Mantua, New Jersey
Original Site:
September 2004
E-mail: usav8or@yahoo.com
Welcome to EAA. The Experimental Aircraft Association.
Homebuilder ?
Wing nut ?
Pilot ?
Causual observer ?
Armchair pilot ?
then EAA's for you !
Ahhhhh... the wonderful World of EAA. Gotta love it.
People talking to people 'bout nothing but airplanes. If I'm not flying, building or talking airplanes then I'm thinking about them. I'm sure you're pretty much
like myself. Addicting, ain't it ?
I can remember waiting at the front door each day for my information packet from EAA to arrive. It was back in the early 70's. It had a picture of a biplane on the front cover. I can remember opening up the
pages and seeing a Midget Mustang sitting there as pretty as could be. I poured over that magazine so much I could read it in my sleep. From that moment on, I was a member of EAA.
EAA is an international grassroots organization for kids (anyone who loves flight is always a kid at heart) who love anything to do with flight.
EAA was founded in 1953 by Paul Poberezny. The beginings of the organization started life as a small group of like minded aviation enthusiasts that enjoyed building experimental planes. They met on January 26, 1953, at Milwaukee's Curtiss-Wright Field to discuss the forming of a club.
At this meeting they decided to name the club the Experimental Aircraft Association, since it was experimental aircraft they loved to build. For the first 11 years the Experimental Aircraft Association was run out of Paul and Audrey's (Pauls' wife) basement,
in Hales Corners, WI.
The first flyin was held at Curtiss-Wright Field in September 1953. They soon out grew Curtiss-Wright and moved the annual flyin to Rockford Municipal Airport in Rockford, IL, in 1959. Having out grown Rockford, they then
moved the convention, in 1970, to their current location in Oshkosh, WI.
AirVenture now attracts over 800,000 visitors, flying in over 12,000 planes. That's a big leap from the first flyin which had fewer than 50 planes registered for the event.
EAA is now run by Paul's son, Tom. Tom is carrying out what the first 36 members had as their vision... to encourage growth of the Experimental Movement through education, and to support and represent us in government. It's a little bit more structured than what it use to be, and it has evolved with the times. It had to, it's 170,000 members. Structure is needed for such a large group.
There are more kit builders now, than scratch-built builders. It goes along with the whole philosophy of having it "NOW". EAA has also created several subdivisions to
target in on several other areas of aircraft and flying. There are three divisions in addition to the original Experimental group, Vintage, Warbirds and Aerobatics. These divisions have their own separate magazine dealing with issues specific to owning these types of planes.
No matter what your interests.... you'll find a home at EAA.
