I remember when...

[JustinH]

Gearing up for Airventure 2021, I'm already excited and thinking back on years past. One of the fond memories I have was from the first Fly-In I attended back in 1994. I was 13 years old and went with my mom and dad. We only went for one day which was the norm until I was much older. Back then if I remember correctly, you could only get into the flight line if you were an EAA member, a mechanic or a pilot. I had just started some flight training so I brought my logbook for me and my family to gain access to the flight line, sure enough it worked! We made sure to go on the day Concorde arrived, which it did albeit several hours late, I remember it coming in an well after the afternoon air show, but boy was it worth the wait. A random attendee recommended that we stick around to watch it takeoff later that evening as the afterburners would be spectacular. It was going to give a ride to folks willing to pay for an expensive joy ride. So we stayed and watched it depart with all of the noise and fire blasting out of the engines, so cool for a 13 year old, and frankly, everyone. The main part of this longwinded post is remembering a place we stopped at on the way out of the convention to grab a late bite to eat, I'm almost positive its gone now I'm looking for anyone who can help me figure out where/what this place was. From what I remember it was just outside the flight line near where the old control tower was, it was a white house or barn maybe, that had a little outdoor food and drink stand. It wasn't the place with the 'beer' balloon I'm sure of that. It wasn't too far from the grounds because I can remember hearing the Concorde land after it came back from giving that ride while we ate. Sorry for the lack of details it's been so long, just trying to remember better a good time with my parents. Any hints or even better photos would be great! It would be cool if there was some sort of historical maps or a photo library showing what the convention was like many years ago and how it keeps changing. Thanks for reading!

[Jeff Point]

Sounds like you are talking about the food stand run by Sacred Heart church. It’s just outside the main gate and just south of the bus terminal which looks like an old control tower. You’ll be glad to know that it is still there and still a great place to eat during the show.

[JustinH]

Thanks, yes that could very well be the same people. I do remember the place we went to in 1994 being at a white house or a white barn nearby, probably was demolished to make room for the expansion of the grounds. I'll have to swing over that direction this year to grab a bite.

[jowens]

I vaguely remember a parking area very close to the entrance with a white barn run by the land owners at the time, shuffelbine’s?

[JustinH]

I vaguely remember a parking area very close to the entrance with a white barn run by the land owners at the time, shuffelbine’s?

That could've been it! I'm pretty sure it was near the entrance behind the west ramp, I remember walking past that place on our way back to the car and stopping to get something to eat. Thanks for helping!

[FlyingRon]

There used to be the old Schifflebein farm (roughly where the current cart pit is, diagonally across Knapp street from the (new) control tower). They had brats and corn on the cob there. It was a great loss when the EAA had it condemned. The SOS brothers had a farm where the current forum plaza is and the FAA ran them off, but not without a lot more protest.

[JustinH]

There used to be the old Schifflebein farm (roughly where the current cart pit is, diagonally across Knapp street from the (new) control tower). They had brats and corn on the cob there. It was a great loss when the EAA had it condemned. The SOS brothers had a farm where the current forum plaza is and the FAA ran them off, but not without a lot more protest.

Yeah I'm starting to think it was the Shifflebein farm, I've found a couple pictures online the last couple days of showing aerial photos of the grounds from the 90s and early 2000s, sure enough there's a white barn and a house, looks like at the old corner of Knapp and Waukau. Thanks for heling me narrow it down, great to go down memory lane every once in a while.

[Jeff Point]

I think the guys who came up with Shifflebeins are correct, I forgot about that. But Sacred Heart is still a great place to eat!

[skyfixer8]

Coffee and large cinamon roll

[FlyingCanuck]

Back to the original post ...

I don't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but I do remember that night in '94 when the Concorde took off. Was at Theater in the Woods watching David Hartman and all the astronauts that showed up for the Apollo 25th anniversary reunion. It was dark by then and the Concorde came down 18 in full afterburner (reheat for our British friends) and rotated abeam the theater. The astronauts all paused for a few seconds due to the noise, the whole crowd (overflowing) stood up, turned around and saw the huge flames as the Concorde rotated and lifted off to head out somewhere it could go supersonic for a bit. The noise subsided, everyone sat down and the astronauts started talking again, didn't miss a beat.

I've seen a long list of amazing things since then at 20+ visits to Oshkosh, but that particular memory never seems to fade.

[Jeremy S]

Back to the original post ...

I don't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but I do remember that night in '94 when the Concorde took off. Was at Theater in the Woods watching David Hartman and all the astronauts that showed up for the Apollo 25th anniversary reunion. It was dark by then and the Concorde came down 18 in full afterburner (reheat for our British friends) and rotated abeam the theater. The astronauts all paused for a few seconds due to the noise, the whole crowd (overflowing) stood up, turned around and saw the huge flames as the Concorde rotated and lifted off to head out somewhere it could go supersonic for a bit. The noise subsided, everyone sat down and the astronauts started talking again, didn't miss a beat.

I've seen a long list of amazing things since then at 20+ visits to Oshkosh, but that particular memory never seems to fade.


I was just watching a video of that event and saw the exact moment that you remembered. You can watch it here (https://www.eaa.org/videos/6170492171001) (Must be an EEA member and logged in to view).

[mazdaP5]

I was just watching a video of that event and saw the exact moment that you remembered. You can watch it here (https://www.eaa.org/videos/6170492171001) (Must be an EEA member and logged in to view).

33:45

[SteveCostello]

Great find! Thanks for that share.

Man. I *cannot* wait to go this year.

[Jeremy S]

Great find! Thanks for that share.

Man. I *cannot* wait to go this year.


Same here! I am really looking forward to Monday evening. This should be a really good one to attend.

Shuttle: A Look Back After 40 YearsMon, Jul 26, 2021 - Mon, Jul 26, 2021
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: Theater in the Woods (https://www.eaa.org/eaa/place/-theater%20in%20the%20woods?id=38F855DD38CC4B07BBF1 2032622FC620)
Event is on your itinerary
Join host Emily Carney in this discussion on NASA past, present, and future. Discussions of Skylab, 40th Anniversary Space Shuttle, 10th Anniversary of Last Flight as well as the future of NASA and space exploration technologies. Carney will be joined on stage with NASA astronauts Fred Haise, Joe Engle, and Robert Crippen as well as Charlie Precourt and Paul Dye.

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/event/Shuttle_A_Look_Back_After_40_Years_00609039-741e-4197-8f1c-3552e970cc40?id=196F624401504F7AAC84A2DDF388F459

[JustinH]

I was just watching a video of that event and saw the exact moment that you remembered. You can watch it here (https://www.eaa.org/videos/6170492171001) (Must be an EEA member and logged in to view).

Thanks for sharing this video, this really brought back a lot of memories. I remember how exited my mom was to see all the Apollo Astronauts there that day and seeing the Concorde takeoff at night was truly spectacular!

[2ndsegment]

This is where I need to be led by the hand to the first actual takeoff of the Space Transportation System "Shuttle." I was there that morning parked in the GA airport just outside Kennedy with my two young sons. There were stones with big round port holes on the periphery.

The countdown proceeded until two minutes to go and then stopped. It would not resume until the next day so I took my sons back to West Palm Beach so they could go to school. The official explanation was that the mission computer could not communicate with the flight control computer. I am an abstract thinker so in my mind I picture a set of gyros to maintain reference to the pitch-roll-and yaw and a full inertial reference that keeps track of an exact point in space that begins to follow a trajectory from in x-y-z track all the way to the moon with the various stage separation points as various hardware is selected to continue or be dropped out of the main track through the orbits and the landing and static point and lift off ,etc. Bear with me a moment as I had done the mission analysis for a KC-135 communicating with Apollo at the lunar transfer ellipse and also reentry as ships could not reposition far enough at those points. Later I put a deposit on a Get-Away-Special (G-A-S) cannister for an experiment in the cargo bay of the Shuttle orbiter. So I respected LTN-51 INS for military navigation of the C-141 for the "Hanoi Taxi" that brought the POWs home but also was on Commercial Polar flights of that era. The launches of the NAVSTARs on DELTA rockets that brought an era of radio sources and not gyros that we have today is not really of my era before personal computers and even the flight simulators. So tell me all about it!! Even help me distinguish after burner from 5 stage augmentation and even short stack like Viggen or Concorde. With your own eyes and ears!! I'm coming. I hope I don't stumble.

[RC Gregg]

I remember camping in the "K" section just East of the red barn store in 1983 (where the fly market is now) I was 13 then. The campground movie screen was about 8'x8' and they used an old movie projector. There was a campground mini mall across from the red barn North of the exisitng main bath house, and at the west end of it a dj would set up each night. I bet i put 30 miles on my bike and never leave Scholler. I also remember walking around on the flight line with my Dad after dark and running into Burt Rutan amongst a sea of his designs in homebuilt parking on main flight line. About a dozen of us circled up and sat on the ground and listened to him for quite a while. My Dad has gone West, and now my Son and I enjoy attending every year. Lots of really great memories are made at Oshkosh every time I go.

[mazdaP5]

I remember camping in the "K" section just East of the red barn store in 1983 (where the fly market is now) I was 13 then. The campground movie screen was about 8'x8' and they used an old movie projector. There was a campground mini mall across from the red barn North of the existing main bath house, and at the west end of it a dj would set up each night.

Yes, I camped there also in the early 80's. It later became the Volunteer park, and now the fly market. The old fly market was down where homebuilt camping is now I think. When you would cross Knapp, Jerry would be set up playing, and you were immediately in Beech Staggerwing parking across from the Theatre. Big attractions like the Harrier would be parked on the ramp in front of the communications tower where the chalets are now. Those were great times.

[JustinH]

Does anybody remember where the entrance to the flightline was behind the West Ramp (Boeing Plaza), wasn't it where the Ford tent is now? Or somewhere nearby? I also remember when there used to be a gate near the brown arch that only EAA members, pilots and mechanics (and I'm sure some others) were allowed to access to get into the flightline. I think that stopped in 97' when they started letting everyone in.

[mazdaP5]

I remember the gate being at the brown arch, as well as a fence dividing the flight line from the other buildings (sky shop, forums etc along Wittman rd.

[FlyingRon]

If I recall properly, back when there was a separate "flight line" admission, there were three ways in: The brown arch, through warbirds, and along Whitman road near the Vintage red barn.

[Inspector Fenwick]

I remember jumping on a moving "haywagon" pulled by a tractor, and that is how you moved around from parking to display areas. I remember NO DRINKS on the flightline, which was anywhere you needed a pass to enter. I remember timing going to the showers. Holding a kitchen sink spray hose and praying for warm water. Loved it then, love it now.