Oshkosh '09 page 6

They had a guy selling plans for little peddle airplanes.  He had some on display for the little ones to "test fly".  This little guy was really getting into it:

One of the big new things at the airshow was electric powered airplanes.  Here is the Sonex version:

The only drawback is that they seem to be limited in duration (about 2 hours).

I took a picture of this air trike because I liked the low tech airspeed indicator.  Its a tube with a plastic disc inside.  Air comes into an opening at the bottom, driving the disc up.  You read the scale marking printed on the tube to determine indicated airspeed by how far the disc rises up in the tube:

I attended the Bearhawk forum put on by Budd Davisson and Keith Vassey along with Bob Barrows.  I forgot my camera but took this cellphone picture of Budd giving the presentation:

You will note that Budd still wears the same size pants waist as he did in high school. He just wears them a bit lower these days :>)

Here is the famous (new) Oshkosh Tower:

I spent a lot of time talking with Bearhawk builders, showing them this and that and answering  tons of questions:

This airplane caught my attention when I saw a sign near it that said "Previous Oshkosh Grand Champion Winner":  This is one beautiful airplane.  Looking this one over  very closely, I found no flaws at all.  It was as near perfection as I have ever seen. Even the exposed bolts all had exactly the same amount of threads showing.  At one point the owner had a panel off on the side and I could see the wiring harness. The wires in the bundles were all perfectly aligned in straight lines and even the tie wraps were perfectly spaced at 2" intervals. Unbelievable attention to detail:

There were some very interesting non-airplane vehicles everywhere as well.  Ever seen a stretch limo, convertible VW bug?  Well here it is:
Note the garbage can built into the trunk.

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