New and Old Friends Get Reacquainted at AirVenture Oshkosh 2000

A lot of hangar flying happens on the North Forty during these early days of AirVenture. Chet Dempsey and Lew Smith are sitting beside Chet's red, gold and white Cherokee 180. It's Chet's plane but Lew did most of the flying this year on the eight hour trip from their home base at Mifflin County Airport in Reedsville, Pennsylvania.

Chet has been flying since 1973, but Lew started in 1946. He learned on the GI Bill after returning from the War. Over the years he's owned a collection of planes that any pilot would be proud of: Aeronca Chief, a Piper Cub, a Piper Super Cub, a Stinson Voyager and an Aeronca Champ.

Wearing an "Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license" t-shirt, Bill Webber is sitting with Chet and Lew. Bill is from Rockford and expects to be camping on the North Forty when his Dad, Bob, arrives on Wednesday.

Bob was a regular at Sun 'n Fun for many years when he lived in Florida. Recently he's moved back to his childhood home in Rockford, Illinois. As a boy, in the late 60s, Bill would ride his bike to attend the EAA fly-in when it was held in Rockford.

Bill learned to fly in the mid-seventies and now owns a Champ based at Brodhead Airport near Rockford.

Craig Vanderkolk and his eighteen year old son Dustin are from Naper Aero Estates in Naperville Illinois. Craig has been attending AirVenture since 1994, but a few years ago he volunteered to help out EAA using his talents as an amateur photographer. Craig has been attending the fly-in since 1994 and this is his 5th year camping in the North Forty.

Craig's home base of Naper Aero is more commonly known by its ID "Lima Lima Ten". LL10 is also the home of the Lima Lima Flying Team.

Ever since Craig volunteered to help out at AirVenture he says its, "given me a new perspective. I get a lot of satisfaction from being part of it."

Not everyone comes from far away. Cindy Schroeder lives here in Oshkosh, but unlike many other local residents she doesn't take off on vacation this week to avoid the craziness. Instead she heads over here to the field and dives right in.

Carleton Giese is from Neenah, Wisconsin just north of here. He's another local who loves to get involved with the fly-in.

Cindy and Carleton are two of dozens of volunteers for Flight Line Ops. These are the folks in the orange vests who greet you and direct you to parking after you land.

Cindy has been attending the fly-in for 10 years and volunteering on the flight line for four. Carleton has been a volunteer for 10 years.

Cindy, Carleton and the rest of the flight line gang started work this year on Saturday a week and a half ago. They began by opening up and preparing the buildings, putting up the banners, laying out the row numbers, and much more. This year's first fly-in arrivals appeared on Wednesday a week before the official start of the fly-in.

On Sunday airplane parking had only reached south to about row 60, yet 25 rows further south was an encampment of planes all by themselves. This group of about 13 planes flew in Sunday. They came from all over the south and west, gathering at Bill Thacker's airport in Cheneoa, Illinois, then heading to Oshkosh to arrive together.

Like many groups of "Oshkosh friends" these folks mostly see each other once a year here at AirVenture. Some of them are former members of an old Oshkosh group informally called the "Metro Warbirds". But they seem to have mellowed out some since those days. Now many of them stay in touch throughout the year by email and phone, and a few attend a second annual get together in the fall in Cheneoa.

The group consists of about 60 people total, but they don't all get to Oshkosh each year. The group has been attending Oshkosh for 18 years, and while some members drift away, others will wander into their camp each year and become part of the gang.