How did you get started?

[champ driver]

I remember seeing the EAA ads in magazines in about 68' or so, just about when I started buying a few airplane mags. But I think the thing that really did it was seeing a Chapter booth at the Minnesota State Fair in it must have been '68. One of the local Chapters had a booth set up with some homebuilt parts and one of those was a wood rib. I just fell in love with that spruce and mahogany truss rib and the idea of building a plane was pretty cool too.
My interests are in fun and interesting planes, whether they're homebuilts, antiques and classics or warbirds.

I joined the EAA in January 1969 when I was still 15.
My first Oshkosh was in '72 when I rode my 350 Honda there with not much more than a backpack and a pup tent.

[griffin800]

I started flying I think around 1969, was from then on an airplane nut. Then I got married, she wanted no part of it, so that went away until I saw my first ultralight flying about 1980. After getting divorced I started looking into ultralights, found the EAA ultralight chapter in town and through them found Oshkosh, think it was 1982. Volunteered in the ultralight area for 8 or 10 years. Became vp of that ultralight chapter then that went away for a while again. Just getting back into it again, this time with slightly bigger faster planes.

Bill H.

[FlyingRon]

After about ten years of not flying, I decided to get current again and then decided to go to Oshkosh. Put out feelers on rec.aviation and AVWEB and got several offers of a ride. Ended up flying with Paul Bertorelli. Got to hang out with a lot of the IFR magazine contributors including going out to Fisk and going up in the tower to watch the arrivals. Figured I didn't stay long enough so the next year I flew a rental skyhawk out there with my wife and stayed the whole week. We haven't missed a show since.

By the time my wife was on the way home from her first Oshkosh, she was ready to take flight lessons. The next show she flew most of the way there with the ink still wet on her private certificate. The next year she flew our Navion in there.

[Antique Tower]

By the time my wife was on the way home from her first Oshkosh, she was ready to take flight lessons. The next show she flew most of the way there with the ink still wet on her private certificate. The next year she flew our Navion in there.

That reminds me of Tall Tom.... He flew his Ercoupe to OSH during one of his student pilot cross country flights. Got his logbook signed by the FAA Administrator.....

[Frank Giger]

I guess I'm the (relative) baby of the group, as I decided after I retired from the Army to do something a little out of the ordinary to keep me from being one of those Old Army Guys.

So I decided to get my Sport Pilot license and build a tube-and-gusset Nieuport 11, especially after reading Dick Stark's books, and so about four years ago walked into the local chapter meeting carrying my "practice" rudder that I made. The EAA is full of guys who built their own aircraft, so I figured they'd be a good place to get one-on-one feedback and advice.

A very good choice on my part, as not only did they really help me out, but I have had a few opportunity to help others, too.

[djenders]

Growing up in the 80s I was in love with everything related to airplanes and aerospace. I remember reading everything I could about NASA and early space flight and watching each shuttle launch with bright eyes.

Lucky for me, my uncle recognized my interest and fanned the flames. He just so happened to work for EAA, and many affectionally knew him as Henry O in the industry. I got my first subscription and membership card for my birthday in 1986. Living in Milwaukee, he invited me up for my first fly-in that same summer. I spent the entire week in awe of what happened here. At the time, I had no idea what it would all mean to me in the future, but I was in love from that moment on.

I can't believe it has been 30 years since I first stepped on these grounds. And I am now very lucky to be serving our members as an employee at EAA. We truly have a great group of people that are part of our organization and just need to continue to share our love with others!

Dennis

[Chris In Marshfield]

I, too, got started late. I had never even heard of EAA until I met my soon-to-be-wife, who at the time was a resident of Oshkosh. When she first dragged me to Wisconsin, we drove past the EAA grounds and told me about the convention, how the giant fields (Camp Scholler) were filled with a bajillion campers, and the city of Oshkosh became a zoo. I couldn't even imagine how this would be so. That was in 1998. In 1999 I moved to Wisconsin with her, joined a chapter in Madison a few years later, and the rest is history. Been camping there ever since!