The A/C is 'ugly' all right, but to me that is the beauty of it, the 'little
man' getting himself something that flies. forget the beauty, forget the
finesse, forget the technology, he wants to fly! That used to be what the EAA
was all abnout, then it got smothered by the rush to beauty and ever higher
technology. Now, nobody shows up at Oshkosh with the cheap "little man's"
planes that may not look like something out of science fiction with a $10,000
paint job. One of my best memories is of meeting a chap with a KR2 who flew
into Oshkosh years ago. It looked awful, still hade theglass fabric showing
all over through the obviously cheap paint job, he obviously had functionality
as a priority over pure beauty, but it FLEW HIM TO OSHKOSH and did what he
wanted it to do. I sort of think this pursuit of pure beauty and
one-upsmanship is a great part of the reason that EAA has become primarily a
millionaires club, the 'little man' flying his cheap homemade unsophisticated
plane that he never intended to be a show-off piece has been shoved far into
the background and scorned..
