Most know Williams as an accomplished actor with several Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. But he’s been flying airplanes since he was in high school—he soloed at age 17—and is also a flight instructor. He owns a Piper Navajo as well as a T-6 Texan warbird. Neubecker is on the staff of the web magazine Slate.com.

The pair has collaborated on the children’s book AIR SHOW! and will appear together Friday, July 30, at 2:30 p.m. in the EAA Wearhouse for an Author’s Corner presentation and book signing. At 12:30 p.m. that same day, the pair will appear at KidVenture.

The idea for the book came about when they met several years ago in Park City, Utah, at a book party for Neubecker. They discovered a shared passion for planes after Williams saw Neubecker’s drawing of “Wow Airplane.” An idea took flight: Why not collaborate on a children’s book about an air show? Soon they were making plans to fly to the air show of air shows: EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

As Neubecker writes in his blog, “It was simple. Treat had an airplane, actually two, and my dad lived in Oshkosh. We figured we’d fly out there, write a book, and stay at my dad’s.”

The resulting book was written by Williams and illustrated by Neubecker. It’s loosely based on that trip to Oshkosh with two pilot friends and an assortment of kids in Williams’ Piper “Navajo Nine Five Charlie Lima.”

AIR SHOW! follows Ellie and her brother, Gill, who fly with their pilot-father and his co-pilot friend, Carl, to an air show. They’re wowed by vintage planes, fighter jets, experimental planes, airliners, warbirds—everything from a vintage 1916 Spad to the new Boeing 787.

To make sure Neubecker got a true feel of aerobatic flying, Williams took him up in his T-6.

“We did loops, rolls, and other aerobatics. We buzzed the Wasatch Mountains so close you felt like you could reach out and touch the peaks,” Neubecker said.

The book was published by Disney-Hyperion in June.

Stories and signings featured at Author’s Corner
Dozens of aviation authors are scheduled to appear at Author’s Corner throughout the week of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Featured scribes will be signing books and DVDs, as well as meeting and greeting attendees daily, July 26 through August 1. Authors Corner’s three locations include the EAA Wearhouse, the Eagle Hangar in the AirVenture Museum, and Aeronautica—the museum’s gift shop.

Scheduled appearances are listed in the AirVenture Info Guide, and can also be seen online at www.AirVenture.org/schedule. Search for Author’s Corner under the “By Location” menu. You can also search for authors in the “By Presenter” menu.