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Well it's been two fun packed days so far. Oshkosh is magical. There are so many amazing people and planes here. I will try to hit a few of the highlights for me so far.

- My quickbuild fuse sitting beside the Van's tent with people drooling over it. Ear to ear grin doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling when I first saw that.

- Full 4 afterburner takeoff of a B1 bomber followed shortly thereafter by a Mach .9 pass and 40,000 foot per minute climbout. The ground shook, my chest echoed, my ears were assaulted! That was shock and awe baby!

- Listening to General Chuck Yaegar talk about why knowing your aircraft and systems inside and out may save your life -- complete with great "war stories" from his 70 years in aviation and hilarious quotes like "I don't think a bunch of germans are gonna catch a West Virginia boy in the woods."

- The WWII bomber heritage flight with B17s, B29s, Lancasters and P51 escort. Wow that was some serious history flying around. Yaegar said that on one mission for which he flew cover he watched 60 bombers get shot down. That represented 62o lives lost -- on one mission. We still owe those guys.

- Sitting in the RV 10 and being really impressed with its spaciousness and visibility. Sweet, an adjustable front seat. Wow is that back seat area huge. Do I hear "repeat offender?"

- Sean Tucker -- 'nuff said. Wait, no -- how the heck does he do that stuff!

- Dual F22 Raptors vertical hovering, doing tail slides and minimum radius turns.

- Beautiful midwestern women (Oops that just slipped out. Shhhh).

- All of the gorgeous airplanes -- highly polished P51s, cute light sport aircraft, gorgeous Lancair IVPs, Alex D's RV10, 550 RVs,

- Getting to talk to the folks at AeroSport Power.

- Finding a nice EAA straw hat to shade me from the sun and a big tree to shade me from the 90 degree heat at lunch.

- Dinner with 200 RV guys.

- The Shelby Ford Mustang -- NIIIIIIIIICE! 140 miles per hour down the runway. I have got to get me one of those.

Two days left. I have to make the most of them. Then I will have the big trip back to the east coast in my rented Penske truck.

G'nite all.

Antony

Antony, your quickbuild looked sweet!

aparchment wrote: - Dual F22 Raptors vertical hovering, doing tail slides and minimum radius turns.

This would have been worth the trip without all the other stuff! The military participation at OshKosh is wonderful. It is a rare chance to see our tax dollars showcased.

As Spike asked on Thusday night at the RV dinner, wonder what the fuel burn rate is on a hovering F-22?

Dam Antony,

Sounds like you had a great time!

CJ

WOW!! I'm missin' quite a few cool things since I left Thursday!! Sounds like you are having a blast Antony! You're QB did look great!! I got to see the Raptors at Sun N Fun back in April for the first time--simply amazing!

And the B-1 is simply the loudest, most impressive flying machine I've ever seen at an airshow. Shock and awe is the tip of the iceburg with that airplane...

Oh, and you are so right about the beautiful midwestern women!! I married one!

Boys, it just keeps gettin' better! Today Ken, my brother and I wore ourselves out doing all of the vendor booths in Hangars A through D. Phew! I got to meet the rest of the engine guys I was interested in -- Mattituck and Pen Yan. I still have to say I like the Aerosport guys best. I get a sense of high competency and good, honest, nice people. Their finished product was quite simply gorgeous. Shipping to Maine is only $250 from BC.

Today's highlights:

- The Van's guys escorting me onto the grounds in my rented Penske truck and loading it lickety split with my fuse and all of the paraphenelia. I had about 6 guys helping me, and I think we loaded in 15 minutes. I will post the pic when I get home. Forgot the USB cable for my camera.

I cannot emphasize enough how well Scott and the Van's team treated me at the show. They made this a great experience.

- Awesome aerobatics -- Mike Goulian the artist of the effect of PFactor, torque and gyroscopic forces on an aircraft once the wing has stopped flying, the Bulldog Pitts (this guys is simply insane -- just because a wing is flying doesn't mean you should snap roll the plane), Patty Wagstaff -- beautiful, precise, graceful. She is a class act.

- F18s turning and burning overhead. Some people were holding their ears. I was just enjoying the sound of full afterburner and their classic roll right pull left maneuver

- Meeting the three retired British Airways 747 captains here to party and enjoy the show.

- Meeting Bob Avery. Very nice man.

- Dinner at Hooters (Ken's idea). Did I mention that midwest women are gorgeous. What are they feeding these people? Apparently the ugly stick doesn't get used out here.

- Checking out the Diamond DA42 Twinstar with Thielert diesels. Hmmmmm, who can I convince to get one of these so I can fly it?

- Getting to see the Dynon, Advanced Flight Systems and Blue Mountain back to back for good comparison.

- Meeting the Andair fuel valve owner. Another super nice and very helpful guy (forgot his name - darn).

That's all for tonight guys. One more day to go, then I make the big drive!

Antony

P.S. -- Man Chad, how ever did you choose?
- CJ -- next year bud, next year.
- JohnR -- Thanks John. I am still grinning.

Lookin' forward to it already!!!

CJ

Gas.......$400

Boarding the dog (9 days).....$300

4 days camping.....$72

1 night in Chicago....$250

Driving two thousand miles cross country, seeing some amazing planes, meeting some amazing people............PRICELESS

Thanks to all the cool people for making OSH great.

Special thanks to Luke and John for showing us some Iowa hospitality (they have an amazing shop)

See you all at Sun N Fun
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Couldn't have put it better myself, Andy! Well said!

aparchment wrote:- Dual F22 Raptors vertical hovering, doing tail slides and minimum radius turns.

D@mn... someone tell me again why I left Thursday. Crap!

Andy, you and Christina are welcome anytime! We enjoyed having you stop.

Brad, you missed it dude, it was awesome! We'll try not to rub it in to much, but it was worth the trip in itself.

I'm definately goin 2nd half next year!!!

I've already resolved to go all week next year, and stay in camp scholler in a motorhome. In fact I think I already have the motorhome somewhat lined up (long story). The F-22 better be there again!

I think the -22 is gonna become a staple of all the major shows. It's just TOO good to not show off what our tax dollars are going for...at least what they SAY they are going for.

cjensen wrote:I think the -22 is gonna become a staple of all the major shows.

I heard the the announcer say during the F-22 demo that the Air Force won't be demoing the F-15 any more at airshows...it'll be the F-22 next year.

Can't say I blame them...wow!

Dave