2011 EAA Fly-In Part 1

The last week in July is the world famous EAA Fly-In here in Oshkosh. EAA stands for Experimental Aircraft Association and there are chapters all over the world. In fact, Justin's grandfather was one of the founding members of the Waco chapter EAA. The annual Fly-In is a huge event here in Oshkosh and typically it is very difficult to find lodging for that week anywhere close to here. So, when we moved here, there were a few people who were very interested in staying with us during that week. Justin's grandfather, W.D., was one of them. He came up from Texas with Justin's aunt, Shira. Then, my uncle and aunt, John and Trish, came up from Kansas. John also used to fly planes and was very excited about getting the opportunity to go to the Fly-In.

This week long event occured during one of the warmer weeks here in Oshkosh, unfortunately. It wasn't the 100+ degrees that it was in either Texas or Kansas but the humidity was pretty high that week, so it felt uncomfortable at times outside. So, Justin, Garytt and myself only went out for three different afternoons during the airshow and then came home. Our guests would head out at 9 in the morning and stay until dinner time. I didn't think Garytt could handle being outside that much...which was a great excuse because I also didn't think I could be outside that much...hahaha.

Anyhow, the first day that we went out, we forgot our camera...geez, what were we thinking?! But we did get to watch the airshow, which was fun. We actually walked as the airshow was starting and there was a F-17 low fly-by...very loud and very cool!

The second day, we walked through the old war plane section. I actually thought these planes were pretty neat. (And as always, old war planes remind me of my Grandpa Skahan who was part of the Night Fighters in WWII.)









On our way to meeting up with W.D. and Shira, we found this kids area with little planes that they could sit in. They were actually like little peddal cars but they had blocks set up so the kids couldn't actually peddal them around.


Garytt the pilot



Well, we eventually found our way to W.D. and Shira who had a spot saved for us to watch the airshow. They had a spot underneath one of the homemade planes, so we had a little bit of shade, which was great. It was amazing to see such a huge field with all these homemade planes!


W.D., Shira, Jen (behind G), and Garytt hanging out in the shade


W.D., Shira, Jen, and Garytt




Garytt clapping during the show...he had his pacifier because he missed his afternoon nap that day.

Here are some pictures from the airshow.







Since the airshow on this day was mostly about the old war planes, they actually dropped some bombs not far from the runway. So, we all had to stand up to see the excitement. It was really pretty impressive!


Standing up to see the "bombings"


Cloud of smoke from a bomb

Towards the end of the airshow, they also had parachuters coming down with different colored flags and the US flag.


Parachuters and the field of homemade planes





That was the end of the day for W.D., Garytt, and myself. Everyone came home for dinner and then the rest of them went back out for the night show that evening.