Pick and Mix (Flying)

Pick and Mix

Who remembers Woolworths’ Pick and Mix? For a child of the 1970s it was an Aladdin’s cave of delight. For those who missed the experience, Pick and Mix was an assortment of lolly bins from which you could choose your own. It was about choice, it was about range and it was about the only time I cared about maths. How many lollies could I buy for 50 cents?

I know these days New World has lolly bins, but it’s not the same. It’s not a novelty any more, and besides, what’s with the bran and fruit?

I grew up in small town New Zealand. Te Puke had a tiny Woolworths and therefore a limited pick and mix range. I didn’t know true variety until I visited my grandmother in Auckland. The Auckland Woolworths Pick and Mix was beyond my wildest dreams. The problem arose that no matter how I did the maths, 50 cents couldn’t buy me one of everything. I quickly learned to be selective.

Moving forward a few years, I now have lots more things to make choices about. Aviation events for one.

Wanaka and Omaka are easy choices. The SAA (Sports Aircraft Association) fly in is compulsory attendance. Mandeville I have yet to experience. These are all fun and exciting, but on the world scale they are like the Te Puke Woolworths’ Pick and Mix store, small and cosy.

Going to the EAA AirVenture, at Oshkosh was like walking into the Auckland Woolworths Pick and Mix department. I was a wide eyed child again in a candy store. It is a week-long show of everything that flies, looks like it should fly or looks like it’ll never fly and then does, just to prove you wrong. It is Wanaka on some serious steroids.       

In 2010 (when I went), numbers were down as there were weather issues just prior to the show – three days of torrential rain. A lot of the grounds were too muddy for aircraft parking and camping. The attendees were counted at a mere 535,000 persons obviously give or take a thousand. I am not sure if they counted me seven times because I went every day, or just once. I brought a different T-shirt every day, so perhaps seven times.

Ten thousand aircraft homed in on Wisconsin for the show, 2380 of those being show planes. They can land them three at a time on the main runway, three miles long. Then there is a second runway at right angles to the main one. It’s just crazy to watch. All communication is one way. You just do as you are told. There were an estimated 36,000 campers (on high ground).

Every day in the afternoon there is an air show for about three hours. On Saturday they had the first ever night show which was the chocolate coating to the whole week. Aerobatics, formation flying AND fireworks attached to the aeroplanes!

There were 777 commercial exhibitors were you could buy everything from a Lear-jet, to a logbook for your dog. During the day there were seminars, movies, book signings, talks, forums and workshops on everything from fabric and wood to GPS and electric aeroplanes. It didn’t matter if you flew, fixed, built, taught or modelled – there was something for everybody with an aviation bent. (Some of the wives preferred the malls?).

Oshkosh requires good walking shoes, sunblock, a sunhat and a set of spider eyes to see everything. The display aircraft are parked separately in their appropriate categories. Although I was there a week I still had to pick and mix. There’s only so many hours in a week and I wasted some of it sleeping.

Here’s what I managed to see:

Straight up the middle there were the business jets, Honda, Cessna, Lear (Milk-bottles ). In Aeroshell square there were the airliners (Jet planes). On the flight line there were the aerobatic aeroplanes, the Pitts, Viper (Smokers). To the left were the homebuilts, RVs 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12, Kitfoxes, and the Rans (Jaffas). Further along to the left were the Warbirds, Seafury, Harvard, Mustang, Corsair, Skyhawk, Glacier Girl, and the Bs (Gumballs). In amongst the warbirds was a Catalina from the islands (Coconut Ice). Just past these were the Chipmunks (Peanuts). Stage left was the GA camping area. Cessna, Beechcraft, Cherokees (Pineapple Lumps). Across the runway was the military: army aircraft (Spearmints), navy aircraft (Peppermints), Air Force (Minties).

It was then advisable to catch a tractor trailer unit to return the miles back to the centre of proceedings, Aeroshell square. Just to the right, were the WW1 multi-winged things, (Liquorice allsorts). Slightly to the right again were the vintage aircraft; the Stearmans, Staggerwings, Curtis Robins, and the odd Tiger Moth, (Fudge). This was also the home of the only real coffee in a 20 mile radius.



Further along to the right were the ultralights, gyrocopters, Trikes, Dominators, and just weird stuff, (Nut mix and Chocolate Coated Cashews). Next the DC-3s in all liveries, (Fruit Balls). One morning, down this end they inflated the balloons (Bubble gum). Right at the very far end of the field they parked the Alaskan aircraft. You know those ones with fat tyres, and huge engines for STOL work (Eskimos). If you then caught a bus you could go out to the seaplanes base and see the Cessnas, Icons, Piper Cubs, Beavers anything really with wings and floats (Jelly Babies).

Back at the main airfield if you travelled down the main drag and over to the museum you could see the airship (Easter egg). Model aeroplanes (Kinder Surprises) were out when the wind was gentle, and the helicopters (Wine gums) took punters for joyrides. There were several ways of seeing the whole lolly shop from above. One being the Ford Trimotor (M&M&M).

I searched high and low, but nowhere did I find a Bolkow Junior (Roses Chocolate), dear little chocolate with a soft centre. Even without them it is still the biggest, brightest, buzziest airshow on earth. Loaded with variety, volume and value for money. Just what a sweet-toothed aviatrix wants in a candy store. 

First published Aviation News October 2010