I had two day passes to the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture this year. Monday, the first day of the convention was a brutally hot day that is typical of the end-of-July event. I exposed all but four frames in three medium format cameras. Thursday morning it was low 70s (F) and low dew point. I quickly took care of those last four frames and switched to 35mm Little Guinness loaded with 36 exposures. Between the comfortable weather, the completed primary assignment and the bounty of available film, finding and taking pictures was a little more relaxed.
Generally styled like a 1930s air racer, the side by side cockpit of Kay's Speedster caught my eye. It's a modern homebuilt kit the designer named after his wife. A review I read called the configuration romantic.
A kit to build your own "personal" jet.
The homebuilt hangar featured airplanes built with modern materials and motors but designs based on very early historic aircraft.
A quiet lawn between the forums buildings with an airplane parked here and there.
Another shiny airplane engine.
Another half-built homebuilt.
In addition to their business jet, motorcycles and lawn-care products, Honda displayed their first US import automobile, the what-was-then-high-mileage 1975 Civic. A coworker of mine got one of the first ones. I remember the Honda's doors sounded tinny when you closed them. I had a '73 Super Beetle that was almost as economical and actually fun to drive. Thousands of airplanes have the same engine as my Volkswagen. I wonder if anybody ever made a plane with a '75 Civic engine?
Airbus had a strangely lonely booth and no airplanes this year.
This expensive looking tripod was sitting in the middle of Boeing Plaza with no video crew in sight.
A quiet corner at the Boeing pavilion.
Easy enough to get a comfy lawn chair on Boeing's Veranda.
One of the most surreal experiences I've ever had. Two children idly playing with the wing outrigger landing gear on a B-52 strategic nuclear bomber. I was already a little shaken after standing inside the open bomb bay.
Giant Pratt & Whitneys on a C-17 Globemaster.
Looking up to the cockpit in a smaller but still kind of gigantic C-130 Hercules. After being in the C-17, the cargo bay of the Hercules seemed a little cozy.
One of the crew of the C-130 selling merch.
The EAA media cart that drove around the grounds doing live streams. He waited for me to make the exposure. It doesn't look like I'm on camera.
I was much more successful in taking advantage of the trams this year. Still plenty of steps.
It can be over a mile from your airplane camp site to the convention grounds so bicycles are very popular, especially those little folding ones which I've never actually seen anyone riding before. It was deserted out in the North Forty during the day and these decent looking bikes were completely unlocked.
Not too many bikes over by the private jets at Basler Aviation. Walking around among these things with nobody bothering me was a weird experience.
Two weeks later, from the largest airshow anywhere to one of the smallest, EAA Chapter 41's Open House at the Brennand Airport. My goal again was to get a ride in a small plane. Despite the lovely looking and feeling weather, the winds were assessed to be too unpredictably gusty and the flying had been cancelled. When I talked to one pilot about it he said
the landing I was in last year came up when making the decision.
Disappointing, but I saved the film for this. A very shiny homebuilt reflecting the sky.
Rudder and elevator of a white airplane.
The Radio-Control group displayed planes at several scales in front of a not-scale-model airplane.
One corner was draped with a net so children could fly drones with two very brave and patient volunteers inside to right things when they crashed.
Four flight simulators were set up in another corner.
Chapter 41 continually builds an airplane.
A wing bristling with rivets temporarily placed so certain holes could be drilled with proper alignment.
Spare parts between hangars. That dent in the cowling probably explains how this got to be a donor.
Sharing a hangar with a vintage '65 Olds 88.
The car show was just three sporty Fords. A 1957 Thunderbird.
A '69 Mustang.
And one not intended to be sporty, but because it had the first mass produced V8 so Henry Ford could one-up Chevy's six-cylinder, the '32 Deuce Coupe became a legendary hot rod.
Little Guinness has a hand-drilled .17mm pinhole 24mm from a 24x36mm frame. The Kodak Ultra 400 was developed in an Arista.edu liquid quart kit.
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