A irVenture 2022

01 Silver Age Outstanding Open-Cockpit Biplane was Michael Pangia’s 1930 Brunner-Winkle Bird, ordered new by Charles Lindberg, for his wide Ann Morrow Lindberg to learn to fly on. Kelly Mahon’s wonderful 1932 Monocoupe 110 Special was Silver-Age Runner-up.

02 1949 Beechcraft D17S owned by Mark Homquist from Suwanee, Georgia, was named Grand Champion Antique, while this 1947 Piper PA-11 owned by David Allen, of Elbert, Colorado was Grand Champion Classic.

03 EAA Chapter 1414 and the Vintage Wings and Wheels Museum, both of Poplar Grove, Illinois teamed up to build this reproduction 1918 Curtiss Jenny JN-4. Built from scratch, other than the original OX-5 engine, over five-and-a-half years, it was the Bronze Lindy – Replica Aircraft Champion.

04 Walt Bowe, from Sonoma, California won Antique Reserve Grand Champion – Silver Lindy, for his 1940 Waco SRE.

01/02

Three Sling High Wing aircraft flew from Johannesburg to Oshkosh to make the types debut at the show. An epic trip, weather caused some late delays which meant the aircraft didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon on Wednesday. The flight took around 70 hours and routed JHB – Luanda (Angola) – Accra (Ghana) – Praia (Cape Verde) – Seawell (Barbados) – Turks and Caicos (Bahamas) – Fort Lauderdale (Florida, USA) – Oshkosh. The factory development prototype, ZU-SHW, was modified for pilot Matt Cohen, who lost the use of his legs following a motorcycle accident. Matt flew with Sling Aircraft’s Chairman, James Pittman.

03 A breath-taking level of fit and finish was evident in every detail of this Van’s RV-6 built by Raymond Eaton, from Plantation, Florida. He fitted the magnificent build in around 27 years of life events. Raymond was awarded the Grand Champion Kit built – Gold Lindy award. 04 Winner of the Grand Champion Plans built – Gold Lindy award, was this equally perfect J-3 Cub. A five year project by Zach Jackson, from Brainerd, Minnesota.

01 Still wearing battle-damage repairs from the Vietnam War, Jesse Schneider’s Sikorsky UH-34 Choctaw was the Judges Choice for Best Warbird Helicopter.

02 Dubbed ‘The flight of the Cats’, this rare gathering of Grumman Wildcat, Hellcat, Bearcat and Tigercat wowed airshow spectators.

03 Pilot, philanthropist, and commercial astronaut, Jared Issacman arrived at Oshkosh flying his personal Mig-29, accompanied by his fellow ‘Polaris Program’ astronaut team members in L-39 Albatros’ and Alpha Jets.

04 Rescued almost intact from Lake Swiblo on the Estonian/ Russian border, where it force-landed on ice after being shot down, every detail of Bf 109 G-6 410077 was perfectly restored over a 10 year period by Midwest Aero Restorations for owner Bruce ‘Doc’ Winter. The aircraft was named World War II Grand Champion.

01 Just four Howard DGA-11’s were built, and only two remain today. Owned by the Howard Aircraft Foundation and yet to be painted, it was displayed alongside a replica of the Bendix and Thompson Trophy-winning Howard DGA-6 racer, Mister Mulligan. This replica was built over three years and 8,000 hours by the late Jim Younkin using just photographs as the starting point. It’s owned and flown today by well-known warbird pilot, Doug Rozendaal. A Howard DGA-15, one of a number on display at the show, completes the line-up.

02 The Blackfly ultralight from Opener, flew a number of times during the show. The company says the carbon fibre single-seater with eight electric motors will ‘cost less than a helicopter’… so maybe not as cheap as we hope!

03 On display, along with the equally dramatic Grob Egrett that’s used as a tow-plane, the Perlan II recordsetting glider made its first public flight demonstration at AirVenture. The team will attempt to set an all-time world altitude record for wingborne flight in 2023, going beyond the 73,737ft achieved by the team in 2018.

04 The Rutan Vari-Viggen marked the start of legendary designer Burt Rutan’s work with homebuilt canard aircraft, and the type celebrated it’s 50th anniversary at the show. Until recently, none remained airworthy until this one, a rare example with metal, rather than composite wings, was restored by the Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience.

05 Spotted in the EAA FlyMart section, the advert on this read, ‘60% scale JU87 Stuka, Ford V6 with reduction. Taxies great, plans included. $15k OBO’. Looked to be constructed from foam and glass over a steel frame.