Gala Held At The EAA Museum During AirVenture
By Tom Woodward
Through a streak of luck my bride and I had an opportunity to attend the “Gathering of Eagles” dinner at the Airventure museum.
Sometime prior to Oshkosh I must have entered a contest from an email I received from the inflight entertainment and Internet Company, Gogo Business Aviation. I barely have a working radio in my 1947 Stinson, let alone a full entertainment system. Having flown professionally I was familiar with Gogo, as my airline and most all other airlines used them to provide inflight entertainment and more recently internet use, a blessing that I would have liked to have in my child rearing days to keep the young ones occupied on those long flights.
While at Oshkosh I was surprised to get an email from Marissa Shue, Strategic Marketing Manager for Gogo, informing me that I won what I didn’t remember I entered. Part of the winning booty was an invitation to the Gathering of Eagles dinner. After attending a few Swedish meatball, vegetables and BBQ offerings we were pleasantly surprised. NO shocked, at the extravagant gala EAA put on. The Gathering of Eagles is an elegant dinner EAA puts on to solicit donations that go towards promoting the Young Eagle Program.
The event was held on the main floor of the museum with a preview of numerous donated items, which were offered in a silent auction. Prior to dinner being served we were introduced to nine members of the Apollo program including Astronauts Cunningham, Borman, Lovell, Engle, Aldrin, Gordon, Haise, Worden and Apollo 13 Lead Flight Director Gene Kranz. There were at least 100 tables holding about 10 people each. Sean Tucker entertained us in his exuberant manner reminding us why we all were there and he was followed by the famous dance troupe, the “Silhouettes”, a shadow dancing team of all ages who have performed on “America's Got Talent” where they won second place. Their aviation themed choreography was beautifully done, weaving a story of the birth of aviation, through movement behind a screen, where you could only see their shadows.
The first item of business was a countdown solicitation, starting at $75,000, giving anyone who wanted to donate, a chance to get things rolling. At $60,000 the first bidder, Jeff Bezos raised his paddle. By the time his table partners chimed in the bid was up to $75,000. The bidding continued incrementally all the way down to the $500 level.
The surprise guest of the evening was Stan Lee, former VP and Publisher of Marvel Comics and co-creator of such iconic characters as Spider Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and other comic book characters. He was there to announce a collaborative effort with EAA Young Eagles to introduce a new character named “Aviore” with the idea that if you can get young kids who read comics interested in aviation early you can keep them interested as adults. At a sprite 93 years of age, Lee still has charisma, and was quite entertaining to listen to.
Before the big auction items were rolled out Stan and Jack Pelton, who shared the mic, announced the first item. Stan put up for bid the chance to be a character in the First Edition of Aviore, flying you out to be a VIP guest at the premier of the movie "Thor:Ragnarok" and the chance to walk the Red Carpet as well as an invitation to the Hollywood after party. His offer brought 55 thousand dollars to Young Eagles.
Other packages available for bidding included a behind the scenes tour of the Johnson Space Center with two space pioneers, Walt Cunningham and Gerry Griffin. Several opportunities to mingle with NASCAR teams and driver and a pit pass prior to the race and VIP seating during the race, type ratings in a Citation Jet and a B-25 or a stay in the Hilton Garden Oshkosh and tour the grounds during next year's Oshkosh in VW Red 5.
The final item up for bid was the one-of- a-kind Ford 150 F22 Raptor pickup truck, sporting a 3.5L 545 hp EcoBoost engine. The Raptor brought a bid of $305,000, a good end to the evening.
(Staff images)
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