By Phil Brown, EAA Lifetime 95809
Looking at the weather radar one evening I noticed that a Colorado thunderstorm was moving east and zeroing in on Oshkosh. It was a quick mover heading straight for Oshkosh — Oshkosh, Nebraska, that is!
It had just been announced that AirVenture 2020 had been canceled, so I got thinking that maybe we could fly to Oshkosh, Nebraska, instead? It’s only 180 miles away from our chapter’s home base near Denver, so it was time for a scouting run. It was a three-hour drive from the Denver area or an hour or so by airplane. The initial visit revealed a small farm town in the middle of the prairie, with a 4,700-foot runway that was a short walk to town.
Our EAA chapter, No. 43, has a committee called the Social Butterflies. This looked like an opportunity for the group to have a fly-out and still go to Oshkosh. Stan Specht, EAA Lifetime 431073, the Chapter 43 Social Butterflies chairman, got right on it. He talked it up around the chapter a bit and received many positive responses.
Stan mounted a second exploratory trip with John Evens, EAA Lifetime 89223, and family to take the short flight to Oshkosh. They met with Don Robertson, the manager of Oshkosh’s Garden County Airport (KOKS). Our EAAers were offered a large hangar and plenty of airplane parking and space for camping, followed by a tour of the town. The town of Oshkosh, Nebraska, population 800 plus, has restaurants and lodging within walking distance of the airport. While Nebraska’s Oshkosh couldn’t support a Wisconsin-sized fly-in, it looked like it would be perfect for our chapter members and a few others.
The Big Event
On Friday, July 24, five airplanes arrived to set up camp for the night. Saturday morning brought a steady stream of 35 or so additional airplanes with some 60 people. In all, about 115 people registered for the event, including folks from Colorado, Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, local residents, and those from surrounding Nebraskan communities. Saturday morning Scott and Heidi Snyder from Colorado demonstrated their powered paragliders.
An article was written in the local Garden County News describing the upcoming event so a large number of local residents showed up and brought their kids. Bill Marcy, EAA 54844, from EAA Chapter 301 in Colorado brought its Kiddie Hawk full-motion simulator trainer for the youths to experience how an airplane flies. Pilots who flew in received a commemorative mug, and the Social Butterflies had Oshkosh 2020-NE hats available.
For the town of Oshkosh, this was a major event that brought families to an airport many had never been to before. For our Chapter 43, this was a great opportunity to have a fly-out as a group and enjoy the farmlands of Nebraska. And who knows, we might be back next year! Chapter 43 has been in existence since the ’50s and, with more than 120 active members, continues to support the aviation community with yearly events for the public.
Normally, we fly Young Eagles each month and have an active Young Aviator program that helps young people get involved in aviation. We also have an active scholarship program. Many of our Young Aviators started out as Young Eagles and are now flying commercially as well as in the military.
