Here is an excerpt from Volume One of "Around the Field: The stories of the people places and planes of the Oshkosh Fly-in". Excerpt from July 29, 1998.
The grounds and facilities here at the EAA AirVenture are always in tip-top condition. That's due to people like the mother/daughter team of Karen and Michelle Lamb. We found them one evening, after dark, after the crowds had left, driving around the convention grounds in their John Deere Gator, watering the flowers and tending to the plants.
"Before the fly-in starts we can do our work during the day. But when the crowds arrive we do part of our work early in the morning, and continue in the evening."
Karen is a year-round EAA employee, who works the rest of the year on things like decorating the Museum for the holidays, and creating displays. Michelle is a sophomore, studying elementary education, at Martin Luthor College. She works for the EAA during the summers.
Sitting in the shade under the wing of his 1950 brown & tan Cessna 182, Al Plapp watches the arrivals on runway 18. Between landings he reminisces about the days when he learned to fly.
"I worked for Ron Dornink at his airport in Illinois. I painted fences, and shoveled, err, stuff, in exchange for flying lessons. It's called Ronald K. Dornink Airport, but we called it Dornink International. I stop back there as often as I can. It's still a grass strip.
"Someone has taken all the old first solo shirt tails and stitched them together into a quilt that is now on display. There must be 80 to 100 shirt tails. Mine is there.
"I think he's still got a couple of kids working for him, learning to fly."
Learn more about Volume One of "Around the Field: The stories of the people places and planes of the Oshkosh Fly-in" and other books by Jack Hodgson here.
General Aviation, Flying, Airplanes, EAA, Experimental Aircraft Association, Wittman Field
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