A Fantastic Week

[Wyandot Jim]

Hey Guys,
Last week my DIL took off work to take care of my wife who has advanced dementia. We have been staying with them due to wife's condition for the last year. This allowed my Son and I to go to the BIG fly-in in Oshkosh WI. It took us about 4.5 hours to get there in "Ruby The Staggerwing" We had a great time meeting old friends and making new ones.
The best part was Ruby being awarded the award for World War II Era Champion
In 2002 Trey was with me when I won an award for my Starduster Too that I built.
It was great to be with him winning his award. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay for the awards ceremony on Saturday night since we had to leave Sat. morning due to bad weather predicted on Sunday.

Son's post
A Lifetime Experience at OSH 26 this week. At age 10, my 1st year at OSH was walking the flight line of Staggerwings with Dad and dreaming of one day being a caretaker of one and flying it to the big show, well this was our year! We won WW II Era Champion, thanks to everyone who made it possible, especially the EAA volunteer judges.
The Judges telling son the great news. I'm the old fat guy on the right.

 

[Cholo]

Way to go Jim and Trey!

 

[Kevin]

That is so cool! Oshkosh was in the news last week. Some guy wrote a story about building a plane and flying up there from Monroe LA.

So did you fly 4 1/2 hours non stop? Or did you have to land somewhere and refuel?

And how do you do it? Just point the nose north? It’s very interesting to me about this.

I bet that was a lot of fun. Congratulations!

 

[Kings6]

Congratulations Jim! Sounds like a great time with Trey!

 

[Neon Vernon]

Very cool, congratulations! I'm behind on OSH trips, have been in '80, '88, '05 and '11. Flew in for 88 and 05, drove the other 2 times.

Flying in is way better, especially in a class ride like a Staggerwing.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Here are some of the numbers for the fly-in. As you can see it is a pretty big show.

 

[turd]

Excellent! What a great way to spend some time with your son and the plane.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Looks great, that is a fine week indeed!

 

[Fox Mike]

Congratulations Trey! I know you and Jim pit in many hours making it the show-winner it is.

 

[Mike J]

Congratulations, it is good to see you & your son having a good time & winning. The plane is beautiful.

 

[rugerguy]

......G1, awesome, cannot beat that in any way,,,,,,,,,,,,
and so are the pictures....

 

[contender]

It's hard to add much to what's already been said. But I will say that BOTH of y'all will have the memory of this year as a special one as father & son!
EXCELLENT!!!!

 

[Watertender]

I'm glad you had a banner week. It's nice when that happens.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

That is so cool! Oshkosh was in the news last week. Some guy wrote a story about building a plane and flying up there from Monroe LA.

So did you fly 4 1/2 hours non stop? Or did you have to land somewhere and refuel?

And how do you do it? Just point the nose north? It’s very interesting to me about this.

I bet that was a lot of fun. Congratulations!

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all of the great post.

Kevin,
Yep, in the old days I would just point the nose in the direction I wanted to go. I have flown over a lot of this great country by drawing a line on an aeronautical chart and following that line with my compass. Now most of the navigation is done with a GPS receiver. Since Ruby is pretty much original it doesn't have a GPS radio. Son uses his phone or a tablet for all needed weather and navigation information. He buys a navigation APP that has this feature.

We stopped about an hour from Oshkosh to get gas and allow the mass arrival/formation of 115+- Beechcraft Bonanzas to arrive. The Saturday that we arrived there were 1600 take off and landings with very poor visibility due to smoke.

Some of the Bonanzas about to depart for Osh.

P-51s at Fighter Town parking.

A small portion of the planes. Notice that there is not a piece of trash anywhere

Some of the camping. They have plenty of bathroom facilities for the tent campers

You can also camp with your plane.

 

[Kevin]

That would be so impressive to see. Thanks for all the pictures.

 

[jmca]

I like his pictures from the Air! My wife and I have been going for 6 years. The past 2 years we have been volunteering at least half of our day in the Vintage area. Great people, Great place!