No One Ever Met a Stranger at the Red Barn! Friends of the Red Barn Charles W. Harris Director Emeritus, VAA
For one entire grand and glorious week in the late summer of each year, the EAA Vintage Aircraft Association’s Red Barn is the epicenter, the heart, and soul of the whole wide world of vintage airplanes. It is the place to be to be a part of and enjoy the finest historic airplanes from our long ago past, which not only have brought us to where we are today but also have constantly inspired us to raise our interest and participation in the vintage airplane movement even higher. One only has to step across the road from the Red Barn and stroll, endlessly enjoying the view of scores of previous Oshkosh Vintage Grand Champions. Travel only a few more steps toward the south and be spellbound by the rows of rare Wacos, Spartans, Ryans, Howards, Staggerwings, and countless others from prior aviation eras—each finer than its next door neighbor! How can this all be possible, you ask? It’s all because of the generous support from Vintage members like you. When one immerses oneself with other vintage airplane enthusiasts, one comes to grasp the emotional import that there is simply no other place in the entire universe that any of us would rather be during the last week in July than the Red Barn area of Wittman Field—during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh! It is an overwhelming human experience when one meets scores and scores of new friends at the Red Barn, and not a single soul is a stranger; every last person is smiling, happy, and thrilled to be a part of something so thoroughly enjoyable that the weight of the outside world is forever removed for the entire week—it simply becomes the best place in the world!
This is “A Place Called Oshkosh”! Nothing is ever planned or rehearsed; it is simply what happens at the Red Barn. It is the mystical Camelot for old airplanes. It is also the place to be during AirVenture. Experience it for yourself; pull up a chair and sit in the shade of the Red Barn, grab a bag of popcorn, close your eyes, and transport yourself back to the golden age of flight. This is everyday normal Red Barn activities during Oshkosh! It’s a place where history comes alive! The invaluable Friends of the Red Barn fund, with contributions each year by fellow Vintage members, makes all of this supremely enjoyable experience possible. Without the generous contributions provided by these Vintage members annually, very little of what we experience and enjoy would be possible. Please join us as a contributing member of the Friends of the Red Barn as we provide the most ideal and perfect setting possible for vintage airplane owners, pilots, historians, and dedicated vintage airplane buffs. Consider it a calling…as many of us do! And please remember, no one ever met a stranger at the Red Barn!