Category Archives: aircraft ownership

Sun N Fun 2025 Forums

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If you are at Sun N Fun 2025 check out my forums.

Location  – Room 10.
Tue, April 1 – 10 things you need to know before buying aviation insurance @ 9:00:00 AM
Tue, April 1 – Aircraft Buying 101: Picking the best aircraft for you @ 10:00:00 AM
Tue, April 1 – What’s the Real Cost to own an aircraft! @ 11:00:00 AM

Wed, April 2 – Alternate aircraft ownership options @ 9:00:00 AM
Wed, April 2 – Aircraft Buying 101: Picking the best Aircraft for You @ 10:00:00 AM
Wed, April 2 – 10 things you need to know before buying aviation @ 11:00:00 AM

Thu, April 3 – Alternate aircraft ownership options @ 10:00:00 AM
Thu, April 3 – What’s the Real Cost to own an aircraft! @ 11:00:00 AM

Centennials for Fairchild, Travel Air aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

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Centennials for Fairchild, Travel Air aircraft to be celebrated at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — (February 26, 2025) — Two iconic aircraft types from the Golden Age of Aviation between the World Wars, Fairchild and Travel Air, will celebrate their centennial years during activities at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025. The 72nd annual Experimental Aircraft Association fly-in convention is July 21-27 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The 100th anniversary year for each aircraft will welcome those airplanes to the AirVenture flight line, with additional programs and activities held in conjunction with the Fairchild and Travel Air type clubs. All owners of Fairchild and Travel Air aircraft are invited to be part of the centennial activities.

“Each of these aircraft companies were founded in 1925, but took very different paths through their histories,” said Rick Larsen, EAA’s vice president of communities and member programs, who coordinates AirVenture features and attractions. “Each of these aircraft types made unique contributions to the world of flight, especially the momentous era from 1920 until 1940.”

Fairchild Aircraft was founded in 1925 as a builder of aircraft stable enough for aerial photography and mapping. While the company created a significant number of civilian passenger airplanes in its first 15 years, it was during World War II that the company turned to military aircraft production, especially trainers and transports. It continued that focus through acquisitions of Hiller Aircraft and Republic Aircraft in the 1960s. Its final major production aircraft was the legendary A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the Warthog, from 1972 through 1984.

The EAA Aviation Museum currently has the oldest Fairchild aircraft in existence, a 1927 FC-2W model. It is in early American Airlines markings as it served as an early carrier after flying for Interstate Airlines.

The Travel Air Manufacturing Company’s short history was a partnership of three famous names in aviation history: Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, and Lloyd Stearman of Wichita, Kansas. The three men were part of the Swallow Aircraft Company but in 1925, struck out on their own to create versatile biplanes in a 30-by-30-foot space in downtown Wichita. After some early success, the partnership separated with Stearman and then Cessna moving to their own businesses. The company was eventually absorbed into the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in 1929 and ended production in 1931 during the Great Depression.

EAA continues the legacy of the company with its Travel Air 4000, which is one of the oldest aircraft in the world offering passenger flights with its seasonal operations at the EAA Aviation Museum’s Pioneer Airport.

About EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is “The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration” and EAA’s membership convention. Additional information, including advance ticket and camping purchase, is available at www.EAA.org/airventure. For more information on EAA and its programs, call 800-JOIN-EAA (800-564-6322) or visit www.EAA.org.

B-29s to again reunite at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025

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Superfortresses ‘Doc’ and ‘FIFI’ to each attend ‘World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration’

EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — (February 6, 2025) — The world’s only two flying examples of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress will be back this summer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025, supporting the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and post-war aviation technology. The 72nd edition of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s fly-in convention is July 21-27 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh.

The two B-29s have made only about a half-dozen joint public appearances since first flying together at Oshkosh in 2017. Three of those appearances have taken place at EAA AirVenture, including in 2024.

“As AirVenture is the world’s largest annual gathering of warbirds, bringing these two iconic aircraft together is another of those ‘Only at Oshkosh’ moments,” said Rick Larsen, EAA’s vice president of communities and member programs, who coordinates AirVenture features and attractions. “These airplanes are big favorites wherever they appear separately, but together they will make the occasion even more unforgettable.”

As currently scheduled, each airplane will spend time featured on EAA’s Boeing Plaza. FIFI will be on display on July 21-23, while Doc will take centerstage for display on July 24-27. The airplanes are also scheduled to make a formation flight at the beginning of the July 23 night air show. When not on display at Boeing Plaza, flight experiences on Doc July 21-23 will be based at Appleton International Airport, approximately 20 miles north, while FIFI will be in Appleton for flight experiences on July 24-27.

FIFI is owned and operated by the Commemorative Air Force’s B-29/B-24 Squadron of Dallas, Texas. It was acquired by the CAF in the early 1970s when a group of CAF members found it at the U.S. Navy Proving Ground at China Lake, California, where it was being used as a missile target. The airplane was rescued and restored, then flew for over 30 years until 2006, when the chief pilot made the decision to ground it pending a complete power plant re-fit. After an extensive four-year restoration that included installing four new custom-built hybrid engines, FIFI returned to the sky in 2010 and has since traveled coast to coast. More information on flight experiences will be available soon at https://www.airpowersquadron.org/.

Doc was built in 1944 and for many years was part of a squadron known as the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in upstate New York at Griffiss Air Force Base (hence, the name Doc). The airplane was retired in 1956 as the jet bomber age began and sat as a target for Navy training missions in China Lake, California, until 1998. A restoration group took possession of the airplane from the U.S. government and hauled it back to Wichita, Kansas, in pieces in 2000. After 16 years and more than 450,000 volunteer hours, Doc made its first flight after restoration in July 2016, 60 years after it had been retired. Flight experience information for Doc at Oshkosh is available at https://www.b29doc.com/rides/. Doc is owned and operated by Doc’s Friends, Inc., a non-profit based in Wichita.

About EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is “The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration” and EAA’s membership convention. Additional information, including advance ticket and camping purchase, is available at www.EAA.org/airventure. For more information on EAA and its programs, call 800-JOIN-EAA (800-564-6322) or visit www.EAA.org.