a perfect day and such a wondeful airplane to experience. Russell let me fly it about 10 minutes over the beautiful Iowa contryside on our evening flight... it was everything I had hoped it would be. Thanks Russell! I look forward to seeing you and the SCW at Antique Airfield again : )

AirPigz, Clipped Wing Cubs, And A Phoenix Rising

 After an extended break from daily posting, there's a good chance that I'll be back at it on some sort of regular schedule soon. It's interesting that while in hibernation an opportunity has come along that might be the catalyst for AirPigz to rise up like a Phoenix. So if you've been a fan of AirPigz in the past, keep your fingers crossed that the pieces fit and regularly scheduled avgeekery can begin once again.

 To celebrate I figured it would be appropriate to share this video I found the other day of the exact Clipped Wing Cub that I used to fly when I was a teen. It's the same airplane in the pic I posted when I announced the AirPigz Fequency Change. The short and random video is from a couple years ago, and shows the airplane looking far better than it did when I was flying it back in the early 80's.

 There aren't many flying machines cuter than a Cub with wings that look no longer than the airplane is long (tho they are really still 6 feet longer than the length)

 If things continue to improve in my financial world, there's gonna be an authentic CWC or a homebuilt version with my name on it either this year or next. Money talks... and in my world, money likes to talk about Clipped Wings Cubs!

AirPigz Flight 99, Frequency Change Approved - Good Day

The 19 year old me in 1980 (with hair) in my happy-happy-happy place

 Here's the deal: I've put up over 1,300 posts in a little over five years here at AirPigz but I've generated very little revenue for all that work... I'm tired. Very tired. I started this might-make-a-poor-living project while I was as close to bankruptcy as you can get, but fought to avoid that end. The fight was successful, but as previously stated, I'm tired. Very tired. And as it turns out, I can't seem to turn my work here into even a poor living. Fortunately my work as a ceramic tile installer has recovered somewhat after falling off the cliff in 2008, but that work is very labor intensive and it makes me tired. Very tired.

 So I requested a frequency change from the controller (me) and it was approved. I'm not talking radio frequency, I mean posting frequency. In an effort to keep the pig alive, I'm going to change the format to me posting when I have the time, energy, and something very compelling to share. My rather strong 50,000 page views and 35,000 unique visitors each month may drop off wildly, but my push for traffic has always been in the hope that I could use that traffic to generate revenue. Since I have never found a way for that to work out, what does it matter if the traffic drops off.

 Did I mention that I'm tired? Very tired.

 My financial situation has improved significantly in the last five months, but it's all relative. My attempt to get a loan last week for a measly $5K to buy a beautiful Culver Cadet restoration project that was only 6 months of hard work (and an engine) away from being in the air, was denied. It's gonna take a little longer to clean up the last issues of the hardship devastation from the last 5 years, but things are looking up.

 I need to fly.

 So I'm gonna free up some time and passion for finding suitable ways to get myself off the ground regularly now that I have a little cash to make that happen. I'm gonna free up some time and passion to try to push one of my creative make-a-profit projects forward toward success so I can stop being so tired as a tile installer. And I'm gonna free up some time and passion so I can figure out how I can get my butt back into the backseat of a Clipped Wing Cub (or homebuilt version) as soon as possible. The two years I spent as a teenager flying that Cub in the pic above was the best time of my life.

 I'd really like to find the path back there.

 Lastly, I hope you don't mind that I'm taking some time and passion away from AirPigz... for me.