By Dan Workman, EAA 1269311
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 father, Roger Workman, is 100 percent responsible for my interest in aviation. Dad and I would often just jump in the car to go for a ride out to the local airport in Keokuk, Iowa. We would wait to see if anything landed or what was parked on the ramp. On family vacations we would often visit the larger airports and sit at the end of the runway and plane watch.
We would watch Airwolf on TV and build models together. I can remember building Airwolf, Blue Thunder, and TC’s Hughes 500 from Magnum P.I. It was like the awesome ’80s chopper collection.
I can remember my dad reading Chuck Yeager’s biography to me as a kid, and how proud I was when I could finally fit into his Confederate Air Force jacket. I have always been a warbird fan, military aviation, that kind of thing, but Dad’s love of aviation centers around the classics. Dad has always been a sucker for old Cessnas and the Beech Staggerwing. Just last year he took my son to an antique aviation event and they had such a blast.
He also took me to my first air show in Davenport, Iowa. I do not remember the year, only that I was about 7 or 8 years old. We saw the Blue Angels, Shockwave, and ZAR! I came home with a poster of this alien (actually air show pilot Jimmy Franklin) in a motorcycle helmet and a cape standing in front of this sweet looking black airplane. After that air show I was hooked.
My wife likes to tease me because as soon as I found out I was going to be a dad, I did two things. First, I went right out and ordered a plush Blue Angels plane for our child to be, and then I started researching pedal plane kits. I had seen some on the internet years before, but as soon as I got the news, I was on a mission!
Wyatt was born in December of 2011, and construction on our pedal plane began in August of 2013. My father and I built it in his garage, working mainly on Sundays due to his work schedule. It was an experience that I really enjoyed, and it allowed Dad and I to work together on something that allowed us to directly share that love of aviation with Wyatt. Through all the challenges and setbacks, we finished it in April of 2014.
My son and I attended AirVenture for the first time in 2018. We were part of a group of builders and craftsmen who came together to set an unofficial world record for the largest gathering of pedal planes. The majority of those planes were built based on the plans designed by the late Marv Hoppenworth and sold by Pedal Plane Kits. The event took place on Wednesday on Boeing Plaza and included a pedal plane parade!
I joined a Facebook group for pedal plane builders about three years ago and through that group I met Andy Ovans. He worked with EAA in membership, and with the traveling EAA Spirit of Aviation experience. Andy shared an article about a group called the Y.E.S. Flyers in the U.K. setting a world record for the largest gathering of pedal planes. Andy reached out to me and several other members, and got the ball rolling on a U.S. attempt to break that record.
It’s been almost one year exactly since Andy called to tell me that we would be holding our world record attempt at AirVenture. It took me a moment to clue in that AirVenture meant Oshkosh! As soon as I got off the phone, I ran over to Wyatt’s room. It was still early enough on a Sunday that he wasn’t up yet so I woke him up and told him the news.
For me, the AirVenture experience was defined by the wonderful people we met. I heard, or read, something during AirVenture, “you come for the airplanes, you go back for the people.” That could not be more true!
Walking in through the blue lot on Wednesday morning for the pedal plane event, I had to stop several times just to take it all in. We arrived at the Aviation Products tent, just in front of the merchandise store, and there were all of these people from the builders group and we started talking and laughing, it was like we had known each other our whole lives! All of us connected by these little pedal planes and our love of aviation.
Wednesday’s air show ended, and we ended our day with a pedal plane parade. All 29 pedal planes in attendance, enough to break the U.K. record by four, lined up and headed over to Boeing Plaza for a photo in front of the C-5 Galaxy. As we had more planes than pilots — local kids or kids who were attending AirVenture — we were given the chance to take part in the parade. The parade and the entire pedal plane event would not have been possible without Rob Petersen and Andy. Rob and I are already reaching out to our builders to get things ready for AirVenture 2019!
Beyond the pedal plane parade my favorite memory was finding out that Moonbeam McSwine was back in the U.S. again! Wyatt and I had our picture taken in front of the plane, and we went over and took a moment to pay our respects at Vlado Lenoch’s brick in Warbird Alley. It was a goosebumps moment for sure.
“I liked making new friends,” Wyatt said when I asked what his favorite part of AirVenture was. “I met a boy named A.J. and his dad Andy. Andy worked at Oshkosh. We had lots of fun riding our pedal planes in the parade and we took turns sitting in each other’s airplanes after the parade was over. His pedal plane looked like a biplane that was in the air show [Sean D. Tucker’s Oracle Challenger].”
I have always dreamed of getting my personal pilot certificate. Life seems to get in the way, but after attending AirVenture in 2018 I set a goal for myself to start earning my certificate before I turn 40, which gives me three more years!