My apologies for tardiness to the guys who've been wanting to see them, it's been a busy 4 weeks since Airventure and processing the 1200+ shots from there into a few usable ones has been slow going and consumed several beers.  I'm not even going to put them all in this post- it's going to be too long already, and the Saturday twilight show was so fantastic it deserves a post of it's own I think.  Hopefully will accomplish that in the near future.  There's so much to see there than I also apologize for anything I didn't include or couldn't get to in 2 days, to some extent I'm going to concentrate on stuff that is rare and historically important, or that I simply have never seen before.  



I wasn't able to make it to the seaplane base, but this Grumman J2F Duck parked in front of the museum greets everybody.



G.A. aircraft as far as the eye can see.  



One of the prettiest Corsairs in attendance.  



F-35 and F-22 nested together.



Just how big is the BUFF?  Easy to fit an Avenger and Corsair under the wing of the B-52.





I'm definitely in the wrong line of work, should have found something lucrative enough to go shopping here...





Lineup of PT-17s.



Hawker Sea Fury.



Authentic Mitsubishi A6M Zero airframe, has a P&W R-1830 engine.  They told me that it REALLY performs, more power than a typical wartime Zero and no combat load.



The only airworthy Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.



P-40 in Flying Tiger colors, although the AVG flew earlier models than this.



Replica Sopwith Pup.  I want one...




One of the most enjoyable conversations I had- the guy in the boots is building this.  It's not an authentic Fokker Triplane, but has the same dimensions and should be a lot of fun without the sketchy characteristics of the rotary engine from a century ago.  




Messerschmitt 109, with Hispano engine instead of DB.  If you've seen the circa-1969 Battle of Britain movie, these are what were used as Bf-109Es.



Not one, but TWO DeHavilland Mosquitos- the fighter version is the only airworthy Mosquito in North America.  The glass nosed airplane lives at Oshkosh, and hopefully will fly again soon.






There were lots of P-51s here, I counted at least 14. (Hard to tell, because at any given time at Oshkosh, there seems to be a Mustang airborne, and one or two more starting up or taxiing.  Just awful. ***) The D models are fairly common.  P-51B/Cs are noteworthy to see.  An Alison engined A-36 or P-51A would have rounded out the bunch nicely.





Bud Anderson's markings. 



P-38 in Dick Bong's colors, highest scoring US fighter pilot of WW2.  (Killed in crash of a Lockheed Shooting Star on the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, didn't get to see the end of the war he fought for.)



P-38 in Robin Olds' WW2 colors.



Hard to see it here, but the Phantom was also in Robin Olds' Vietnam War colors.   



Maybe the nicest paint job on a B-25 ever.



The Aerostars.



You can count 'em, but this is supposed to be a world record sky dive; 108 of them.  





Another skydiver walking in, as Jeff Boerboon takes off.  Note jet engine underneath biplane. 



I know Ted and a few other NATers saw the jet Waco at Mankato, watching a biplane with lots of drag but a greater than 1:1 thrust/weight ratio go vertical for 6,000 feet is super impressive.



Douglas Skyraider.  (Naked Fanny was a common reference to Nhakon Phanom, Thailand, where many of these were based in the SE Asia conflict.)




Dean Cutshall's incredible F-100F Super Sabre.  I've seen lots of talk about the sound of the early single-stage afterburner in this jet, it really is impressive when it "pops" into blower compared to what the newer modulated engines sound like.  More of the Hun, and the Phantom, when I get to the twilight stuff.  



More from the North American stable.  I'm not sure if you could design anything much better looking than the F-86.



MiG-17.



A-4 Skyhawk cruising through at about 550 knots.  The Scooter doesn't have quite the muscle and noise of the Hornet, but I sure wish I could have seen the Blue Angels demo when they were flying these.  I'm sure the old Van Halen video doesn't do justice to how tight they operated with these little jets.



3 T-33s and an L-39.



Arrival of the reason that finally got me to travel to Oshkosh.  It's possible this will be the last time for an Air Force Phantom to appear at a civilian field.  QF-4E from the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron at Holloman AFB.  Hopefully the funding situation will get better for them to get out some more before they all get killed or go to the boneyard.  Pilot who flew it in said that just a few days prior the last Phantoms from Tyndall flew to Holloman, Tyndall is now fully converted to the F-16 for the target role.





Vicky Benzing.  (Just warming up on the ramp, she wore a flight suit for her aerobatic routine!)




Anybody who thinks my photos are reasonably okay, should probably go look at the images these guys were able to capture...



Patty Wagstaff's hair seems to get messy with negative G.



WW2 trainer flyover.





So I look across the fence and about 25 yards away are Kevin Lacey and Mike Kennedy from Airplane Repo, wonder who at Oshkosh was nervous because they are late on their payments?  Be interesting to see in an upcoming episode, my DVR is set....

 

Kevin and Mike were there to hold the poles for Melissa Pemberton's ribbon cutting.  But, I'm sure that's not the only reason.

 

A-26 Invader.  



PB4Y2 Privateer, late war single-tail development of the B-24 for Navy patrol duties.  This aircraft was a fire fighter until recently, hopefully they can eventually get it back to being more historically accurate.  But still a treasure to be able to see it.





 If you've ever read much Pacific War history, you might know that the Wildcat had hand-cranked landing gear.  Very cool to finally see one take off and wobble while the pilot cranked the gear with one hand and holds the stick with the other.  Also have to say, while it was outclassed by some of the Japanese fighters for sure, I was surprised at just how nimble it is in the air.  They look so tubby in pictures that it really changes your opinion to see one loop and roll so well.

 

They weren't kidding though, the Zero makes everything look effortless.  I can totally believe it was eye-watering when the guy holding the stick was pulling it for combat maneuverability and not just display.

 

Fifi- went for a ride two summers ago, but first time I ever got to see her actually fly!

 

Jim Peitsch.  Very cool aerobatic display in an airplane not totally designed to do so.



 

Sean D. Tucker, he never disappoints.

 

Luca Bertossio doing glider aerobatics.  Amazing energy management.


 

Another demonstration of energy management, but at a whole different noise level.  The Few, the Loud, the Marines.

 

Maj. John Cummings, current Raptor Demo pilot, administering enlistment oath to new USAF recruits.  He's a hometown boy from Appleton, WI and was flying both at Airventure and staging down to the Milwaukee air show.  He was having a LOT of fun.  I can assure you, everybody on the grounds knew when he was departing to Milwaukee and arriving back to OSH....





Heritage Flight.