Thunder roars across the sky yet with not one cloud in sight, and the sun shines brightly.  People to my right, left, in front and behind me shoot their eyes to they sky as they shade themselves from the blinding sun.  The momentum of the sound rushes through my body.  I can feel the vibration in my neck and chest as my ears become vigorously pierced with sound.  The formation of F-16’s pass overhead to round about again.  This is the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, known for their daily airshows, one of a kind aircrafts, and being the busiest airport in the world for ten days.

Arizona, Missouri, Kentucky, and even across the salty sea to Germany, I have a second family. We come together once a year, but it seems as if we have never said goodbye.  It is such a reward knowing that we will all meet back up in row ten for what seems like a family reunion.  While that is the best part, that’s not the only awesome aspect about camping out.  We build our own little getaway, consisting of a twenty by twenty buck tent, a grill, portable stove, multiple coolers as a fridge, and fold up tables as a pantry. The most fun part though is our one-foot tall white picket fence, made of wire, which we set up around the tent near the tiki torches that light up the night.  During our stay we enjoy eating like royalty, enjoying marinated, grilled chicken, spicy chili, sweet corn, decadent tacos, and juicy hamburgers on the grill.  Then to top off the night, we throw a football around with each other or other campers and later enjoy s’mores over a warm fire and talking that lasts until three in the morning, and we only to get up four hours later.   I can’t forget the huge American flag with the small German flag taped to the bottom for Erik and Mario, our German friends we met two years ago.  Scott, who acts as an uncle to me, works as a policeman in Gilbert, Arizona.  We met years before due to him forgetting a hammer to stake his tent down, and we met the Weiler’s a few years ago as well, and they live just outside of St. Louis Missouri. 

Oshkosh is a ten-day event where everything and anything revolves around aircraft and aeronautics. Whether experimental, military, or homebuilt, planes all come together and create one event.  As I walk down to the flight line with my family, we see homebuilt planes all lined up row after row, colors and patterns of all sorts.  After passing a few food stands such as A&E Root Beer and Subway, we come to the Warbirds section. Also known as the Warbirds of America, they consist of old military fighters that flew in dogfights during WWII.  The pilots themselves tell the stories of all the adventures, places they’ve been, towns flown over, and experiences to remember for a lifetime.  Just past the Warbirds, a seemingly perfect line of early fighter jets sit.  I am amazed by all the different types of aircraft there are; however, I am even more mesmerized by the incredible C-130.  As I walk through the carrier, I understand how the military transports a jet or other aircraft inside of it.  The inside is massive.  When we are finished doing a walkthrough, we go to the airshow.  For the first time, in all the years they have been there, they are successful in having the Thunderbirds to do a show.  The pilots have complex formations and precision.  Flying at about 650 miles per hour, even though they have a top speed of about 1,350 miles per hour, they speed just inches away from each other.  I watch in awe as they fly low to the ground and disappear into the sky.  The immaculate airshows never cease to amaze me.  However, while it may be all fun at one moment, tragedy can strike the next.  As most pilots succeed in their flights and performances, some have had a few malfunctions, and there have been crashes.  The landing gear is not working properly, and it fails to open.   My heart beats fast as I think, ‘Get away from the crash.  Walk away.’  Mountains of smoke clouds and engulfing flams, the sound of the sirens whaling and screaming, and the crowd growing silent in the chill morning air will never leave my memory.  “I can’t believe that happened,” my dad said.  Rest in peace to the man who died that day. 

Sure, Oshkosh is all about planes, camping, and more planes, but there is something for everyone to enjoy.  Even if planes are not his or her interests, there is so much more to do.  For example, Oshkosh volunteers set up a Ford hanger every year that includes all the latest Ford vehicle models.  Even better, they take the latest Mustang and paint it to transform the car into a jet such as the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, or an F-14.  There are even activities for young kids like the Young Eagles Program, Helicopter rides, and Kidventure.

To sum it all up, my outlook on life would not be the same without Oshkosh.  The people there are more kind than any place else, and our Oshkosh family seems to grow for the better.  There is so much to learn about old military aircraft such as the Warbirds, B-17’s, and P-51’s, but also the new experimental aircrafts; for example, there’s a plane that literally transforms into a street legal vehicle where the wings fold in, and it has a top speed of sixty-five miles per hour.  Oshkosh is a place to get away and let go.  It is a place to free ourselves and enjoy family and all the little wonders or to just kick back in a lawn chair under the buck tent and have no worries.  We also make sure to remember the one rule: “What happens at Oshkosh, stays at Oshkosh.”