EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015: Boeing Plaza Becomes Aviation Wonderland

Fred Harl and Carmelo Turdo

The EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015 visitor will quickly gravitate to Boeing Plaza, the central apron in the public access area, to check out the day's display aircraft selection.  It is a dynamic place, where crowds gather and aircraft are rotated in and out throughout the day.  The stars of this year's Boeing Plaza were the venerable Boeing B-52H, in it's sixth decade of service, along with the current generation of USAF Fighters, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.  Other aircraft were added as they arrived, including the new Airbus A350, the unique Beech Starship, the legendary QF-4E Phantom II (probably in its last year on the airshow circuit), the rare flying F-100F Super Sabre, law enforcement helicopters and rare warbirds such as the DeHavilland Mosquito and Avro Lancaster. 

This current series from EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015 will include numerous feature stories highlighting the aircraft in Boeing Plaza.  We begin with this sampler that will include the aircraft mentioned above and more, along with some people we met there along the way: Col. Charles McGee of the original Tuskegee Airmen, and Jim "Pee Wee" Martin, a D-Day paratrooper who was on hand to dedicate the restoration of the first Douglas C-47 to release troops over Normandy.