Posted on 07/26/2005 9:40:31 AM PDT by BenLurkin
OSHKOSH, Wis. - Thousands of aviation enthusiasts heeded the Experimental Aircraft Association's call of "You've got to be there!" on the opening day of AirVenture 2005, filling the mammoth grounds for what promises to be a memorable week of flying, forums and fun. Monday's opening of the 53rd annual gathering was capped with the arrival of the ultimate experimental design, SpaceShipOne, and its carrier aircraft, White Knight.
Designer Burt Rutan, longtime member and hero of the EAA, arrived on his now-famous futuristic craft to cheers from the crowd pressed along the ropes before the runway.
"This certainly has got to be close to the top of thrilling arrivals at Oshkosh," said Rutan, who marks his 35th anniversary of attendance at the event.
The Oshkosh event is the only public display for the twin craft, which made history last year as the centerpiece of the first privately funded, manned space program. At the end of the week, White Knight will deliver SpaceShipOne to Washington, where it will hang in the National Air and Space Museum.
Clearing the way and warming up the crowd was another aircraft funded by Microsoft co-founder and SpaceShipOne backer Paul Allen. Allen's restored P-51 fighter, a staple of World War II battles, made several passes down the flightline to the crowd's delight, until the sight of White Knight circling overhead drew their attention.
A silence fell over those assembled along the flightline as White Knight and SpaceShipOne became clearly visible, the only sound the varied clicking of camera shutters.
The space-program vehicles left their home base in Mojave on Saturday, making stops in Albuquerque, N.M.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Madison, Wis., before making a grand entrance at the show grounds at Wittman Regional Airport.
At each stop, the aircraft and team were "treated like royalty, just like SpaceShipOne should be," astronaut Mike Melvill said.
Melvill became the world's first civilian astronaut to rocket out of the Earth's atmosphere in a nongovernmental space program when he piloted the SpaceShipOne to an unofficial altitude of 328,491 feet, or just over 62 miles above the Earth, enough to see the blackness of space and experience weightlessness.
Today, SpaceShipOne will be joined by yet another history-making Rutan design, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer flown nonstop around the world by pilot Steve Fossett earlier this year. The two unique displays are part of what makes this year's event "one of the best ever," EAA President Tom Poberezny said.
While having exclusive claim to public display of White Knight and SpaceShipOne is certainly one of the all-time highlights of AirVenture history, "most important, they are one of us," Poberezny said of Rutan and Melvill.
"You walk the flightline and every time you turn around there's another person making history," he said. "The airplanes bring us here, but it's the people."
It's the people involved in SpaceShipOne that make it especially beloved by this particular crowd. Rutan and Melvill are both longtime members of the organization and regulars at Oshkosh.
As White Knight circled above the field, the announcer reminded the crowd, "EAA-ers, you are a part of this."
Rutan's designs for do-it-yourself, home-built aircraft have long been favorites with EAA members. Their popularity was evident in the long rows of Long-EZ and Vari-EZ aircraft filling a field alongside the flightline.
The distinctive aircraft were flown into the event by proud owners and builders in honor of Rutan's 35th anniversary at Oshkosh.
Elwood "E.J." Johnson of Stevenson Ranch, an unincorporated community near Santa Clarita, brought his Long-EZ, one of five different Rutan aircraft he has owned over the years. Despite having visited Oshkosh about 10 times before, the gathering is "still very exciting. You never know what to expect. Every year is something special," he said.
The 68-year-old former aerospace worker lovingly restored the pale-blue airplane he displayed this year, and has flown it around the country, including an air race from Kitty Hawk, N.C., to Oshkosh three years ago to mark the centennial of powered flight.
"BURT'S BABIES - A line of Burt Rutan-designed Long-EZ airplanes fill the field in a gathering to celebrate the designer's 35th AirVenture appearance. Two of Rutan's latest designs, SpaceShipOne and its carrier White Knight, arrived Monday for an exclusive display." ALISON GATLIN/Valley Press
Day to Day updates from AirVenture can be found here....
http://www.airventure.org/
ping
Thank you!
Airventure Ping...
I need to make it to Oshkosh one of these years. I can't weait to be retired for good so I can go to all these things, Oshkosh, Reno, Florida, Vegas
I'll go when you go - maybe when I retire from work - or Reno.
Speaking of Reno - working on hilarious shirts for my crew.
Not appropriate for FR.... LOL!!
Can you make an extra one XXL? Since it's a crew shirt I won't wear it at Reno.
heheheh
BTW: I'll pay you for it...just so you know!
It's probably a girl thing - for now.
I'll try to get a pix up somewhere and will send you a link.
;)
Oooh, it's 50 days to Reno! I need to go bump my thread.
I need to go change my oil.
Works for me...in XXL, the wife (or sister in law) would have a night shirt...LOL!!!
My wife already has a Rare Bear T-shirt she wears to bed just to get me frisky...hahahahah!!
Did you want me to handle that for you, or did you want to get dirty?
Soooo many neat events and so little time; no less than fifteen (15) western events, thru Sept, listed in PacificFlyer!
Looks like "Wings over the Wine Country" (8/20-8/21) and, of course, the Reno Air Races get the nod this quarter. Need more weekends in the month...and hours in the day!
Oshkosh IS on the "Must Do" list ... By Gosh!!
Oh, man. I wish I was there......
Reminds me of the first time I, and a lot of other people, first saw an SR-71 in person, when it arrived over the Reno air races maybe 15 years ago. There was an aerobatic act in the air, but the whole crowd ignored him, and stood up and craned their necks straight up as the silhouette of the SR became visible high over the airport. What a sight.
You need to hurry and do it. The crowd at Oshkosh is shrinking. EAA hasn't publicized it much, but that's the reason they're pushing the regional shows, cause OSH is slowly fading.
But Oshkosh is magic. Nothing like it in the world. You'd best visit it now.
It's easier to visit than the publicity says. Buy a ticket to Chicago or Milwaukee and rent a car for a day. Just stay in the big city an hour away by freeway, and don't worry about the talk of no hotels around OSH.
Do it. Do it now.
I'll be at Santa Rosa also.
I will crew for Jon Nash this year.
See ya' there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.