When the Wright Brothers made their first powered flight at 10:35 AM, December 17th, 1903, the world became a different place. The 'Boys from Dayton' released a genie who carried us to the moon in just 66 years. There had never been such rapid progress in the history of humankind, and it hasn't stopped yet. Those who went to Oshkosh this year were very aware that they had made the journey on the Wright Brother's wings.

Since the Wrights and twentieth century aviation are specialties of mine, I was honored to be one of the speakers on Monday night, July 28th, at Oshkosh's Theater in the Woods. That meant getting there a couple days before the speech, so Mary Alice and I had the whole weekend to watch airplanes arrive and exhibits set up. The pictures that follow are from that period..just before the big show got underway. You may notice that most of the people we talked to were polishing their airplanes. Even showplanes collect bugs.

We found Glenn Peck of Maryland Heights, MO grooming a classic 1933 Fairchild C8A. Glenn takes care of the planes in the Historic Aircraft Restoration museum in St. Louis, so it was up to him to fly the plane to Oshkosh this year. He told me it was the first time it had been out of the museum since 1995. Glenn said it flew a "fabulous trip..never missed a beat." Some people have all the luck.

In the same genre, here's a wonderful 1941 Waco UPF7 that belongs to Bob Opdahl of Grass Valley, California. He says it's an old friend; he's had it for some 30 years and has rebuilt it twice. He and a friend who was flying a Champ left Grass Valley for Oshkosh on July 5th and just "bounced around the country," coming from California across Arizona and New Mexico. It was a great flight, he said. He'd flown it for the first time since the latest restoration on June 20th. Bob said it felt just like always..a great flying airplane. The paint scheme, by the way, was designed by a 16 year old boy.

If 12 year old Jason Flood seems to be staring suspiciously, it's because he's afraid I might try to buy his airplane. Jason's dad, Joe, of Franklinville, NJ, says the young man gets "all upset" anytime someone "asks if it's for sale and I start talking to them."
Joe and his family, including three boys and a daughter, have owned the Beechcraft Staggerwing for about four years and feel, he says, like they're flying 'Aviation Royalty.'
The Floods spent the entire week camping under the big airplane's wings. Joe says it's nice out there in the evening or "early in the morning, just when the sun's coming up, when you get up and you look and you're out here with all these airplanes. Nothin' like it." Joe's a happy guy.
So is Jason.

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