From: amazon@annexia.esd.sgi.com (Stormwind)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: Echoes from Oshkosh
Date: 21 Aug 92 16:26:34 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: X Industries, Heavy Weapons R&D

wow.  the people you meet at oshkosh.

my first day out at oshkosh, i went in search
of staggerwings.  it was a long walk; i hadn't
realized yet how VAST oshkosh was.  and there, 
as i crossed the creek down by the theatre in 
the woods, there it was.  the most amazing shade
of red, the shade that lambourghini countachs 
typically come in, twinkling at me.

i fell in love.

i went to go drool on the grass in front of it.
there was a fellow there wielding a polishing 
rag, and wearing four more, lovingly polishing off
the fingerprints of small children who had grasped
the lower wing.  he noticed me drooling, and came
over to talk while he polished the prop and spinner.

we chatted for quite a while; he invited me to 
climb up into the cabin and photograph the 
instrument panel.  many pictures were snapped,
and in the end he gave me his address so i could
send any good ones to him in georgia.  turns out
his name is steve; this is a good omen.  most of
the major discoveries in my life have occurred
via people named steve.  he's part of the crew
that works on maintaining the condition of the
plane.

after going home, i forwarded duplicates of the
best shots of 18575 to him.  a few weeks went by.
last night, as i was driving home, i thought, "gee,
it's been a while since i sent those photos to 
georgia.  i wonder if i'll have some mail with the
fisheye photos he was going to swap me?"

no mail from georgia; however, my answering machine
had a message on it from georgia!  so i gave him a 
call back.  we talked for an hour and a half.

turns out the flight home was beautiful.  18575
took the prize at oshkosh for best cabin biplane,
and placed third in the grand champion competition.
they were *very* pleased.  

this was also *his* first trip to oshkosh.  "i didn't
want to go home," he said.  "we got back, i took a 
shower, then i called up the other guys and said,'let's
go back!'".

"yeah, i know what you mean!  i had to go back on 
tuesday night, and after i got home i moped around
for two more days.  i was actually *depressed*, i
didn't want to leave!"

there was a very short pause.  "you know, i'm REALLY
glad you said that!  *i* was depressed TOO!  i wanted
it to keep running for another two weeks!"

so in the end, there was an agreement to swap even
more photos via mail, and an invitation to come to
the sun 'n fun fly-in next year, to which 18575 is
rumored to be heading.  steve also pointed out a 
number of staggerwings in various conditions that are
for sale across the nation.

later that night, my flight instructor (also named
steve) came over, and i told him about the phone call.
he kinda grinned when i mentioned the staggerwings
for sale.  "you know," he said, "if it's restoring
airplanes you want, you can get a taylorcraft or a 
cub pretty cheap and probably restore it in a corner
of someone's hangar..."

i've been considering a career change *anyways*....

but the upshot of this whole thing is that i'm
very, very, very pleasantly surprised at the kinds
of people i've met at oshkosh.  i tend towards being
misanthropic; it staggers me to meet people who are
*this* friendly and outgoing!  it's simply unprecedented.
and i'm thrilled.

so, if anyone has a taylorcraft or a cub in the bay
area that they're restoring, and they can use a little
trainable slave labor, let me know.

likewise, any of you staggerwing fanatics who missed
getting a photo of 18575, send me email and i will
happily uuencode the appropriate image format back
to you.

			stormwind

			hell's amazon
Newsgroups: rec.aviation