Around the Field
Dawn patrol at Wittman
Field... a long-lost family...a history buff...and preparing to wander
home
Story and photo by Jack Hodgson
Up early this morning.
It’s much quieter along
the flightline in the first hour after sunrise. The other early-risers
are walking on the dew-covered grass, admiring the airplanes, searching
for coffee.
The donuts at the Classic
Cafe are still warm.
At the ultralight strip,
the powered parachutes are launching, circling the fields in the morning
light.
I should get out early
more often.
 |
|
Gay Hamilton and Ron
Wiener are long-lost first cousins who met up here at AirVenture for
the first time in their lives. Photo by Jack Hodgson |
Ron Wiener and Gay
Hamilton are first cousins. And until this year at AirVenture, they
had never met.
A few weeks before this
year’s fly-in Ron, who is from Arizona, was talking to a business
associate in Los Angeles. Ron mentioned that he was heading to Oshkosh
and the associate said, "Oh, I have another customer who’s going
there, too."
"I said, who’s
that?" says Ron, "because I used to be in the L.A. area. And I
thought I knew most of the people in that type of business."
Ron recognized the last
name. "So we got on the phone and discovered we were first
cousins."
Ron’s father, and Gay’s
mother, were brother and sister. The family was separated when their
parents were very young, and they had never met. They knew they had
cousins, but that’s it.
So they arranged to meet
in person here at Oshkosh.
In addition to working in
the same industry, both have had active aviation lives. Ron was an
aviation photographer, was good friends with Pancho Barnes’ son when
they were little, and has had many flying adventures. Gay owns and flies
a classic Twin Navion, which won its special class in the AirVenture Cup
in 2003. He now flies as a support plane for the race each year.
"We were just
amazed," says Ron, "that we have so much in common. That we’ve
been flying all our lives. We’ve been to the same places. The same
conventions. And never met one another."
Until AirVenture.
Kurt Engelmann is from
Hacketstown Airport, which is near his home in Long Valley, New Jersey.
Hacketstown is a small
airport, 2,200 feet, paved but no lights. In addition to the usual
Cessnas and Pipers, they have a couple of Stearmans, a few RVs, some
other Experimentals.
Kurt is here at the
fly-in alone this year. He arrived Sunday night.
"I usually can’t
do it in one day. But I got an early start. I got here with about three
stops. I didn’t go over the lake," he grins. "I’m not a
good swimmer."
This is his fifth time to
the fly-in. Five years in a row. He plans to stay until Saturday or
Sunday.
His favorite year was
AirVenture Oshkosh 2003.
"It was a fabulous
year. Celebrating the 100 years of flight. The place was packed."
Kurt’s plane is a 1965
Cessna 172, with a Continental O-300 engine. He bought it back in 2001,
when he first learned to fly.
"After spending
three months looking for a plane, I found it only about 10 minutes from
my airport. It works very well for me; it’s the perfect size."
Kurt’s a big fan of
aviation history. He uses his plane to explore that past.
"I enjoy going down
to North Carolina, down to Kill Devil Hill. And I enjoy going out to
Dayton, seeing the sites out there."
Jim Sopp and Ted
Weisgram are from Portland, Oregon. They came to AirVenture this
year in Jim’s Mooney. As we talk, they’re preparing to head out
after five days here at the fly-in.
Jim has been flying for
over 50 years. He learned to fly on the GI bill way back when. He’s
owned his 1961 Mooney Mark 20B for 20 years.
This is Jim’s first
time to the Oshkosh fly-in. "Oh, I had a great time. It’s been an
unbelievable experience."
Ted has been flying for
about 26 years. This is his third visit to AirVenture.
Jim and Ted are from
Troutdale Airport in Portland. It’s a 5,000-foot paved strip east of
town.
When asked where he was
headed when they take off from Oshkosh, Jim says, "We’re gonna
go...I don’t know...wherever it takes us."
The ultralights are
launching now. Bouncing along the grass before soaring into the sky.
A steady stream of planes
are launching off Runway 18. The sun is getting higher in the sky, the
dew evaporating.
I wonder if there are any
of those donuts left.
You can e-mail Jack at atf2006@aroundthefield.net.
