By Jerry Burke, EAA 365400
To celebrate 50 consecutive years of fly-in conventions in Oshkosh, we’re featuring Stories of Oshkosh told by attendees remembering their special moments at EAA’s long-standing home. If you or someone you know would like to share your own Story of Oshkosh, email editorial@eaa.org
My very first time going to the EAA fly-in convention when it moved to Oshkosh in 1970, I recall being more curious than anything. As a radio news reporter back then, I had visions of strange or different looking airplanes coming in, given the name “experimental aircraft.” But on that early August day, as I drove out to the south side of what was then named Wittman Field, where the planes and people were gathering, I became instantly smitten not only with the caliber and types of airplanes on the grounds, but even more so with the people who own and fly them.
There were some familiar names like Piper, Cessna, and Bonanza, but also a lot of names I had never heard of. On that first day, I met Paul Poberezny. He was genuinely accommodating, especially when I mentioned my namesake. Uncle Jerry was a B-24 pilot in World War II who was shot down and killed over Belgium in 1944, two days after he turned 23. From that day forward, Paul became a good friend and trusted source for anything and everything EAA.
In 1973, I moved from radio to television, and told my news director at WBAY-TV in Green Bay that we should provide wall-to-wall coverage of this event. Initially, he questioned my judgment saying, “Maybe a day or two, but I see no reason for more.”
The stories generated quickly the first two days and he changed his mind, especially on one story about a B-17 from the Commemorative Air Force. The crew allowed me to ride and film in the nose gun bay. From that year forward, WBAY-TV was at EAA every day during the convention. Starting in 1977, WBAY-TV did its entire 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts live from the convention grounds. As a result of that near-constant presence, many EAA members became friends and remain so to this day.
If memory serves me right, ultralights made their first appearance at Oshkosh in 1973 or ’74. There were maybe a dozen or so. A couple of them required the pilot to literally use their feet for takeoff and landing. Back then, they were confined to a small grass strip just west of the old tower. At first, many attendees viewed them as curious!
One of the things about the early EAA years in Oshkosh is that there were technically no air shows, they were simply called flybys. Paul was pretty firm back in those days and he could often be heard saying, “We don’t do air shows! They’re flybys!” I never did ask him why, but as the years went by, the flybys went bye-bye, and EAA became known for its air shows.
By the mid-1970s, EAA was becoming known as an aviation mecca, and was drawing ever-increasing numbers of foreign visitors, including an annual party-loving bunch from Australia, who often chartered a Qantas 747 to bring them to Oshkosh.
Then in 1985 came the airplane that certified, at least to me, EAA as the aviation event in the world, the British Airways Concorde. When Capt. John Koch brought that needle nosed supersonic thoroughbred down onto Runway 18/36 and did a touch-and-go, the tens of thousands who had lined up to witness the Concorde simply went wild.
Having the Concorde at EAA changed so much for this annual event and put it on the map as a must-see for so many outside the aviation industry. The Concorde would visit EAA five times before its days in the sky ended in 2002. With each visit, the attendance would reflect its drawing power.
Our son, Kristopher, was 2 years old when the Concorde first came. It made such an impression on him that he wished for a ride in it. In ’94 that wish came true.
In 1989, an aircraft no one ever expected to see at EAA arrived. It was the Soviet Union’s Aeroflot Antonov 124. Thanks to glasnost, the Soviets came and enthralled everyone, especially when they landed with the flags of their motherland and the U.S. flying outside their cockpit windows. The crew was simply captivating, sincere, and a joy to chit-chat with.
Over the years, several military flying teams have put on precision performances at EAA. Until recently, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds weren’t allowed to perform at Oshkosh. Thankfully, that’s changed. The Canadian Snowbirds performed at Oshkosh in 1983 for the last time before they returned in 2016. They’re among my favorites for the simple reason that they’re based just a few miles from where my father was raised in Saskatchewan, Canada. They last performed at AirVenture in 2016.
After 37 years of covering EAA’s annual convention, retirement from doing the news arrived. That first AirVenture out of news found me working with the West Ramp Rats at the invitation of then-chairman, Zonnie Fritsche. The crew allowed me to bring in the F-16 that had landed. As the pilot crawled out of the cockpit, one of the other Rats yelled out, “You just had a virgin bring ya in!” That brought out a chorus of solid belly laughs by everyone.
After EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007, Tom Poberezny called me to his office and said to me, “If you’re going to volunteer out here, we’re wasting your talents!” So between us, we came up with the idea of “plane talk,” where I would do extended (usually a half-hour) interviews with the pilots about them and their aircraft on what’s now called Boeing Plaza. The plaza crew has embraced my mission and is simply fun to work with.
In the past 12 years, like my 38 years in news, I’ve been privileged to interview many wonderful and gifted pilots — both military and civilian. I always do my best to prepare for each interview so I don’t come across to Chuck Yeager, as I like to put it, as a dumbass asking really stupid questions! And, no, in my several interviews with him, the general never said that to me!
Finally, may I say I’m proud of the many pilots that have become good friends. I’ve always said, at AirVenture there’s a million stories about the pilots and their planes. That’s what’s so enjoyable about AirVenture; it’s like a huge annual family reunion!