By Ambrose Hugo, EAA Lifetime 56898
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.
I have always loved aviation and I became a pilot in 1975, served in the Air Force during the Korean War, and now own a 1947 Stinson 108-1 and am a member of AOPA and the Vintage Aircraft Association in addition to being a lifetime member of EAA. Keith, my youngest son, is also a pilot.
Meeting Paul Poberezny, being made to feel welcome, and the convenience of the campground are all memorable moments of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh for me. Paul would check on people by driving around in his Red One Volkswagen Beetle. We have kept coming back because it feels like a family reunion every year! We meet up with familiar faces and people we have met over the years. There is no other gathering of so many people from all over the world where everyone is friendly and maintains the cleanliness of the area all week. There is a great culture of EAAers that make EAA what it is today.
Our family always felt comfortable at EAA. We pulled a camper and stayed in Camp Scholler until three years ago. For the past few years, we have rented a home in town. My wife, Nora, and I invite all of our children and grandchildren to come and stay with us and share the experience of EAA.
We have many fine memories of AirVenture. I have flown in the Ford Tri-Motor, taken a trip on Concorde, had a glider ride, and ridden in both the Goodyear Blimp and a Breezy. Every year, I take a ride in the Bell 47 helicopter from Pioneer Airport to check out the view from above! In our early years at EAA, we had many enjoyable EAA-sponsored tours around the area including dairy farms, paper mills, and the OshKosh B’gosh factory. Our children would ride an EAA bus to Lake Winnebago to swim.
We volunteered in the Vintage area and my wife would help make sandwiches for the food wagon. Over the years we have made donations for the museum, and our names are on two walls in the museum and our family name is on a brick by the Brown Arch, as well as the monument on Compass Hill near the Fergus Chapel. We spend time at the museum every year.
The Theater in the Woods is my favorite spot for meeting at the end of the day and enjoying some great programs. We enjoyed listening to Paul Harvey and Harold Best-Devereux of England as emcee, pilots including Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, astronauts, and many others.
We’ve met many neat people who volunteered at EAA. One local Wisconsin gentleman would reserve our space for us in the campground and we would pay for 10 extra days ahead so we could camp by him.
Every year there is some special attraction or plane to see. One time I was fortunate to get to go into the control tower and enjoyed listening to the air traffic controllers as planes were arriving.
Another highlight was getting to fly into EAA with Keith in his Mooney. In recent years, the night time air show and fireworks have become a favorite of mine as well!
The Young Eagles program is a big boost for the future of aviation. Aviation would not be what it is today without EAA! Without EAA, there would not be preservation of the history of aviation and bringing young people into aviation in the future.