This is a report of the Ercoupe group flight into the EAA Convention in Oshkosh, with impressions of the convention in general. Seven planes gathered on Monday, July 26 in Burlington, WI. Those who flew in were George Watts and his son, Chip, in Alon N6362V from San Antonio, TX. They actually flew in on Sunday. Dennis Spiegel and his son Darren arrived in Ercoupe N99564 from Arlington Heights, IL, Claude and Lee Wheelbarger arrived in Ercoupe N93620 from Elkton, VA, David Smoler arrived in Alon N6359V from San Jose, CA, and Robert Swanson arrived in Ercoupe N94898 from Fort Washington, Maryland, and Hank Gallagher arrived in Ercoupe N94690 from Austin, TX. I brought Brandon Garrity from Wausau, WI in my Ercoupe, NC94196 on Sunday and flew back to Wausau, and brought Zach Frieberg on Monday. Brandon stayed overnight with Walt Uebele, who would have flown with us to Oshkosh from Burlington in his Ercoupe N94113, but had propeller problems. Zach was to fly in to Oshkosh with Bill Coons in Ercoupe N99822, but Bill was weathered in to his home field and had to drive. Zach rode with him to Oshkosh, and Brandon flew with me. They are 16 year old boys who are totally in love with aviation in general and Ercoupes in particular. Also present were Bill and Judy Matuscak who drove to the airfield to give us Oshkosh Type Club Tent supplies and to see us off. Claude and Lee complained to some of us that their Ercoupe was a real dog and didn't know why, so a few of us looked it over and suggested removing their landing lights which were on the MLG fairings, and removing the snubber cable on the nose gear. We figured they would pick up a few miles per hour, and I placed them in the number 7 spot. We briefed at 11:30, fired up and departed at noon. I led the flight in a climbing left turn over the city and we turned north, flying about 500' in trail, about 1000' agl. Some of us did S turns so the slower planes could catch up. It turned out that Dennis Spiegel was the slow poke of the group, not Claude. Claude's plane had suddenly turned into an F-16, just from removing those few things. I was amazed. We got to Ripon and turned north east over the railroad tracks, and on to Fisk, where the approach controllers picked us out and told us to turn to the left and circle Rush Lake due to congestion. We got a little mixed around at this point. The controllers called me back when I was about half way to Rush Lake and told me to turn back to the railroad track and proceed inbound, and I did so with 4 Coupes and a few other planes following me, but the other 3 Coupes and other planes went all the way around Rush Lake, so we were separated and did not land together, and when we got to Oshkosh the others were parked about 1/2 mile from us. We parked in the Show Plane Camping Area. About 6 other Ercoupes were scattered around the show plane area also. After landing Lee Wheelbarger used his cell phone to check his home answering machine and found he had to leave for home right away, so they only stayed for a few hours. A Cessna was parked in his spot, even though I had put up my "Ercoupe Alley" street sign on our row. Disgusting. We set up the Ercoupe table at the Type Club tent, and got volunteers to staff it. Wednesday John Wright Sr. put on a maintenance seminar in Forum Tent 3. It was very informative. The Ercoupe Banquet was held on Friday night at The Winemaker's Restaurant just a short bus ride from the airfield. 38 people attended, and about 36 won door prizes. The weather was hot and humid every day until Friday, when it turned to very hot and very humid. Saturday was about the same, but Sunday and Monday were nice and cool. Attendance to the convention was down from the past few years, probably due to the hot weather and to the new "members only" policy. Litter was almost nonexistent, and I only stopped 4 people this year for smoking on the flight line, compared to about 14 each day last year. Each of the people I stopped were very apologetic and thanked me for reminding them. Really. All in all I enjoyed the convention, other than the hot weather. I stayed until Monday, and Brandon flew back with me and Zach flew back with Arden Krueger in his Ercoupe, N2028H, who had come in on Thursday and parked with us in Ercoupe Alley. Think about flying in with us next year. I think we will fly in on Sunday instead of Monday.
Syd Cohen Wausau, WI NC94196
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