The 2003 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Air Show
August 1-2, 2003
These photos were taken by me, Fred Bruenjes, at the 2003 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin. I attended this weeklong event just Friday night and Saturday. This airshow is so massive that I can't possibly convey the scale of it or cover even 10% of it. There are were 11,000 aircraft and 770,000 attendees at the show! Therefore this page just has the things that interested me. For all of these photos I used a Canon D60 digital camera with 17-40mm F4L and 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L lenses.
Note: due to the EAA's strict photo policy these images may not be reproduced, distributed, or used commercially in any way. Don't waste time asking me if you can use an image, because you can't. No exceptions.
Jump: Introduction and Neil Armstrong |
Burt Rutan Discusses SpaceShipOne |
Static Displays |
Flying Displays |
Warbird Demonstration |
Afternoon Air Show |
Other Air Shows
Introduction and Neil Armstrong
This show is so big it has its' own exit on the highway!
Main entrance gate.
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jim Voss, and Charlie Precourt were interviewed, and made a phone
call to the International Space Station for a chat with Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu.
Ed promised to take a photo of the air show.
Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon, gave a wonderful history of the Wright Brothers.
Late night lightning above the Tuskegee Airmen's P-51C Mustang fighter.
Burt Rutan Discusses SpaceShipOne
Legendary designer Burt Rutan gave a talk about his new project: building a rocketship to make a suborbital spaceflight, to win the X-Prize. His website describing this effort is here.
The house was packed, with people standing six deep outside the tent.
Burt Rutan reveals that his entire rocket program costs less than one hour of science on the Space Station!
Burt says his greatest idea was making the White Knight carrier aircraft a simulator for SpaceShipOne. White Knight has the same controls, displays, and so forth on down to the part number of the servo actuators. The name "White Knight" was chosen because of the plane's resemblance to a medieval knight holding two jousting poles.
Static Displays
A prefect replica of the Wright Brother's 1903 Flyer, which will be flown at Kitty Hawk 100 years to the minute after their initial flight.
A replica of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis.
Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud, the sole remaining specimen of the first pressurized airliner.
Jimmy Leeward's P51D Mustang Cloud Dancer, which races in the Reno Air Races Unlimited Class.
1938 Lockheed Electra 12A.
Airbus A300-600ST Beluga cargo plane.
Seeking shelter under the tail of the Orbis DC-10 'Flying Eye Hospital'.
Okay, now you're just being silly!
(Steve & Joan Hay's ever popular Flintstone Ornithopter, watch out for the water cannon!).
Interesting fact: Steve and brother Jim built the engine in the Wright Flyer replica above.
Flying Displays
I'm not sure whether to call this an airplane that floats, or a boat with wings!
Sikorsky S-38B amphibian.
Jimmy Leeward's P51D Mustang Cloud Dancer
Hawker Sea Fury September Pops
Gentlemen, you have a race! A recreation of the Reno Air Races.
(#9 Cloud Dancer, astronaut Hoot Gibson in the #99 Hawker Sea Fury Riff Raff, Bob Odegaard's Corsair F2G #57)
Warbird Demonstration
Without a doubt this was the best warbird show I have ever seen. The number and variety of planes was amazing.
1952 Douglas AD-4 Skyraider Naked Fanny.
1944 North American B-25N Old Glory does a simulated bombing run.
1944 Boeing B-17G Aluminum Overcast gets in on the act.
Bombs away!
Even from very far away we all felt the heat from this wall of fire!
Afternoon Air Show
T-33 The Red Knight.
Kyle Franklin wingwalks while his dad Jimmy Franklin pilots...
...this 1937 Waco JMF-7 with a jet engine.
The Liberty Parachute Team opened the afternoon air show. I was so tired out by then that this signalled the end of the show for me. I can't wait for next year!