Not dominated by commercial competition or military thunder, it is a showcase of all things related to aviation—antique restorations and warbird formations, homebuilt completions and microlight aircraft, seaplanes and gyroplanes—each have its area and following. But there’s no denying the marketing opportunity that the Oshkosh show presents, given its attendance of over half a million.

There are very few such massive influxes of like-minded people as the annual migration of aviation enthusiasts to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, located in the north-central US. Similar to a religious pilgrimage, with overtones of rock music festival, vintage car rally and military reenactment mixed in, it is, quite simply, an aviation extravaganza. Commonly written off as a sport aircraft gathering, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) mid-summer AirVenture event has evolved into a venue for all aspects of aviation.

For example, this year’s AirVenture featured the firstever public showing of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. The new composite-construction airliner landed at Oshkosh for a one-day stopover, allowing the assembled enthusiasts to troop aboard and engage in a walkaround. In the previous years, the show has been visited by the Airbus A380, Concorde SST, Guppy cargo haulers and various Boeing 747 iterations. Military attractions have included the C-5B, An-124 and C-17 transports, SR-71 and U-2 spyplanes, and tankers, fighters, bombers and trainers of all types.

AirVenture remains, however, an enthusiast’s show. Not dominated by commercial competition or military thunder, it is a showcase of all things related to aviation. Antique restorations and warbird formations, homebuilt completions and microlight aircraft, seaplanes and gyroplanes—each have its area and following. But there’s no denying the marketing opportunity that the Oshkosh show presents, given its attendance of over a half-million. That is precisely the reason many business aircraft makers take booth space on the grounds, to expose their wares to a large audience with hopes of finding a prospect. Not every AirVenture attendee is a mere light plane pilot and of those who are, some own business and company aircraft in addition to their personal plane.

Notable Events of AirVenture 2011

As usual, there were noteworthy happenings taking place at the air show. On day two, we witnessed the retirement announcement of Tom Poberezny, long-time President and Chairman of EAA and son of its founder, Paul Poberezny. Effective from August 1, he is handing over the chairmanship reins to Rod Hightower, currently the organisation’s President. For the first time in the EAA’s 60-year history, there will no longer be a Poberezny at its head.

By happenstance, well-known aviation publisher Dave Sclair died later the same day, fittingly succumbing to brain cancer at his home while the Oshkosh airshow was in full bloom, just as he would have wanted. It was Sclair who began the daily newspaper circulated at the show, seeing the need for a communication outlet at the event.

The 2011 show was favoured by benign weather conditions at its outset and at its conclusion, with some rainy spells at mid-week to enhance attendance at the interior exhibits. The temporary city constructed for AirVenture takes such minor difficulties in stride.

Noteworthy Aircraft Seen

There are always significant aircraft making an appearance at Oshkosh. This year, the Farmers Insurance advertising dirigible, a Zeppelin NT, cast its 246-foot shadow over the show. Dirigible rides were offered, for those not satisfied with hops in the Ford TriMotors or sightseeing from M*A*S*H-type helicopters. The Commerative Air Force’s Boeing B-29 bomber, Fifi, returned after a 16-year absence, given the new engines under the sponsorship of the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. As the only flyable World War II Superfortress in existence, it filled the Conoco-Phillips Square apron with style.

A rare Mitsubishi Zero fighter, a full-scale faithful replica of a Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighter and the only flyable SB2C Curtiss Helldiver torpedo bomber attracted an appreciative warbird-lover crowd. In smaller scale, Supermarine Aircraft showed its 90 per cent scale Spitfire kit aircraft. The Vintage Wings of Canada museum brought its Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber from World War II. As 2011 marked the 100th Anniversary of the US Navy’s entry into aviation, it was proclaimed that the airport would be called “Naval Air Station Oshkosh” for the week, and numerous events and aircraft centred on a nautical theme, including showings of practically every aircraft type in the Navy’s inventory.

Sikorsky Innovations showed its 250-knot X-2 research helicopter, soon to be installed in a museum. Innovative home built aircraft designers receiving special honours this year included Zenith Aircraft’s Chris Heintz and Scaled Composites’ Burt Rutan, both of whom had many examples of their designs flown in by builders for display.

In the business aircraft arena, Kestrel Aircraft announced the selection of Honeywell’s TPE331-14GR turboprop engine for the production version of Kestrel’s single-engine composite aircraft, currently flying in test-bed form with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A. Blackhawk Modifications proclaimed certification for its 850-shp XP42A conversion of the Cessna Caravan 208B, boosting horsepower by 175 to 250 shp and vastly improving high-and-hot, known icing and high-gross operation for Caravan operators. Meanwhile, Evektor Aircraft of the Czech Republic announced its twin-PT6A turboprop EV-55 Outback utility plane, and GripsAero division of Mahindra Aerospace announced the selection of the Rolls-Royce M250 turboprop engine for its GA10 utility single, an expanded version of the GripsAero GA8 piston-engine bushplane.

Also seen at the show were Bombardier’s Learjet 65, Hawker Beechcraft’s King Air 90GT, 250 and 350 models, the Hawker 200, Cessna’s Mustang and Caravan, Piper’s Altair single-engine jet and Cirrus Aircraft’s Vision SJ50 jet. Embraer proudly showed its Phenom 100 and 300 light jets and announced record sales for the entire Embraer line. The reborn Total Eclipse twinjet was repeatedly flown and HondaJet demonstrated its over-wing-engines light business jet prototype and announced flights of the conforming certification test aircraft. Daher-Socata marked its 100th anniversary as a company, dating from the Morane Saulnier origins in 1911; strong demand for the TBM850 very fast turboprop fuels speculation of a follow-on NTx twin jet, perhaps based on the Grob SPn. Pilatus Aircraft, which always pursues a unique thematic for the Oshkosh event, presented its PC-12NG as the centerpiece at a retro- 1950s “Pilatusville” bistro.