EAA AirVenture 2024: Day Two

by Ken Kula · Published July 23, 2024

Story and photos by Ken Kula

Tuesday July 23, 2024 was a stormy day in Oshkosh. A thundershower arrived around 4 AM, followed by a rain shower at 6 AM. Weather forecasts called for heavier thunderstorms later in the day too. Luckily, from about 8AM through 2PM, rain held off. Some flying occurred and many of the crowd got the chance to talk with aviators, engineers, and many more participants in the field of aviation.

On the Boeing Plaza, there were a diverse collection of aircraft both large and small. One military aircraft, an Air Force C-12C Huron, sported a long extension boom off of the nose. The pilot/air data sensor was mounted in front of the aircraft so pure information (speed, etc.) could be attained during test flights. The aircraft is one of only two of its kind, used by the U.S. Air Force’s Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California.

As today was deemed the “Innovations Day”, loads of cutting edge displays were available to answer some questions, or show technology used in cutting edge designs.

One was the Zipline uncrewed delivery vehicle. Developed for a program in Africa to deliver critically needed medical supplies to remote area, the mid-sized drone uses a detachable carrying case for its payload.

Speaking of innovations, the EAA’s Tin Goose – a Ford Trimotor transport – rumbled into the air at regular intervals carrying passengers for a short tour of the area. The Tin Goose ushered in a metal airframe using corrugated metal instead of fabric and dope.

At 11AM, the skies were graced with the arrival of the eleven Frecce Tricolori MB-339 jet trainers. The team made several passes for the crowd and landed at Oshkosh.

The daily air show was supposed to begin around 2PM, but low clouds and a heavy 30 minute rain storm curtailed flight operations. This caused the cancellation of multiple performers’ flying displays. When things did return to the skies, a quartet of T-28 Trojan warbird trainers led off with their formation passes and a solo aerobatic display.

Air Force fighters took to the sky to perform their flight demos, The A-10 Thunderbolt II Demo team is disbanding at the end of this airshow season, so their flight demo was heavily photographed to save memories of what the jet looked like in the air. An F-35 Lightning streamed much moisture out of the air as well.

There was an F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning, A-10 Thunderbolt and a P-51 Mustang, which flew together in a salute to those “who had to fly and fight” according to the background song “Keep Them Flying”.

Finally, the Italians taxied out, and departed in a pair for five-ship formations followed by a solo jet. The team did a series of passes complete with green, orange and white smoke.

The rain unfortunately threw a monkey wrench into a carefully planned air show, but after the afternoon’s weather cleared a bit, the action was pretty much non-stop and quite pleasing.