Every year when I get to AirVenture, one of my first stops is the Brown arch. Why? Well it started out that we needed an opening “spread” shot for our Airventure coverage, and I needed to take the shot before the crowds arrived so I could get it “clean” for our web editor. That’s the practical side of the story.
But there is more to it than that. The Brown Arch is tradition, it is the starting point for everything Oshkosh. Dating back to earlier days, it harkens to the time when “AirVenture” was simply known as “Oshkosh,” and was mostly experimental aircraft guys getting together to show off their machines. It was a fly-in, not a trade show, not an airshow… the airshow was provided by the participants who took their latest creations into the air as much as they wanted to fly by the crowd. The trade show and the airshow are great – don’t get me wrong – but I do wish I had been here in the early days when young guys like Burt Rutan, Jim Bede, and Dick VanGrunsven took their original designs aloft to show off for the crowd.
Tradition is important at Oshkosh (indulge an old-timer who likes the name…) – it’s worth finding some volunteer who likes like they’ve been at every show since Rockford and asking them what it was like. They’ll tell you about the vegetable sprayer shower heads, the buildings salvaged from neighborhoods overrun by the airport, and how deals were cut with the city fathers for paving and grading projects. And they’ll tell you things about the arch that I never knew. go ahead…just ask them!
Meanwhile, make sure to drop by – it’s just north of Boeing Plaza – and gaze through it to watch airplanes arrive. You call it AirVenture, they old guys call it Oshkosh….
….I’ll just welcome you to “The Show!”
