Tom Poberezny calls it the world's biggest "family reunion," and he's right. The people who come to Oshkosh are truly "family" i n the sense that they are kindred spirits gathering to have a good time doing something they love.

Poberezny ought to know. He's president of the Experimental Aircraft Association, successor to his father, Paul, who founded the organization back in the days when it was a just few friends who dared to build airplanes in their garages.

Today, EAA's a world-wide organization that still works for the "little guy" while muscling along with the "big" ones. Everybody comes to Oshkosh; manufacturers, government gurus, airline moguls and astronauts. But more important than all those are the people who "fly their own," the heart and soul of EAA. In this issue, we'll talk to a few and look at a lot.

By the way, those Stearmen climbing up there on the left are flown by the Red Baron team. And that's them on the lower right, too, finishing off the same loop.
These guys fly tight formations like they were locked at the wingtip. They ended the set by painting the sky with smoke forming a huge heart to celebrate EAA's golden anniversary.

The layout at Wittman field is always impressive, reminding you of a huge state fair. Vendors selling everything from components to fly-away airplanes surround a central square where some of the world's biggest and most famous aircraft are located..a B17, a 747, and a Constellation come to mind most quickly. Thousands of privately owned aircraft park in the outfields of the runways, people camping under the wing of their individual "pride and joy." Huge groups of warbirds tie down at the left side of the festival, homebuilts (EAA's foundation) go in the middle, vintage on the right and ultralights beyond them. Everybody gets a fair chance at seeing and being seen. It appeared, this year as always, that everybody was having a real good time.

Planes begin arriving a couple of days before the convention; everybody wants a choice parking space within walking distance of the fun, the food and the washrooms. It all makes Wittman field one of the busiest airports in the world for at least a week every year, and controllers are imported from other places..like Chicago..to help manage the traffic. That sign they've strung with some pride under the control cab (left) says "World's Busiest Control Tower." And it is: flight operations are virtually continuous during daylight hours. Planes of all sizes and..believe me..shapes come and go constantly on one side of the field, often while an air show's in full swing on the other. They do it like that every day for more than a week and most people are still smiling at the end.

EAA does an amazing job with the convention; it's a year-round job just to organize it, much less make it run so smoothly, and a lot of the work is done by volunteers.

It seems to me that members of Congress who doubt the importance of general aviation and its many interest groups ought to put Oshkosh on their calendars. It might be worth a tax-paid junket to show them just how many of their constituents believe in "small wings." These folks believe in them with all their hearts and they do not deserve to be ignored.

Well, enough of that. Let's look at some airplanes.

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