Fighters To Fireworks At EAA AirVenture

A most unusual formation where matching speeds is crucial was flown at Oshkosh as the USAF’s F-22 Raptor honed in and held close to three P-51 Mustangs. The group represented five decades of progress: the P-51D appeared in 1944; the F-22 first flew in 1997.

The Mehve, an imaginary aircraft in the Japanese animated film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, so inspired Tokyo University of the Art professor Kazuhiko Hachiya that he decided he must design, build and fly such an aircraft. Fifteen years later he achieved his dream. Click to next photo.

Hachiya created the “Open Sky M-02J” jet-powered motorglider, controlled in pitch by weight shift and in roll by wing warping, using two techniques of control invented by the Wright brothers. Hachiya has made numerous short flights, and flew the bird-shaped craft at EAA AirVenture on Wednesday evening. Power is provided by a 176-pounds-thrust Nike engine made by AMT of the Netherlands.

Red Bull was out in force at Oshkosh; its specially modified BO 105 aerobatic helicopter is seen here frolicking with a Red Bull Extra 300.

The ever-popular seaplane base appeared nearly full this year; it is just minutes from Wittman Airport in a sheltered cove on Lake Winnebago. Seen here from the Ford Tri-Motor, it was the least to suffer from the five inches of rainfall that preceded the opening of the show.

Where else in the world can you see night-time aerobatics by aircraft laden with fireworks? Not just one but several performers have perfected nocturnal displays; LED lighting, with its low weight and low power demands, enables aircraft to be lit up and switched on or off at will in the night sky

Nate Hammond fires off more than 200 lb of pyrotechnics from his Super Chipmunk while performing in AirVenture’s dramatic night show.

This year the Super Chipmunk was one of several aerobatic aircraft to use multi-colored LED lighting on their wings as well as fireworks fired from all parts of their airframe.

The Grand Finale of the night time show was a replication of an atomic fireball. It was surprisingly quiet as it mushroomed and grew, making it even more awesome, and one could feel waves of heat pulse for hundreds of yards across the airfield. The audience was left stunned.