Tag Archives: oshkosh

Air Force History You Wouldn’t See Today

Update: A WWII pilot’s family reports on finding the nose art from their grandfather’s plane… in the risqué section of the museum.

eaanoseartThe Commemorative Air Force has loaned a collection of nose art saved from to-be-scrapped B-17s and B-24s to the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for display for at least the next year.

The collection of 34 pieces of “nose art”…is the largest of its kind…

The double-entendres, bravado and pride reflected in the nose art speak to the intimate bond the crews had with their planes. Young men, some not even in their 20s, put their Read more

F-16 Runs Off Runway at Oshkosh

A formation of Alabama Air National Guard F-16s landed at Oshkosh’s EAA AirVenture 2011 last week.  Important safety tip:  If you’re landing in front of a crowd at an airshow on a minimum-length runway, don’t land hot.  Number 2 couldn’t quite get it stopped before the concrete ran out and ended up folding a nose gear in the mud.

Amateur video at YouTube. 

Even the crowd was critiquing his landing.

Steve Saint Builds Flying Missionary Car

Steve Saint, son of martyred missionary Nate Saint, and the organization he founded called i-Tec (The Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Ministry Center) have created a flying car inspired by humanitarian and missionary needs:

Saint, the founder of Dunnellon-based i-Tec…said the idea for a short takeoff and landing all-terrain car, plane and airboat grew out of his family’s missionary work in remote areas of Ecuador.

Saint’s Maverick is a dune-buggy type car that can be mounted on pontoons or underneath a wing parachute, after which it is propelled by a six foot propeller at the rear of the vehicle.

The Maverick Sport flies at a fixed 40 mph using a 36-foot-wide ram wing, or wing-shaped parachute, deployed on a 27-foot mast and stored on top of the car during road use.

The Maverick was at the experimental aircraft fly-in at OshKosh this past week (the Experimental Aircraft Association’s 2010 AirVenture), though it couldn’t fly in due to paperwork issues with the FAA.  They documented their drive from Florida to Wisconsin.  More information is available at their Maverick LSA website.