Oshkosh Odds And Ends- Part II

By: Tom Woodward

As you stop and visit vendor booths of those products that interest you, one is inundated with literature that explains the highlights and embellishes the attributes of each product, sometimes to a level that Madison Avenue would be proud of. One such thing is the community bulletin board. These boards are scattered throughout the airport grounds and at the beginning of the week I have often been disappointed at their bareness.

As the week progresses these boards will fill up with airplanes for sale, unfinished projects that their owners have lost interest in or just plain given up on, and other unrelated, must-have items (at least to the person who might be buying, but not for the person selling them). Being a person who has started three flying projects but failed to finish any, I have learned that I am quite good at starting a project but terrible at completing one so I understand the need for such a board. I now know my limitations but the community boards are proof that this lesson is repeated over and over each year. You will occasionally find parts, wrecks and the occasional self-designed invention that will change the world…well, until such time as it finds it’s way to the community board. Check the boards again mid-weekend and you will see them bending to the ground under the weight of the ads that have found their way to the board, pinned to the board to the point that ads are layered on top of other ads because there is no more room.

Being a multi-airplane buyer (I’m on my 16th airplane in the last 22 years-too many airplanes to fly, not enough time!) and having owned two Oshkosh Grand Champion Winners (no, I didn’t build them-see above), i consider myself to be a savvy buyer, with my finger on the pulse of pricing and value, so I’m usually amused to see that most people have priced their airplane/project as if they owned a Grand Champion or with a little effort (yours of course) it could be. I would be interested to know what the percentage of postings to sales are successful. i think i’ll get our numbers guy on that right away.

The Lambeau Experience

If you don’t know what a “Cheesehead” is you best learn while at Oshkosh because you are close to Lambeau Field, home to the Green Bay Packers, an American Football team just north in the mostly frozen city of Green Bay. To our Foreign visitors that’s not that game where too many skinny people constantly run from end to end of the field, occasional flopping on the ground seeking your sports version of the Grammy (perhaps The Floppy?) for who pretends to be hurt the worst.

I’m talking about the sport where very large men run from end to end of a field trying to carry a pigskin before another very large guy tries to break his neck. In this part of the world it’s almost a religion. So if you are one of the few who are uninformed take a stroll over the the Lambeau Field Live exhibit just east of the control tower. I strolled through the area to see what it was all about but being a Dallas Cowboys fan i thought my fellow Texans wouldn’t let me come back home if I spent too much time there. I did enjoy the soft artificial grass under my feet which was a big relief after a day of walking the grounds.

 I watched as a young child of maybe 6 years of age, was measuring her vertical leap on a contraption that she had to jump up and swat like a fly. Maybe by the time she is of age The NFL will let women play. After losing so many fans the last couple of years because of the kneeling nonsense, I think I’d come back as a fan to see that!

After coming to Oshkosh since 1979 and only missing two of those years I’ll continue to walk the grounds and search of the unusual so stand by for part three.

(Images provided by the author)

FMI: www.eaa.org