Although you’ll be reading this in March, I’m sitting down at the keyboard typing this out, having just returned from my home club’s New Year’s Day fly-in.
I’m not sure how long ago the tradition got started, but it’s still something we look forward to each year. Despite the high winds and frigid temperatures, we had a strong turnout of hardy souls who came out to grab a quick flight and to enjoy each other’s company.
I’m certain this scene was repeated at many clubs across the district as our way of welcoming in the new year. The fellowship and camaraderie this hobby brings to us is an inspiration for me every day.
This month’s event report comes to you from Paul Hohensee, CD of Warbirds and Classics over the Midwest, held in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. I had the opportunity to attend the event last summer and had a great time.
The field, aircraft, and weather were beautiful, and it’s a short drive from the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. If you are considering going, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Here’s what Paul had to say about the event:
Warbirds and Classics over the Midwest is hosted by the Fond du Lac Aeromodelers Association (FdL-AA), and held each year in August. Although FdL-AA has a longstanding reputation for putting on great local air shows for pilots and spectators, this has become an international event. Pilots from across the nation and Canada attend.
The FdL-AA flies on a private site, Wellnitz Field, which features a runway of approximately 1,400 x 300 feet of well-manicured, short-cut grass with open and flat fly-over areas. This, along with plenty of parking, vendor, and pit areas, provides a perfect venue for an event of this magnitude.
This event has become part of the Warbird and Classics Alliance, joining the Indiana Warbird Campaign and the Northern Alliance Military Fly-In. This year’s gathering—the sixth annual—attracted residents of Delaware, Ontario, Canada, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas to Wellnitz Field, with 145 registered pilots and more than 200 aircraft.
The aircraft requirements for the event are limited to Giant Scale military or Classic models, and any Scale turbine-powered airplanes with military markings. Any aircraft that flew prior to 1960 is used as the defining requirement for Classic.
On the flightline were notable pilots Dennis Crooks of Scale Masters and Top Gun fame, Paul LeTourneau and his Giant Scale warbirds, and Carl Bachhuber, well known in the Giant Scale arena for his large, four-engine, military transport airplanes. This year also marked the return of Mac Hodges and his B-29 demonstration crew—always a crowd favorite!
On Saturday evening, a pilots’ dinner was held to say thank-you to the pilots for coming out and supporting this event, as well as to give everyone a chance to talk and enjoy some great Midwestern hospitality. This traditional hog roast is complete with all the trimmings and plenty of ice-cold beer.
To pull off an event of this magnitude and complexity takes many hours of planning and even more hours of execution. The FdL-AA members are role models when it comes to hosting events such as this.
There were more than 2,500 spectators on the grounds midday Saturday, and I heard no one waited more than a few minutes to purchase food and beverages
Planning is underway for this year’s event, and some pilots have already preregistered for the 2013 show.
Visit the website at www.midwestwarbirds.com for more details and plan to attend. Consider a trip to Oshkosh and then onto Fond du Lac for the seventh annual Warbirds and Classics over the Midwest!
Take a kid flying!
The crew from Chicago gathered around Frank Del Giudice and his B-25.
Carl Bachhuder’s giant Convair.
WW I biplanes are a crowd favorite in the noontime show.
