Oshkosh 2010 Pic Stream #4 - AvGeek Nation! (26 pix)
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:03AM 
You see a little bit of everything at Oshkosh... this portable toilet 'environment enhancement' is just down the road from me in Camp Scholler. I would never have thought to do such a thing. Never.
I've been seeing the very cool mega-super-sized-kind-of-a-Super-Cub airplane called Sherpa for years at Oshkosh, but I've never really got the idea that airplanes were being built, delivered or otherwise getting into the hands of people who want them. So, I stopped by the booth to find out what's going on. The bottom line is that after years of not quite having things all sorted out, things are now finally all sorted out. It looks like the Garrett prop-jet powered 8-place super STOL homebuilt airplane is ready to take on the world. I'll have more info on this big beautiful beast before long.
I saw this fuselage mock-up from a distance and thought maybe it was something related to a Rutan-style space project, but when I got closer, I could see it was looking like a cross between a sailplane and a rocket ship. Turns out, that's a pretty good way to describe the Perlan 2. It actually is a sailplane, but one designed to fly essentially where no airplane has before... at 90,000 feet! The fuselage will be pressurized so the 2 people on board won't have to wear the very cumbersome pressure suits. It's a very interesting project and one that I will go in-depth with here in the near future.
I love it when I run into an airplane from the early days of aviation that I knew nothing about and then find that's it's just off-the-scale amazing. The Hamilton H-47 Metalplane is that airplane at Oshkosh 2010 for me. In 1929, this airplane was built by the Hamilton Metalplane Company, right about that time it wound up being absorbed into the Boeing Company. It's a bit like a smaller, single engine Ford Tri-Motor in concept, and I find it simply fantastic. I'll be hoping to do some serious research on the history of the design in general, and also on this specific example. It's the only flying example of the approximately 30 that were built.
I really like this view of the flag jump opening the Wednesday airshow.
It does seem that absence makes the heart grow fonder... I haven't seen an F-4 Phantom fly for quite a while now, and I was surprised by how cool it was to see one in the airshow. It didn't hurt that two great looking A-4's were tagging along with it too.
A really great looking Cessna O-2 with a beautiful sky background.
Did ya know there are a lot of DC-3's/C-47's at OSH 2010? (see below : )
No, the Thunderbirds are not at Oshkosh, but two of their aircraft did make a fly-by and landed during the airshow for display.
Kyle and Amanda Franklin doing what they do! If you didn't see it, you should check out my 50 pic photo essay on the way they take the airplane apart after most airshows and haul it down the road in a trailer. It's pretty amazing.
It doesn't get anymore classic American aviation than a Piper Cub sitting in front of a DC-3/C-47. This is what Oshkosh is all about!
I've run a string of DC-3/C-47 pix here without details to show the variety of them on site this year. They are scattered all over the airport, and they definitely make things feel really good this year : )
More pix and info coming soon.
Reader Comments (6)
There's the DC-3 from the pics of my boy (a while back on here) - The blue and polished one with the flag. Sweet.
Show some ultralights and homebuilts pleeeeeease....
Great Pics!
Hi Guys: I left Oshkosh on Wednesday and missed the Glasair Sportsman Roadable (Sportsman with an undercarriage that allows it to function like a car). If someone who is still at Oshkosh could get some pictures of it and email them to me at flybum@comcast.net I will publish them in the next AV8 magazine (www.av8magazine.com) and will give you the credit for the photos. It will either be at the Glasair Booth or at the homebuilders pavilion.
Awesome pictures, Martt! What kind of camera are you using? Thanks for posting for those of us who couldn't make it.
I will get there one day!
Great pics.
We operate warbirds in Australia, but the US is where it's at. Mecca mate.
Bill- I see it now that the polished and blue DC-3 looks like the same on from: Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters (CARS): DC-3 At KCCO (Plus Dillan!) - that's pretty cool!
Carolyn- Nothing fancy, just an Olympus E-500 DSLR. YOU were supposed to make it this year! OK, well, you better be there in 2011 : )
Anatole- Glad you like the pix. Hope you'll be able to make OSH11 (start planning now, it'll be here before you know it)
The Port-o-Let with the flowers is set up by a group from South Africa, and they have a bunch of tents right behind it. The Port-o-Let is for the ladies of their group.
They organize an Oshkosh tour for South African pilots every year. They are always a GREAT group to chat with, with plenty of funny stories from Africa.