Oshkosh
I’ve been for the last 15 years or so and really do think it is absolutely fantastic!
My main tip would be to go for as long as possible: you can’t see/do it all in a day and even if you do manage to eventually get round everything the areas you saw first will have changed by the time you get back to them. I try to go on the Sunday before they officially open as it’s very quiet and easy to buy tickets and wander around to get orientated.
Aircraft do tend to drift away over the last 2 or 3 days so the grounds can be a bit sparse by the last Sunday.
Join the EAA either in advance or at the admissions gate to get the members ticket rates which are much lower than non-members.
Go to the seaplane base at some stage – it’s a real contrast from the airport.
Go to the museum – during the show some of the aircraft are pulled out onto the nearby grass airstrip and the hangar is used for some of the larger presentations. Outside the show week it’s obviously quieter but it’s well worth visiting just in its own right.
Organisation is superb. Apart from one or two occasions in and out by road has been trouble-free. Buses/trams drive around the main areas so you can easily move from one part of the airfield to another. Buses also run to neighbouring towns and other locations (e.g. seaplanes) from just outside the main gate.
Accommodation is obviously at a premium in the Oshkosh area (and hotels are expensive during the show week). Thousands of people camp on-site – facilities are probably as good as any camp site with toilet/shower blocks, shops, etc. Some people stay at the University which is relatively cheap and convenient but probably fairly basic. Many people stay in the nearby towns, e.g. Appleton and Fond Du Lac, which are 10-20 miles away but still pretty convenient. The Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau have a stand on-site for arranging accommodation during the show period and have a link from the EAA website to help in organising accommodation in advance. The main road which runs just beside the airport is pretty good so it’s no real hassle to travel quite long distances.
I don’t normally find the air show itself to be anything special – mainly populated by singleton aerobatics. The big warbird displays have a lot of aircraft but they generally fly a long way from the crowd and a long way apart. There is a reasonable day-to-day variation – see the daily convention free newspaper. The flying display normally only starts about 3 pm preceded typically by some demo flying of modern light and business aircraft.
Food and drink are plentiful and relatively cheap compared to most events. Free drinking water fountains are also present in abundance.
If you are interested in any technical aspects of aviation there are virtually non-stop forums, presentations, and hands-on demos of all aspects and normally plenty of high-profile guest speakers. In the sales areas you can buy anything from a rivet to a biz-jet if you want to.
Recently there has been an increasing number of joyride opportunities. Only EAA operates from the airport normally with their Ford Trimotor and a microlight plus Bell 47s; the B-17 has a prominent sales area but passengers nowadays are bussed to Appleton from where it operates. Other groups now seem to have set up based at Fond Du Lac so last year I think you could ride in a B-25, SBD, P-51 or T-6.
Can’t think of much else of importance – I’ve never even thought of flying in so have no idea what that’s like though I get the impression that it’s handled as impeccably as the rest of the event.
HTH
Tony Andrews
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