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By Bruce Williams
Microsoft Simulations Product Planner
Monday, July 24, 2000
Up at dawn and off to KDBQ with a crew from Northwest Airlink. They were headed to Minneapolis in their Saab 340. We had only about an hour to Oshkosh when we took off about 0715 CDT.
P-47D Thunderbolt “Tarheel Hal”. Click image for a larger picture
Only a few low clouds dotted the route to Ripon, a town about 15 miles SW of Oshkosh, where the special arrival procedure for EAA AirVenture begins. The arrival frequency was strangely quiet when we arrived over Fisk (about 5 miles SW of KOSH) for sequencing into the airport. Oshkosh controllers usually put auctioneers to shame with their rapid-fire delivery of instructions to a steady stream of arriving aircraft. But we were the only aircraft entering the pattern at 0820. The tower controller, seeing the special markings on the Sweepstakes Cessna, was actually chatty, asking about the airplane and where we'd come from. After touching down on runway 36L (the parallel taxiway becomes runway 36R during EAA AirVenture), we taxied to the display ramp. After securing the airplane and wiping off the bugs, it was time to check out the other early arrivals at the show.
Gorgeous Lockheed Electra resplendent in mirror bright polish. Click image for a larger picture
One of the Tora! Tora! Tora! “Kate” torpedo bombers. Click image for a larger picture
F4F Wildcat. Click image for a larger picture
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