Saturday 072807 in Oshkosh Pt 6 - Warbird show pix I forgot to post earlier [17/33] - "B25 29710 Pacific Prowler lifting off 18.jpg" yEnc (1/1) [Archive]

Just Plane Noise[_2_]

August 1st 07, 02:23 AM

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:57:32 -0400, john smith >
wrote:

>JPN... how does one get access to the east side of the field?
>Is it open to the public?

First, it isn't part of the field, which is the key to its
accessibility. Across 18/36 from Aeroshell Square you'll see Oshkosh
Truck, and just south of that is an industrial park. In the midst of
that park on Marvel Drive is an old landfill, covered over but
unmistakeable because of the vent pipes sticking out of it. On a busy
convention day, about 100 cars will park on the landfill (it is
forbidden--and enforced--that there is no street parking). And since
its a landfill, you're actually on a hill! And you're only about 2-3
times as far from the runways as the convention crowd's front row. But
its actually better than that--warbird shows and others are often
advised to stay east of the runway. Guess where that puts them? Check
out my photo of the underside of the B2--nuff said?

The only disadvantage is that planes are backlit in the afternoon, but
that's easy to deal with, and lots of cool stuff happens in the
morning anyway (like the departures Monday AM after the convention, as
you'll see when I post some pics of that). On the plus side, you're
with your vehicle, where you can have refreshments, battery charges
for the cameras, whatever. And cars get you out of the sun and rain,
both of which can be problems on EAA's grounds.

It would be great if some folks from this group got together there one
year. Just don't tell Oshkosh residents that I'm like Duke in the
Bush beans commercial. They think of the place as their payment for
putting up with the disruption of life that EAA means to Oshkosh, and
would like it kep secret. (But if it ever gets too crowded--and it
never did, even on Saturday this year--I've got other places that are
nearly as good.)