By Dick Knapinski
The vintage airplanes out behind the EAA Aviation Museum have always had their stories. Now that their home, Pioneer Airport, has turned 40 years old, that unique group of hangars has reached the point where it has its own stories to tell.
Pioneer Airport has in four decades evolved from a vision of EAA founder Paul Poberezny to one of the utterly unique interactive museum experiences available anywhere. Forget virtual reality. Pioneer offers its visitors real reality. Where else can you, as part of a museum experience, pay a few dollars and climb into a 1920s biplane and feel the wind and sun during an actual flight?
It began shortly after the new EAA museum opened in Oshkosh in late 1983. Paul loved the vintage aircraft that inspired him as a boy and the turf airstrips that were everywhere back before World War II. He saw in the patch of land behind the museum a place where that barnstormer-type activity could be re-born for new generations.
In July 1984, the new facility opened with Dale Crites flying his 1911 Curtiss Pusher through the ribbon to open Pioneer Airport. That airplane is now on display in the museum’s vintage area as the oldest original aircraft in the collection.
Since then, the list of airplanes that have landed on the turf of Pioneer Airport is remarkable and notable. Those include:
- Molt Taylor’s Aerocar, fully restored and flown prior to its move into the museum
- Stephen Pitcairn bringing his autogiro to Oshkosh and dazzling the crowd with his rare aircraft
- Two separate EAA replicas of the Spirit of St. Louis, harking back to Charles Lindbergh’s historic 1927 flight
- A gaggle of Stearmans that for nearly a decade used Pioneer as its home base for a week of formation flight training
- And EAA’s own Ford Tri-Motor, specially repainted (as were a couple of Pioneer hangars) for its Hollywood appearance in the Johnny Depp/Christian Bale movie Public Enemies
Pioneer Airport also gives EAA a place to display more than three dozen aircraft beyond the nearly 100 that can be seen in the main museum. And the facility represents the best of EAA’s tradition as a volunteer-centric facility, with pilots and ground crew donating time to create the vintage aerodrome environment.
That is where the magic happens, as museum visitors discover flight as part of their experience. Nearly 8,000 people have flown in one of EAA’s biplanes over the past two decades alone and, more importantly, more than 18,000 young people ages 8-17 have become Young Eagles through free flights at Pioneer since 2004. Those flights have undoubtedly sparked additional inspiration for flight, as each passenger comes back with an unforgettable, personal aviation story.
Pioneer Airport has evolved over its history: From an initial hangar built and the historic Pietenpol Hangar moved to Oshkosh from Minnesota in 1984, to two additional hangars and a runway realignment by 1993, and the opening of the Ryan and Pitcairn Hangars (1993) and the Wittman Hangar (1996). Through it all, Pioneer has been a place where today’s enthusiasts can connect with aviation’s amazing legacy.
The 2024 flying season at Pioneer Airport is winding down and will wrap in early October. The aircraft will go back into winter hibernation or into offseason maintenance, preparing for their reawakening next May. And when spring emerges, so will the history of flight, as told by the aircraft and Pioneer Airport’s volunteers (more volunteers are always welcome, as pilots and airport crew).
Until then, the visitors to Pioneer Airport will tell the stories of their experiences. And who knows what stories the airplanes will tell each other?
Pioneer Airport is open weekends in May and September each year, and daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, except during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Admission is included with regular museum entry. For more information, go to EAA.org/Museum.