Is AirVenture for me?

[Wideblueyonder]

Folks, help appreciated:

I am heavily into Warbirds / Military aviation, but not into general aviation.
What is the mix at Air Venture? I perceive that GA is very high on the list.
In short, should I come??

[FlyingRon]

Yes. Airventure appeals to all forms of aviation. Not so much the heavy metal, current military stuff (though there is a bit of that). There is a substantial amount of the historical warbirds (early military aviation, WWII, Korea). You could spend days in the Warbird area alone and don't miss the EAA museum on site.
A substantial portion of the airshows are dedicated to the warbird crowd.

[Joe Delene]

Yes, it's for you. There is usually a fair amount of astronaut info on display. You have the different entertainment & a bunch of military history(& current stuff) on display.

[FlyingRon]

In addition, there's usually a few forums and book signings, etc.. by military aviators that usually are pretty interesting.

[Bill Greenwood]

If you like the war part more than the bird part, then EAA Oshkosh may not be the best show for you. Something at a military base like Nellis AFB at Las Vegas would be more of the heavy and loud types. Osh usually has a number of current military planes like C-130 , C-5a, F-15s etc on static display at center stage and you can go in some of them or chat with the crew who are usually delighted to be enjoying a summer day in Wisconsin with women in shorts rather than women? iin burkas in some god forsaken place like Afghan.

If you want to really feel old go talk to some of these kids who look like they are barely old enough to drive, and insist on calling me Sir, and realize they are flying our front line planes, and some have been or are going into combat.

Meanwhile they are happily soaking up any free food and beer to be had, and I have never heard one complain about the weather or the food or the trafficor the arrival or the housing, etc.

EAA Osh is probably 90% gen aviation, but in the 10% may be a B-29 or similar, as well as some current military stuff.

[Rob Flansburg]

If you like the war part more than the bird part, then EAA Oshkosh may not be the best show for you. Something at a military base like Nellis AFB at Las Vegas would be more of the heavy and loud types. Osh usually has a number of current military planes like C-130 , C-5a, F-15s etc on static display at center stage and you can go in some of them or chat with the crew who are usually delighted to be enjoying a summer day in Wisconsin with women in shorts rather than women? iin burkas in some god forsaken place like Afghan.

If you want to really feel old go talk to some of these kids who look like they are barely old enough to drive, and insist on calling me Sir, and realize they are flying our front line planes, and some have been or are going into combat.

Meanwhile they are happily soaking up any free food and beer to be had, and I have never heard one complain about the weather or the food or the trafficor the arrival or the housing, etc.

EAA Osh is probably 90% gen aviation, but in the 10% may be a B-29 or similar, as well as some current military stuff.

I am a little confused by this reply. My first trip to OSH I counted 21 P-51's parked together in the warbird area. Doesn't get anymore warbirdy than that!

[Wideblueyonder]

Ron , Jon and Bill

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I was a little too brief on my "likes and dislikes" list.
Warbirds really float my boat, so into anything military from WW1 to 70s jets. These are my priority. Modern hardware is great, but I am aware that this is not the obvious place to see them.

Intersted to see that "Osh is probably 90% gen aviation". Are we talking display or static or both?!
Two ways I can read this:

1. Will I be a touch bored 90% of the time ? (No offence... Really!) Or
2. Does the 10% that I will find interesting still amount to such a lot of airoplanes that I will be very happy anyway?

I have tried to look for a list of warbirds from previous years, but no luck so far.

[MEdwards]

Yes. Airventure appeals to all forms of aviation. Not so much the heavy metal, current military stuff (though there is a bit of that). There is a substantial amount of the historical warbirds (early military aviation, WWII, Korea). You could spend days in the Warbird area alone and don't miss the EAA museum on site.
A substantial portion of the airshows are dedicated to the warbird crowd.
In addition, there's usually a few forums and book signings, etc.. by military aviators that usually are pretty interesting. Sounds like Ron's reply, quoted above, most directly addresses your interests. There will be a lot of historical warbirds on display, many will fly, especially during the "warbird spectaculars" which I think are Friday and Saturday. Perhaps not quite as many this year as in years specifically celebrating some aspect of military aviation history, but lots more than I, at least, see anywhere else. And there actually are a whole lot of forums on the subject of historical military aviation. No, you will not be bored 90% of the time.

[Zack Baughman]

I'm always amused when people say that AirVenture is not a big warbird show. Perhaps not when it comes to the entire air show portion of the convention, but in terms of attendance of warbirds, AirVenture ranks right up there (in my opinion). It's not uncommon to see 20+ P-51s, 2-3 B-17s, 4-5 B-25s, a Hellcat or two, some Turkeys, a P-40 or three, a couple of P-38s, a gazillion T-6s and T-28s, the list goes on and on. You never know what new, straight out of the shop restoration will turn up. If warbirds are your thing, AirVenture IS a great destination.

Here's just a small listing of some of the warbird highlights that will be happening this year: Wednesday July 25 - The Greatest Generation in the Air, with salutes to the Doolittle Raiders and Tuskegee Airmen; Friday July 27 - Salute to Veterans day; the CAF's B-29 FIFI; 20th anniversary of Glacier Girl; an SBD-3 recovered from Lake Michigan; a Junkers JU-52; and Tora! Tora! Tora! to name but a few. 2012 is going to be a great year for warbirds at Oshkosh.

Zack

[Wideblueyonder]

Thanks Zack, very insightful.

So my point 2. would be true then....?

By the way, what should I be expecting on "Jet Day?"

[CheckerBird]

There is a *HUGE* warbird presence at AirVenture. Enough of them to see to keep you busy for a very long time. True, if you simply count raw numbers of aircraft showing up, the "North 40" and other camping areas are full of spamcans.... the numbers are in the thousands whereas the number of warbirds may only be in the hundreds... still that can keep you busy for a large portion of your time visiting there.

Oshkosh/AirVenture is a gigantic event. Even if you stay all week long and camp out on the field, it's impossible to see everything. You'll still have to pick & choose what you spend your time on.

I've been going for 5 years in a row now, and this will be my 6th.

Here's a must-see video from AirVenture 2009 that'll give you a little taste of what its like to be there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU0uQki5Dc

[steveinindy]

I'm always amused when people say that AirVenture is not a big warbird show.

So far as the "airshow" part of AirVenture is concerned, it's probably more warbirds than anything else. The things that aren't warbirds are the odd men out so far as the lineup goes. AirVenture is warbird porn at it's finest so far as I can tell.

[PlaneBrain]

I put off going for years because I mistakenly thought it was nearly all GA and few Warbirds. I was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise on my first trip in 2008.

Here's a link to my video from last year's show. It's not very polished but is a decent representation of what you are likely to see there.

Or not, technical difficulties lol. Search youtube.com for MyPlaneCrazy if interested.

[nfdlpilot]

I am always disappointed when I invite someone, maybe a far away relative or something, and they decide to do something else instead. The average person has no idea what they are turning down. (Now I know how my high-school buddy felt 30 years ago, and boy, was I dumb) I have been going now for 18 years, and I'm still not bored. War birds are what I like most, but my tastes over the years have changed, many times. You need to come. You won't be bored. You will kick yourself for not coming earlier. Just a little aside here, I just read recently that our founder used to be the base commander at one of Wisconsin's air bases back in the day. Do you think he has a little war bird enthusiasm?