| by |
Dave Higdon |
Photographs by Dave Higdon.
Copyright © 2000 Dave Higdon/PhotoProse Productions.
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Got a favorite old-time airplane? A preferred class of plane? Maybe an era
that's particularly appealing? If you answered "yes", then you likely have a favorite museum, an
institution that captures the essence of that bird, period or type of flight.
What a credit to the people who recognized aviations progress as they came of
age during times of aeronautical history-making and became preservationists
saving precious artifacts. And they've grown a bumper crop of institutions,
these preservationists — more than 200 museums in the U.S., by the count of a
list kept by aviation's master collector, the Smithsonian's National Air & Space
Museum.
But regardless of what hall of history you name, none of those collections
quite match the depth and diversity of the flying museum that collects at a
typical AirVenture fly-in. We're not talking about the unique collection of artifacts EAA
has collected over its 48-year history and ensconced in the Air Adventure
Museum. We're talking about the breath-taking, fire-breathing, fuel-burning,
ear-tingling collection that gathers at EAA's annual fly-in convention. And
AirVenture 2000 just may top the pack in attracting a diverse, interesting
assembly of airworthy museum pieces.
Here, you'll find your golden-era antiques and war birds of nearly all eras; some
were history makers, others their relative obscurity itself the claim to fame.
Some deserve mention by dint of survival, alone; they live and fly well beyond
their time. And it's the flight in and the return home that keeps them alive and
ambulatory, rather than existing as an artifact of aeronautics exhibited like an
archeological find within some giant hall removed from any direct contact with
the skies they once plied.
They grace the AirVenture flight line because their owners refuse to see
them go static, maybe even to help the owners fend of feeling static.
Regardless of why their tenders bring them together, their presence helps
make EAA's AirVenture Oshkosh gathering more than a fly-in, more than a trade
show and more than an air show. They make Oshkosh part of our connection to our
past, equal to its status as showcase for our future.
And for a community not yet a century old, the collection in this museum
inordinately well.
Golden Classics
From the heady days between the world wars until after the second and
continuing today, aviation acquired the fascination of a global community that
inspired tremendous entrepreneurship and innovation, from the Howard DGA series
to the basic stick-and-rudder airplane and a bit of everything in between. So
appealing is this time and aircraft type that innovators the world around
continue to pursue ideas and innovations that will work for the masses. For
example, the Eclipse unveiled in mock-up form this past week represents as big a
dream for progress as the Howard, the Stinson Gull Wing, the Staggerwing or the
Cessna 195, or even the Mooney M-18 Mite and the original Taylor E-2 or a Funk.
Standing in a museum setting a few feet away from these history-makers allows
a great appreciation for their overall lines and construction; pouring over the
details from inches away imparts a stronger sense of each graceful line and
example of fine craftsmanship. But only seeing them fly, almost breathlessly
watching them touch down, standing in awe as they taxi by into vintage camping,
eliminates the abstract and breaths life, sight, sound and motion, into the
experience.
Aging Aeronauts
Among the other classes of flying museum pieces are the elder statesman
of air commerce, like the Ford and Stinson Tri-motors, the DC-3 and the Lockheed
Electra and Constellation that helped popularize air commerce in general and
passenger service in particular. From the seeds of a practical personal
transportation machine bloomed a fledgling airline community, just as the
golden-age wings help foster the establishment of general aviation and modern
airplanes.
Universally round-engined, they connect a public now conditioned for
human-mailing-tube travel with a time when air travel held caché — if you flew,
you had arrived — and the service orientation more resembled that of ocean and
rail lines than fast food restaurants. Of course, the buck buys more passenger miles than in
the old days, but no money alone can buy the sense of luxury and exclusivity of
airborne berths and jacketed stewardesses of the airline industry's formative
years.
Pet Teachers
From the vintage PT-series of primary trainers to the T-model pilot makers of
the modern military aviator, AirVenture draws something to fit almost every taste
... and
in droves. This also is a segment with a distinctly international accent, with
names hailing from North America and Europe represented.
Examples: the Ryan and Stearman PT-series trainers abound, as do Beech
Mentors, North American T-6 Texans, and the de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk;
there are more than a few examples of
the P-51 Mustang that helped seal the outcome of World War II. And lest we
forget, there were the few, proud and unarmed L-series liaison birds flying into
harm's way. And we can't forget friends from afar: de Havilland brought us
the Moth biplane trainers from England, as well as the DHC-1 Chipmunk, the first
design by the Canadian division of de Havilland.
Old Warriors
The addition of combat choppers did nothing more than increase
the representation of aviation's most-militant practitioners and the birds they
flew. But overwhelmingly, the warbirds collection seems equally expanded beyond the combat craft and sundry trainers to those who fought their battles
collecting intelligence and ferrying wounded, hauled supplies and general staff
alike.
But the biggest stars remain the old warriors of wars past, ranks that
someday will catch up with the war in the sandbox in history but not likely
allure. Little matches the energy level of their engines or the nostalgic draw
of magic of their names: Sabres to Starfighters, Mustangs to Mitchells, Spits to
Spads, Camels and Cobras. The more they roar, the more they live, and the longer
the life of the memories of the men and women who made 'em and flew 'em. And
with old warriors like Bud Anderson and Chuck Yeager still around to fly their
mounts, the memories of those people and times can hardly be called the past;
perhaps the recent present, but not gone — not yet.
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