
BFP’s Robert Will Be Blogging The Airshow Circuit This Summer
Near the end of July our own Robert will once again be making his every-five-years pilgrimage to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to attend the largest airshow in the world. Officially it’s called “EAA Airventure“ and to Robert and pilots everywhere it is simply known as “Oshkosh”. Although I saw and enjoyed one airshow years ago in upstate New York, I don’t really understand the allure of spending a week of sleeping in a tent and using porta-potties just to watch flying stunts being performed every day. But that’s Robert’s idea of a good time, so who are we to argue?
For Robert though, even saying the word “Oshkosh” in his presence invokes a quasi-religious trance that soon culminates with him saying something like “Did I ever tell you about the time that… “
And then he fills in the blanks with some variant of…
a/ “… I met (insert name of famous pilot) at Oshkosh?”
b/ “… I sat in a (insert name of ultra-rare or exotic aircraft) at Oshkosh?”
or the ever-popular…
c/ “… I saw (insert name of famous aerobatic pilot) upside down only three feet off the ground at 400 miles per hour at Oshkosh?”
Last time Robert was scheduled to attend this “fly-in” his old employer made the mistake of saying that he couldn’t have the time off in the summer. Foolish employer.
After Oshkosh, Robert has a short-term contract job doing “hot-section” inspections and other tasks for the entire month of August and into September. We can’t say too much about where he’ll be working, but if you’re really interested you could check out the Blue Angels airshow schedule for August and September because Robert will be seeing their show on one of his weekends off.
Then at the end of September Robert will head to Columbus, Ohio for the Gathering of Mustangs at Rickenbacker Airport where he hopes to meet Lt. Colonel Lee Archer (U.S. Air Force Retired) up close for the second time. That airshow is all about the World War Two P-51 Mustang airplane and the men and women who flew them in wartime. (Yes, women too!)
In case you’ve never heard of Lee Archer, he is one of the remaining Tuskegee Airmen – the first black US combat pilots who flew in World War II.
Robert promises to continue blogging and also to provide some photos and stories for the Bajan flying enthusiasts who can’t get to Oshkosh this year.

Supersonic Concorde Parts Auction
Robert is also talking about buying a window frame or some other identifiable part from the supersonic Concorde airliner. It seems that France is auctioning off their Concorde parts to aviation enthusiasts at the end of September. (Robert counts as an “aviation enthusiast” as he once owned an ejection seat taken from a German made F-104 jet fighter. His woman made him get rid of it “or else”. He claims he made the wrong choice and that his “life in hell” for the next 2 years was proof of that.) 😉
We’ve had a look at the Concorde Auction Website and we think that Robert should re-consider his choice of bidding on a window frame. He should be bidding on Item #259!