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An AeroGeek Enters the Hall of Kings
by Bob "Groucho" MarksI have wanted to come back to OSH since I started working for Burt Rutan in 91. I had been to Oshkosh with my father back in 89 as a pure aviation junkie, but after nine years in the industry Im still an av-junkie, but with a healthy dose of cynicism. So when I got the chance to ride with Burt to Airventure this year in the Boomerang . . . well . . . I didnt have to think about it very hard. And I, for one, am very well practiced at not thinking hard.
I didnt believe it when one my Oshkosh veteran companion on the eastbound Boomerang flight told me that five days were not going to be enough time to see everything Id like to see . . . in fact, I thought he was crazy. Either that, or his oxygen cannula hose was kinked, and his brain was dimming. How big an airshow could it be?
I obviously did not take into account falling madly in love with a cute little French kit plane, the MCR01, and spending / wasting far too much time on it. Damn those people for wringing so much performance out of a little 85hp Rotax engine! Or drooling over Corsairs that look far better than they ever did in the service of Uncle Sam.
It didnt help my efficiency by hanging out too long at the ViperJet turbojet kit plane booth, lusting over a machine that I couldnt afford to fly around the pattern, let alone own. You get a gnarly case of target fixation that is tough to shake. Seeing the whole show can be done, but its tough with all the trick things to look at.
The object of my yet-unrequited lust, the AGA MCR01
And, oh yeah, there is a sim presence. Youve gotta keep this in mind, however: This is E3 for airplanes. Looking back over the last couple of days, its a difficult call to say what impressed me the most. If someone threatened to jab bamboo teriyaki skewers under my fingernails I would have to say that it was Chuck Yeager and his ace WWII squadron mate Bud Anderson flying their authentically painted P-51Ds together. Watching Glamorous Glen III and Old Crow on a high-speed flyby, driven by their famous masters in a close formation, really made you feel that you were seeing history.
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