This year’s Airventure featured a couple of unwanted participants…hot & humid weather along with poor air quality due to the smoke from forest and wildfires.
Staying with the theme of heat, there were plenty of jets both old and new at this year’s EAA Convention and Airventure aviation extravaganza. Jerry Conley appeared bringing Vampy his de Havilland Vampire one of the UK’s first operational jets that saw service with more than 30 countries.
Speaking of early jets…the replica Messerschmidt Me 262 made a return to Oshkosh!
Seven F3F Wildcats were airborne all at the same time! And speaking of Cats…the Grumman family was represented by not only the Wildcats, but also the Hellcat, Bearcat and Tigercat!
A first time visitor was the F-35B Lightning II, the US Marines variant the replacement for the soon to retire AV-8B Harrier. For many attendees, this was their first time seeing this variant and watching it demonstrate its S/VTOL capabilities.
And there were others…F-22 Raptor, Mig 17s, T-33s and A-10s which all performed in the daily airshow throughout the week.
Besides jets, there were other famous aircraft, such as both airworthy B-29 Superfortress bombers, FIFI and Doc. A recently restored A-26 Intruder; B-25s, C-47s and plenty of T-6s, T-28s and T-34s too!
I’m only touching on a portion of what aircraft were either on display or participated in the daily aerial displays and airshows.
Next years 2026 event kicks off on July 20th, 2026 and runs thru July 26th, 2026 so mark your calendars and start planning to attend NOW!
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- Jerry Conley and Vampy
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