Around the Field
Another AirVenture
baby, two long-timers from northern Ohio, and Lavern’s wife has a
dream
Story and photo by Jack Hodgson
As I walked onto the
field this morning, I experienced a classic AirVenture moment.
Overhead, a pair of P-51s
were making the right break to Runway 27. A DC-3 was just lifting off at
the near end of the runway, and a B-25 was landing at the far end.
In the distance, a
half-dozen planes were on downwind to base to final for Runway 18.
Welcome to Oshkosh.
 |
|
Jonathan Redmon is
attending his 14th AirVenture. His first time was before he was
born. Photo by Jack Hodgson |
A few years back I
wrote about some families where the kids had been coming to AirVenture
all their lives. In fact some of them had been coming since before
they were born, when their expecting moms were here at the fly-in.
Since then, each year,
one or two folks have marched into the AirVenture Today office to
proudly announce, "I was here before I was born."
This year it is Jonathan
Redmon.
Jonathan is 14 years old.
In the fall he’ll be a freshman at Cathedral High School in
McCordsville, Indiana.
He’s been to AirVenture
each year of his life, including when he was still on approach.
One of his earliest
memories of the fly-in is of the brightly colored paint jobs.
"I remember when I
was little there was these planes that looked like tigers. I remember
them with orange and black stripes on them. I always liked those."
He also loved seeing
SpaceShipOne.
"...that was pretty
neat."
Over the years, Jonathan
has collected a hatful of souvenir aviation pins.
Of course, he has all the
annual AirVenture pins. He’s also proud of his pins commemorating
Countdown to Kittyhawk, Save Meigs Field, The Aviation Worlds Fair, and
the Reno Air Races.
He carries the hat around
by hand now, cause over the years he’s outgrown it. But he hasn’t
come close to outgrowing his excitement for coming to AirVenture.
David Ross and Ken
Patsch are sitting under the awning of a motorhome in Camp Scholler.
They’re part of a gang
here from Northern Ohio.
"There probably
winds up being 12 of us. A few more are coming in tomorrow."
How do they all know each
other? "Airplanes," David says.
David’s first visit to
the fly-in here in Oshkosh was around 1973, but he went to Rockford in
1968. What was that like?
"It was like a
little fly-in," says David.
"It was all new. I
just flew up for the day with some guys. Just stayed one day. But I
definitely wanted to come back. It was one of those things, man, I’ve
never seen anything like this. I’m gonna do this again.
Ken went to Rockford too.
"My dad and I went
in ‘63, ‘64 and ‘65. It was something. As a kid I’d meet the
same kids each year, and I still know some of them now."
Those early days had a
big influence on Ken’s interests in planes.
"I still go back to
the older style homebuilts. The Tailwinds, T-18s – my dad built a
T-18. I like biplanes, I’m building an Acro Sport. But I like David’s
RV."
David finished his RV-4
fifteen years ago. He flies it, and his Cub, out of the strip on his
farm. And he has a shop where he helps people get started building RVs.
David and Ken are members
of EAA Chapter 50 in Sandusky, Ohio.
Lavern Erickson, his
wife Dawn, and their friend Vernon Sanders are sitting beside their
camper on Doolittle Drive in Camp Scholler. Mary’s son Jimmy, and his
friend Ben, are wandering around too.
They’re from Sparta,
Wisconsin.
When we ask them how long
they’ve been coming to the fly-in Lavern’s wife laughs and says,
"These guys have been coming for about a hundred years."
They’ve been coming for
as long as the fly-in has been here in Oshkosh, and they used to attend
in Rockford too.
"We went to Rockford
back in ‘65," says Lavern. "We’ve just watched it grow
every year. Getting bigger and bigger."
One of Lavern’s
favorite activities at the fly-in is to browse the Aeromart for all
sorts of used pieces and parts.
Back home, Lavern has a
Cessna 170B; it’s the latest in a long line of planes he’s owned.
"I bought my first
plane when I was 18, now I’m 57."
They all love airplanes,
but his wife’s big disappointment in recent years at AirVenture, is
more personal.
"I didn’t get to
meet Harrison Ford up close and personal."
You can email Jack at atf2006@aroundthefield.net.
