Only a few (hundred) of us stragglers left in the campground at AirVenture 2017, and it's been a great week. Aircraft of every description, two airshows every day, and fantastic weather (only one rainy day) with lots of sun and temps in the high 70s.
Personal stats for the week: 29+ miles walked, 33+ miles on my bike, and three airplane demo rides.
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| lots of happy kids from Make A Wish |
To aviation enthusiasts, Oshkosh means only one thing - airplanes (lots of them). For the last three days (and until Sunday) I've been camped out attending EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017 - 500,000 attendees, over 10,000 aircraft, a really spectacular series of air shows, and thousands of aircraft on display (both civilian and military). In short, a very big deal for aviation buffs!
Just wandering around Wisconsin and happened upon the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. The centerpiece of this pretty nice museum is the USS Cobia - a submarine on Lake Michigan? The story: During WWII a small shipyard in Manitowoc was selected to build submarines for the Navy - they built 28 “boats” at the yard on the Manitowoc River and employed over 7,000 workers (a really big deal for this small town). Upon completion the boats sailed under their own power to Chicago, then were placed in a special barge for the trip to New Orleans where the periscopes and radar masts were reinstalled (they where too tall for the bridges enroute). Back under their own power they left New Orleans, sailed through the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet. The USS Rasher (built in Manitowoc) was credited with the 2nd highest tonnage sunk by a US submarine during the war. Four Manitowoc submarines were lost at sea, USS Robalo, USS Golet, USS Kete, and USS Lagarto. Now you know some of the story behind the submarines of Manitowoc.
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| Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, June 1943. - photo from Wisconsin Maritime Museum |
I spent most of this last week working as a volunteer at a local airshow, just down the road at the Lebanon-Springfield Airport. I was one of the "recovery crews" working the Worlds Grandest Jet Event!
If you haven't already figured it out, these aircraft are Radio Controlled Models - but, with a significant difference, they were JET powered. 180+ participants from all over the world (less than 2000 pilots worldwide are certified to fly these turbine jet models) attended the event - the largest all jet gathering in the world, and they really put on a show.
