OSH Disappointments

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:7nDRc.253451$JR4.113312@attbi_s54...

5. Where was the Confederate Air Force?


It no longer exists. The name was changed to Commemorative Air Force a few
years ago.

5. Where was the Confederate Air Force?


It no longer exists. The name was changed to Commemorative Air Force a
few
years ago.

Oh, I know. But I refuse to address them by their politically-correct,
fluff-name.

An interesting side-note: I've noticed that most air show announcers
continue to ignore the name change as well. At OSH the Helldiver was
consistently referred to as the "Confederate Air Force's Helldiver"...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:7nDRc.253451$JR4.113312@attbi_s54...
4. The Grass was Too Long. It seemed EAA hadn't cut the North 40 grass in
at least a week, and it was easily 6 to 8 inches tall. While this is great
for setting up a tent, it makes for green prop tips.

Much of the South 40 was unmowed (well they had harvested the hay) and they
were just one step ahead of where we were putting airplanes. Even the "ditch"
taxiway didn't get mowed until late.

5. Where was the Confederate Air Force? In years past, the CAA was a
commanding presence in the warbirds section, with Fi Fi (the only flying
B-29 in the world) as its centerpiece.

I wouldn't say they were ever a commanding presence. Fifi wasn't there last year
either was it? We were really lean on heavier warbird iron this year.


6. The Sunday Airshow Sucked. Way too many performers bugged out early,
and the show was the worst I've ever seen in OSH.

Yep, EAA's persistant tinkering with what day-of-the-week the airshow starts combined
with the weather. The airboss even handled people departing the show directly from the
airshow on the Saturda and Sunday airshow. Of course, we saved all that pyro money
for the "Masters of Stupidity" show.


7. Long-Term North 40 Camper Parking? When bad weather was predicted (but,
of course, never materialized) a whole bunch of folks departed early. This
left huge holes in the North 40 between campers, some of which were
in-filled by later arrivals, but not all.

Again, this is also caused by starting on Tuesday (which may be a good thing or
a bad thing). People were departing on Wednesday. We did a pretty good job
of backfilling down in Vintage.

8. Losing the Piggly Wiggly is a pain.

Ditto the WalMart...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:2iKRc.117958$eM2.10638@attbi_s51...

An interesting side-note: I've noticed that most air show announcers
continue to ignore the name change as well. At OSH the Helldiver was
consistently referred to as the "Confederate Air Force's Helldiver"...


When speaking of military aircraft and operations those announcers tend to
make many mistakes.

Jay Honeck wrote:
Lest any of you think that I'm so google-eyed about Oshkosh that I can't
find anything to bitch about, here are a few nits I'd like to pick:

1. No Glacier Girl. Again, Glacier Girl (the P-38 so many of us OSH-goers
contributed money to recover and restore) was a no-show. (Although there
WAS a real ME-109 at the show -- a first!) Ungrateful *******s.

Someone has to pay the $100k insurance for the week. Plus, only one
person is approved by the insurers to fly it. If he isn't available, the
airplane has to sit.

3. EAA Clothing Sucks. Most years EAA does a commendable job creating
slick and colorful souvenir shirts. This year the colors were weird, the
materials felt cheap, and the prices remained high. For the first time,
ever, I left OSH without a couple of show golf shirts.

Hey, top of the line Chinese knockoffs provide the most profit.

5. Where was the Confederate Air Force? In years past, the CAA was a
commanding presence in the warbirds section, with Fi Fi (the only flying
B-29 in the world) as its centerpiece. For at least the fifth year in a
row, the CAA was a virtual no-show, with only a few token planes. (The very
cool and rare Helldiver being a notable exception this year.) Where's the
heavy metal?

Haven't they suffered some losses in the past year? Their insurance may
have gone up and the sponsorship may not have been available. I know
when they have come to Columbus OH in the past, the local group has
worked their butts off to come up with the sponsorship money to pay for
fuel.

7. Long-Term North 40 Camper Parking? When bad weather was predicted (but,
of course, never materialized) a whole bunch of folks departed early. This
left huge holes in the North 40 between campers, some of which were
in-filled by later arrivals, but not all.
It would be cool if there was a way for EAA to park long-term campers
together in the North 40. Perhaps instead of simply putting "GAC" in the
window, we could display "7-Day GAC" -- which would signal the EAA flagmen
to direct us to the front rows? This would make late-week "in-filling"
much easier, too.

And how many people will just put a sign "7-day GAC" in the windscreen
just to get a close camping spot so they don't have to walk?

8. Losing the Piggly Wiggly is a pain. The Pick N Save store is great, but
it's just a bit too far away. One good thing, though, is that a shopping
cart system evolved over the week, whereby folks would push their shopping
cart all the way back to the North 40 and abandon it near the gate. Then,
others heading over to Pick N Save would wheel the cart back, and the cycle
would continue. At first we all looked like a bunch of street people,
pushing stolen shopping carts around Oshkosh -- but the system worked, and
Pick N Save didn't seem to mind. (Unlike the ghetto, all the shopping carts
were returned in the end!)

Pick & Save was no farther than Piggly Wiggly was. I walked to it every
day for evening meals and ice. I think they have a better selection than
Piggly Wiggly did. (Although they did not have lobster, sorry Margie.)
WalMart was a loss, but Target has done a good job of filling the niche
with low priced goods competitive with WalMart prices.

Pick & Save was no farther than Piggly Wiggly was.

It sure was from my campsite!

Your mileage may vary -- literally.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message news:411770df$0$2426

I wouldn't say they were ever a commanding presence. Fifi wasn't there
last year
either was it? We were really lean on heavier warbird iron this year.

Is that happening everywhere (except at warbird shows?) The last Rose
Festival Airshow I (will probably ever) attended was disgusting. The view
of the airshow was blocked by inflatable beer cans, SUVs and corporate
logos. They had three WWI airplanes and a
P-38 but you couldn't see them because although they were open to the
public, they were surrounded by opague plastic barricades without any
marking to let the public know they were there.

The warbirds got such a short time to fly and were brought in to land with
such a short interval that one (a Yak,IIRC) slammed on the brakes and blew a
tire, and another nearly ground-looped trying to avoid that one. But that
truck-eating, fire-breathing dinosaur thing sure got plenty of time! And
you couldn't walk around the warbirds at all except for the '38.

That and $5 ATM fees. But, I got to meet Bob Hoover so it wasn't a complete
loss.

-c

"john smith" wrote in message news:NdMRc.7538

Someone has to pay the $100k insurance for the week. Plus, only one
person is approved by the insurers to fly it. If he isn't available, the
airplane has to sit.

"Hey, man. We really need you to fly the P-38 at OSHKOSH! Can ya make it?"
"Naw...I'm going camping with some buddies and I gotta mow the lawn."

:

-c

Jay Honeck wrote:
Pick & Save was no farther than Piggly Wiggly was.

It sure was from my campsite!
Your mileage may vary -- literally.


You were no farther/further (?) from the Pick&Save this year than you
were from the Piggly Wiggly last year.
I parked in the exact same place this year as last year. The only
difference was, I couldn't hop on a bus.

Pick & Save was no farther than Piggly Wiggly was. I walked to it every
day for evening meals and ice. I think they have a better selection than
Piggly Wiggly did. (Although they did not have lobster, sorry Margie.)
WalMart was a loss, but Target has done a good job of filling the niche
with low priced goods competitive with WalMart prices.

Not a disappointment, but for future reference -

Across the parking lot from Pic& Save you will find China Buffet. The
quality
is decent, selection phenomenal, price reasonable, and, of course you
can pig out if you want. My wife dragged us back for a second
visit(she is partial to Chinese food).

I'd agree about Target. Their stores are much better than they were,
say,
ten years ago.

David Johnson