Oshkosh 2019 was the third Oshkosh for me and my RV-4 and hands down the most enjoyable. 2019 celebrated the 40th anniversary of the RV-4. I was fortunate enough to lead in organizing some meet up festivities along with assistance from Greg Hughes at Vans and Charlie Becker from the EAA. Hats off to both of these gentlemen for their help in making the event happen.
We started by organizing RV-4 pilots on the forum here. Our rough game plan was to meet at KOVS Boscobel, WI. Here Jason Edwards of Edwards Aircraft service took care of numerous RVs that joined us and sought shelter and maintenance during the first weekend’s storms. Pictures don’t do justice to the amount of fun had at OVS!!! (…or the number of undocumented late evening stories around the beer cooler!)
After finally getting the word that we could land at OSH and not sink into the mud, we set out as a flight of 4 RV-4s and arrived via the Fisk arrival together. We were able to go 4 for 4 on the arrival and ended up parked next to each other as seen in the sunset picture. With the assistance of Charlie Becker from the EAA, we had special RV-4 only parking towards the front of the Home built parking area. Additionally, we had an area near the homebuilt camping pavilion for us to group camp as well. This turned out to be a fantastic setup and allowed a lot of group activities with the whole RV-4 group.
Tuesday afternoon, we got together for an RV-4 Pilots Luncheon where burgers and dogs were served. All in all, over 75 RV-4 Pilots came together and participated in activities. Many of those pilots (including myself) were second third or fourth owners to their plane. It was awesome to see the group all together. Greg Hughes at Vans helped by creating a special RV-4 40th anniversary tee shirt and we took a group picture at the Tuesday Lunch wearing the shirts.
Later in the week, I was fortunate enough to fly my plane in the homebuilt flyby portion of the Tuesday Airshow as well as use my plane as the display model during Van’s talk in the new “Homebuilt Review” area. Van even signed my canopy! These were some memories that will stick with me forever.
All in all, an excellent week. We, as a group, have already vowed to continue the tradition next year again and make it better than this past year. We already have volunteers offering help with the RV-4 lunch as well as Jason’s open offer for a pre-Oshkosh party and flying festivities at OVS. Please keep this in mind when planning your Oshkosh in 2020.
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