The United Nations of Oshkosh
Flying. The other universal language.
- By James Wynbrandt
- Photographs by Arnold Greenwell
- Air & Space magazine, July 2011
Two things you will find every July in Oshkosh, Wisconsin: The DC-3 Duggy and planeloads of international tourists.
Arnold Greenwell
(Page 3 of 4)
“It wasn’t legal [for an individual] to build an airplane in their country, so I was asked to help with explaining it to their government,” Poberezny said. He made several trips to Australia to help win CASA approval of homebuilts, “and when the sport aviation group learned more about our organization, they wanted to come to our national fly-in convention.” That’s how the International Visitors Tent began.
In 1974, the fly-in, by then relocated to Oshkosh, prepared an official welcome for a delegation from the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia, as well as guests from other nations. Eager to make them feel at home, the EAA advertised for volunteer hosts in the Northwestern, the local newspaper.
“They were looking for people who could speak foreign languages, or anybody who had ever lived in an English-speaking country like Australia or South Africa,” recalled Nancy Martini, who had lived Down Under and—following her interview with the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce—became the IVT’s first chair.
The Aussies must have enjoyed the welcome. In 1981, they filled a Qantas 747 for the first of their periodic “Oshkosh Express” charter flights and landed at the town’s Wittman Regional Airport with more than a dozen experimental aircraft in the cargo hold to display.
If the Australians represent the largest overseas contingent, the South Africans have a reputation for being the most boisterous. Their prime spot at Camp Scholler—a tent city of 40,000 that springs up during AirVenture—is the scene of nightly revelry, complete with a stage show and live music. South Africans first started traveling to Oshkosh in the early 1980s.
“We thought maybe we could get a free ticket to Oshkosh if we got enough people,” said Neil Bowden one evening, explaining how the annual pilgrimage began.
Signifying their special status, the South Africans have the only permanent structure at Camp Scholler—a garden-shed-size hut to store their tents and camping gear. During the gathering, the hut becomes the temporary office for South African Pilot, a handsome glossy magazine. “The magazine was started right here,” said publisher Athol Franz, hunched over a laptop computer inside the hut.
Of course many overseas visitors find their own way to Oshkosh. South Africans Mike Blyth and James Pitman flew here in a Sling, a light-sport aircraft they designed. The journey from Johannesburg took them 11 days.
For do-it-yourselfers, the last few miles can be the most difficult. International airline flights leave many in Chicago or Minneapolis, both more than 150 miles away. Oshkosh has no commercial air service, and commuter flights into Appleton, Madison, and Green Bay are limited and sometimes delayed or cancelled due to summer storms. Unfamiliarity with the area and the language has resulted in several hours on the road instead of at the show. The friends from Portugal, for example, booked rooms in Milwaukee, and each day were commuting three hours round-trip. “We didn’t know this part of the United States,” said one. “By seeing maps, we thought Milwaukee was close to Oshkosh, because in Europe, everything seems closer.”
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Comments (1)
Duggy - the Smile in the Sky airplane, by Robert Odegaard and Mitch Carley. A dream to bring the love of aviation, education and military history to many.
Posted by Fran Brummund on September 8,2012 | 07:02 PM