It was disappointing to see so few homebuilt biplanes at Oshkosh. A few Skybolts and Hatz's. Maybe 2 Acrosports. There was a nice lineup of maybe 5 Toots though.
By contrast there were 595,653 or more RV's, Eze's and Lancairs. There were probably more turbine Lancair IV's than all the Skybolts, Acrosports and Pitts put together.
Maybe there was a bunch back in homebuilt camping but not out in the showplane area.
Seems that wood tube and fabric homebuilding is about dead and that's kind of sad.
It was nice to see Paul P's Mechanix Illustrated Baby Ace going together. He, along with a bunch of friends is building a Baby Ace using just the MI article from back in the 1950's. You can follow it on http://www.facebook.com/MIBabyAce
I think it would be nice if EAA would put a tent right out front and center (they have a group of 4 big tents right in the middle of the grounds) where they show a simple wood tube and fabric homebuilt under construction. Maybe even show some model airplanes under construction too. And it would be really nice if anyone who dropped by was encouraged to take part in the construction (fit a tube, assemble a real rib etc) instead of just watching the elbows and tail end of some old -timer doing it all.
My point is that the aviation community is losing something that I think is very important. You probably all know this so I won't explain it. One other thing: I don't recall ever meeting a single kid who has built even a single model airplane, kit or otherwise.
By contrast there were 595,653 or more RV's, Eze's and Lancairs. There were probably more turbine Lancair IV's than all the Skybolts, Acrosports and Pitts put together.
Maybe there was a bunch back in homebuilt camping but not out in the showplane area.
Seems that wood tube and fabric homebuilding is about dead and that's kind of sad.
It was nice to see Paul P's Mechanix Illustrated Baby Ace going together. He, along with a bunch of friends is building a Baby Ace using just the MI article from back in the 1950's. You can follow it on http://www.facebook.com/MIBabyAce
I think it would be nice if EAA would put a tent right out front and center (they have a group of 4 big tents right in the middle of the grounds) where they show a simple wood tube and fabric homebuilt under construction. Maybe even show some model airplanes under construction too. And it would be really nice if anyone who dropped by was encouraged to take part in the construction (fit a tube, assemble a real rib etc) instead of just watching the elbows and tail end of some old -timer doing it all.
My point is that the aviation community is losing something that I think is very important. You probably all know this so I won't explain it. One other thing: I don't recall ever meeting a single kid who has built even a single model airplane, kit or otherwise.
