By Paul Petr
It’s that time of year again — EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. The moment my boots hit the tarmac, I felt that familiar mix of excitement and nostalgia. The smell of avgas, the sound of radial engines firing up in the distance, and the sight of aircraft from every era. This is more than an air show. It’s a homecoming.
This year, however, is different. It’s more than just another pilgrimage to aviation’s sacred grounds — it’s a deeply personal one. For the first time in nearly four decades, I reunited with my Army flight school classmates from “Navy Blue Flight,” Class 86-05. We were the rotary-wing students who graduated out of Fort Rucker in the late summer of 1986, each of us wearing the distinctive navy blue ball caps that gave our flight its name.
Most of us hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since we pinned on our silver wings nearly 40 years ago. And yet, as we stood together on the Oshkosh grounds this summer, it was as if no time had passed. The stories flowed, the laughter echoed, and the bond — one forged through long days of training and even longer nights of studying emergency procedures — was still rock solid.
Back in 1986, we scattered like a fighter bomb burst in all directions — some into active duty and others into the Guard or Reserve. We transitioned into airframes like the UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-1 Cobra, CH-47 Chinook, and AH-64 Apache. Many of us saw combat in the decades that followed, and a few paid the ultimate price. Their absence this week was felt deeply.
As for me, I eventually moved over to the Air National Guard, flying MH-60Gs on search and rescue missions in Alaska, and later, C-130s with the Delaware ANG. Like many others, my career path took unexpected turns, but the foundation was always the same — those early days of Army flight training at Fort Rucker.
What made this reunion at Oshkosh so special wasn’t just the aircraft or the air shows — it was the reminder of our shared history. That time at Fort Rucker was more than training; it was a rite of passage. A once-in-a-lifetime experience that bonded us not just as pilots, but as brothers. Being back together — here, among tens of thousands of fellow aviation lovers — rekindled that spark.
We hope to bring even more of our Navy Blue Flight classmates to Oshkosh next year. This reunion has been a powerful reminder that while aircraft may change, and careers may evolve, the love of flying — and the friendships forged in the rotor wash — never fade.
So here’s to Navy Blue Flight, Class 86-05. Here’s to the birds we flew, the missions we served, and the lives we shared. And here’s to Oshkosh 2025, which brought us back together under the same sky.