Gone West: Race Pilot Bill Brennand | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.12.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.06.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.07.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-05.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.09.25

Fri, Mar 17, 2017

Gone West: Race Pilot Bill Brennand

Passed Away March 14 At The Age Of 92

A fixture in the Oshkosh area and well-known race pilot William "Bill" Brennand (EAA 13078) has Gone West at the age of 92. EAA posted a notice of his passing on their website. Brennand passed away on March 14.

When he was a boy, Bill lived on a farm near what is now Wittman Regional Airport, named for his longtime friend, mentor, and sometime boss, Steve Wittman. He quickly went from watching Steve fly to working for him, earning money for flight training at Wittman Flying Service.

When he was just 23, Steve asked Bill to fly his airplane, Buster, in the Goodyear Trophy Race as part of the Cleveland National Air Races in August of 1947. Steve obviously had confidence in Bill’s abilities, but Bill would tell you that he got the job for weight and balance reasons: At just 100 pounds, he was 70 pounds lighter than Steve and, in racing, every ounce counts.

Buster was the rebuilt incarnation of Steve’s Chief Oshkosh, an airplane that hadn’t flown since a crash nearly 10 years earlier. Bill was thrilled to be there and perhaps no one was more surprised than he was that, during his first time racing anywhere, he won first place. He flew Buster around the 2.2-mile closed course at a top speed of 165.857 mph, besting Paul Penrose in Swee’ Pea by less than half of 1 mph. Also competing in that race were legendary Lockheed test pilots Tony Levier and Herman “Fish” Salmon, but they were several miles per hour slower.

After his early triumph in Cleveland, Bill continued racing for years, racking up an impressive number of victories before moving on to the world of corporate flying. He eventually built his own airport just north of Oshkosh, and it’s still going strong, bearing his name. Bill also loaned EAA some property on the shore of Lake Winnebago that is now the permanent home of the AirVenture Seaplane Base.

For more about Bill’s life and career, see our interview with him as part of EAA’s Timeless Voices program, as well as an in-depth webinar, presented by Bill and his biographer, Jim Cunningham, EAA 594611.

Most recently, Bill had been working with EAA Chapter 252 in Oshkosh on their project to build a replica of Buster for the EAA Aviation Museum, as the original hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Memorial services and other arrangements are pending.

(Image provided by EAA)

FMI: www.eaa.org

Advertisement

More News

ANN FAQ: Submit a News Story!

Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.13.25): Cleared For The Option

Cleared For The Option ATC authorization for an aircraft to make a touch-and-go, low approach, missed approach, stop and go, or full stop landing at the discretion of the pilot. It>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.13.25)

“...no entity, whether a division of government or a private company or corporation, may use information broadcast or collected by automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.14.25)

“While our traditional mechanical magnetos will be around for a long time, Hartzell Engine Tech acquired E-MAG to expand its PowerUP Ignition System product portfolio into bo>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.14.25): Flight Check

Flight Check A call-sign prefix used by FAA aircraft engaged in flight inspection/certification of navigational aids and flight procedures. The word “recorded” may be a>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC