Every year, more than 10,000 aircraft fly to Wisconsin for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Of those, nearly 3,000 are showplanes — vintage aircraft, warbirds, homebuilts, aerobatic airplanes, etc. — that are displayed around the grounds. But some visitors may notice other airplanes parked here and there that didn’t fly in at all, because they’re part of the EAA Aviation Museum collection.
Because our museum exhibits rotate, many of these aircraft are only viewable by the public during AirVenture, spending the rest of the year in long-term storage on the convention grounds. Here’s an ongoing guide to some of these airplanes you’ll see as you wander the neighborhoods of AirVenture.
Aircraft: North American P-64
Location: Warbirds
Aircraft: North American/Canadair F-86 Sabre Mk. V1
Location: Forums Area
Aircraft: Pereira Osprey 2
Location: Forums Area
Designed by George Pereira, the Osprey 2 is a two-seat homebuilt amphibian built from plans. The EAA Aviation Museum’s example is the original prototype that first flew in 1973.
Aircraft: Cozy CO-2
Location: Forums Area
The Cozy was developed with inspiration from Burt Rutan’s iconic Long-EZ. The airplane features side-by-side seating, with an optional third seat in the back. The example on display is the prototype, which was introduced at Oshkosh in 1982 by designer and builder Nat Puffer.
Aircraft: 1938 Ryan STA/STM Super Sport
Location: Forums Area
The Ryan Aeronautical Company introduced the ST, or Sport Trainer, in 1934, followed soon thereafter by the STA Super Sport which was equipped with a 125-hp Menasco C-4 engine. The Guatemalan Air Force bought six of the airplanes in 1938, designated STM and including larger cockpit cutouts and two wing-mounted Lewis machine guns. The museum’s example was built from parts of those STMs after World War II, and it was later restored in Guatemalan Air Force colors and donated to EAA in 2003.
Aircraft: Rutan Model 72 Grizzly
Location: Forums Area
The Grizzly is a one-of-a-kind aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. First flown in 1982, Rutan used the four-seat Grizzly for short takeoff and landing (STOL) research. Sporting a large canard, which, like the main wing, has large Fowler flaps, and slender spring gear, the distinctive airplane is unmistakably Rutan.
Aircraft: Williams V-Jet II
Location: Forums Area
The V-Jet II is a one-of-a-kind very light jet designed for Williams International jet engines by Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites. Built as a test bed and demonstrator for the company’s FJX-2 engine, it served as inspiration for the Eclipse 500 and was flown in support of that program before being donated to the museum.
Aircraft:
Stoddard-Hamilton GlaStar
Location: Forums Area
The GlaStar was designed by Tom Hamilton of Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft and first flew in 1994. The high-wing two-seater was sold as a kit that could be built with tricycle gear or as a taildragger. EAA’s example is the original prototype.
Aircraft: Stits SA-11A Playmate
Location: Forums Area
Designer Ray Stits built the SA-11A Playmate as a simple and inexpensive homebuilt in the late 1960s. The side-by-side two-seater was powered by a 125-hp Lycoming O-290 and featured quick-folding wings that made the airplane fit in a standard-sized garage. Ray donated the prototype to EAA in 1969.
Aircraft: QAC Quickie
Location: Forums Area
In 1975, a couple of pilots named Tom Jewett and Gene Sheehan approached designer Burt Rutan to ask him to design an airplane around an 18-hp industrial generator engine. The unusual tailless design with the large canard was introduced at Oshkosh in 1978. The museum’s example is serial No. 4.
Aircraft: Myers PM-1 Special
Location: Forums Area
In 1949, H.H. “Pete” Myers bought a damaged Piper J-3C-65 Cub on floats. He removed the floats and sold them, and then started modifying it for aerobatics. Over the next several years, he made several radical changes, including replacing the original 65-hp engine with a 100-hp Lycoming O-235-C, installing a set of clipped Taylorcraft wings, and shortening the fuselage by 3 feet. Myers and his PM-1 were fixtures on the Midwest air show circuit for years.
Aircraft: 1971 Monnett Sonerai I
Location: Forums Area
Designer John Monnett of Oshkosh’s own Sonex Aircraft built this prototype of his Sonerai I in just eight months after he was inspired by a lecture given by Steve Wittman in the late 1960s. Built to comply with the Formula Vee racing standards, the airplane is powered by a Volkswagen engine, and plans are still available.
Aircraft: 1946 de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B.35
Location: Warbirds
Known as the “wooden wonder” because of its construction, the Mosquito was a fast and versatile fighter bomber built by de Havilland in the United Kingdom and Canada. First flown in 1940, more than 7,700 Mosquitos were built until the type went out of production in 1950. Our example is on loan from the collection of Kermit Weeks.
Aircraft: 1944 Culver PQ-14B Kadet
Location Warbirds
We hear all about drones these days, but they’re nothing new. The PQ-14B was an optionally piloted target drone that could be flown remotely from the ground or from another airplane, following as many as 5 miles behind. Our example was used in testing midair wingtip coupling, an alternative means of towing aircraft by joining them to the wingtips of a larger aircraft.