I dove into Airventure head first last year (2023) after putting it off due to my perceived logistics complexity of attending such a massive event. While it requires a tad more planning, I had a great time yet again. Although I have attended air shows since I was a kid, I feel unqualified to review Airventure. You cannot possibly immerse yourself in all of it.

You can certainly attend Airventure for a day, but given it is a seven-hour drive for me, that doesn’t make sense, so I elected to camp at Camp Scholler. I have a disdain for traffic and lines, so the hotel option is not a great for me, but certainly an option for others. I enjoy the independence, price, and the people you get to meet and interact with at camp. Camp Scholler is perfect for me. I have been successful in finding great camping spots by arriving late in the morning on Thursday. By all accounts, it starts getting difficult to find decent spots starting Tuesday leading up to the Wednesday night show, but you will not be turned away. Even with a Thursday arrival, I was able to experience 4 air shows over 3 days.

If you can manage to bring a bicycle to the show, it will knock miles of walking off your day. That great camping spot that I mentioned was still nearly a mile from closest gate. While not terrible, consider I still achieved 20,000 steps a day, excluding regular back-and-forth trips between the show and the campsite for lunch. Fortunately, the show operates trams around the grounds; study the maps beforehand and get acquainted with which tram goes where, as they will be a great help.

There are daily airshows each afternoon from Monday to Sunday, with an additional night show on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The day shows run approximately four hours while the night show is about 90 minutes (followed by 30 minutes of fireworks). This year’s headliners were the Canadian CF-188A Hornet solo demonstration and the Snowbirds. These require a ‘Category I’ aerobatic box, which Oshkosh’s normal showground layout cannot accommodate, so the crowd was moved back during the jet teams to accommodate the larger box. While this restricted valuable real estate up close to the taxiway, I didn’t hear any complaints.

The CF-18 was a sight to see alone; the flight profile was sporty, mixing maneuvers I had seen before and others I was unfamiliar with. Capt. Caleb Roberts, the demonstration pilot, starts off the profile by aggressively pitching up appearing to almost strike the engine exhaust nozzles against the runway. He immediately initiates a dirty roll to set the tone for the remainder of the profile. The weather towards the end of the week was mild with relatively low humidity, but he was able to squeeze plenty of vapor out of the atmosphere.

As a bonus, we received additional formation passes. The first was a 10-ship pass with the Snowbirds, and the second was a “Victory Flight” with the Hurricane Mk.XII, Spitfire Mk.IX and P-51D Mustang of Vintage Wings of Canada.

The nine-ship Snowbirds Team may not be as loud and rowdy as the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds but they make up for it with grace and sheer number of aircraft. The 9-ship line abreast pass always amazes me and the multiple opposing solo passes also keep me wondering how they execute with such precision while in a 360-degree turn.

The Snowbirds were one of four big military jet teams that participated in AirVenture 2024 (albeit they were the only one to perform a full display). Milwaukee, less than 90 miles away, held its airshow during the closing weekend of AirVenture. Fargo, North Dakota also hosted their airshow the same weekend. This presented some unique opportunities for flybys, with the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels flying over in formation during their transit flights. The Italian Frecce Tricolori team also stopped by briefly early in the week as they made their way to Milwaukee.

Another Canadian team, the Skyhawks, participated in both Friday and Saturday airshows with some challenging parachute formations I’ve never seen before, including with three chutes abreast with the two outside parachutists having wrapped their legs around the body of the center parachutist. In another 3 parachuter formation, they were stacked three high on top of each other. Numerous other formations were executed over the course of at least four sets of jumpers.

Also marking the RCAF centenary, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum sent their Lancaster B.X to AirVenture, where it joined two other very rare heavy bombers: B-29 Superfortresses “Doc” and “FiFi”. The three bombers joined up for what could have been a highlight of the airshow season, but just made a single high pass in loose formation, not along the normal show line.

AirVenture this year hosted all four of the USAF Air Combat Command demonstration teams: F-35A Lightning II, F-22A Raptor, A-10C Thunderbolt II and F-16C Fighting Falcon. The jets performed solo demonstrations and various heritage flights at points during the week, including a special formation involving all four teams flying together for perhaps the first time – and almost certainly the last time – at a public airshow.

I was able to catch Capt. Samuel Larson executing the F-22 Raptor Demo Profile on Thursday. I was spoiled last year when there was a Raptor Demo every day including the Saturday night show I attended, but after the Thursday air show, the Raptor transited to Fargo which was also hosting its airshow closing weekend of AirVenture.

Although I could have watched the Raptor demo every day, we were treated by the Growler Demonstration Team’s EA-18G ripping up the sky every day, including during the Saturday night show.

The Wisconsin Air National Guard executed another show of force demo again this year, after a successful first run in 2023. Eight UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters start the demo in a slow procession to show center, four at a time. Once at show center, the helicopters land and dozens of soldiers depart. At least two howitzers are fired throughout the demonstration, close enough that you can feel the blast in your chest. Up next, two F-35A Lightning II aircraft provide close air support complete with pyro. A KC-135R loiters, at times dragging one of the F-35s behind. The demo lasts more than 15 minutes and certainly keeps your attention. I’ve never experienced anything on the show circuit that is so immersive.

I have seen C-17A Globemaster III demonstrations before, but the Oshkosh performance was special. Nearing the end of the demonstration, the team brought the Moose in for a short field landing then threw it in reverse, stopping at what appeared to be mid-field. I’ve seen that part before. Always impressive. What made this demo different was that the team buttoned up the aircraft and departed from where they stopped on the runway from the landing. I am sure the aircraft was light but it was an impressive scene regardless.

David Martin flew the Temco Super Pinto jet several times during the week including during the Saturday night show. It’s a unique-looking aircraft with a fascinating history. The flights were dynamic including rolls, loops and some relatively low passes. The Saturday night show complete with smokewinders was an added bonus.

Continuing in the vintage jet theme, on both Thursday and Friday, we witnessed something that would have been unfathomable 50 years ago: four MiG-17s flying peacefully over American soil with Americans behind the controls. This was also the first time that four MiGs have flown together at Oshkosh. The pilots gave the crowd multiple passes lighting up the afterburners almost every time.

After my hopes of ever seeing another B1-B Lancer were dashed after it dropped off the Thunder Over Louisville Schedule to start my season, I did not think I would ever see one again. I broke that curse at the end of the Thursday airshow with a single fly-by with afterburners lit.

I mentioned that I am at peace not having attended all week. There were some big displays that I hope I don’t regret missing. I have not seen the A-10 Demonstration Team in its final year and I missed its AirVenture appearance early in the week; at the time of writing, only five more airshow appearances remain.

What about all the other aircraft? EAA stands for Experimental Aircraft Association after all. I’ll start by saying there were way too many to mention them all. From aircraft on the airshow circuit to amateur-built kit planes to Cessna 172s and warbirds, if it exists, you’ll see it at Airventure. If they are a common type, you might even get to witness a mass arrival if you show up early in the week. Most of those aircraft are there to participate in the fly-in, but plenty appear on static display, and the cream of the crop will often fly in thematic “showcase” slots during the airshows.

There are also plenty of jets and military aircraft to be seen on the ground, and highlights of this year’s static display included NASA T-38 Talons, a USAF B-52H Stratofortress and a trio of USMC AV-8B Harrier IIs. I was able to see the Harriers land on Thursday and take off on Saturday. Rumors swirled on Saturday as the crowd grew to watch them depart that this may be the last time we ever see them at AirVenture. The official retirement date is not until September 2026 – fingers crossed the rumors are wrong!

Away from the aircraft themselves, there are numerous other things to do and see. There are hundreds of vendors and trade stands, from electric aircraft manufacturers to businesses selling fuel-resistant zip ties. There are hundreds of hours of programming. You can grab three square meals on the grounds. Need to rehydrate? Not a problem. Water, soft drinks, and beer were all readily available. Food and drink options are extensive, readily available and tasty, and the queues were mostly short or non-existent except for during the gaps between the afternoon and night time airshows – but eating can add up, so you can save some money by bringing your own water and meals.

Another attraction worth seeing is the Twilight Flight Fest at the ultralight field. It was a great way to close out the night and can host some truly unique participants. I saw two Pivotal BlackFly electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft execute a flight demonstration, the Airythmia Paramotor Team, and Horizon Hobby closed out the show with an RC night display. My visit to the Ultralight Field turned out to be the perfect way to close out the night.

I don’t see a future where I am not at EAA AirVenture without there being some extreme circumstances. The people that you meet, the aircraft that you see, the air show that you experience, it is all top-notch. You are not going to find a finer assembly of people or airplanes in North America. Sure, it can be a complex event just given the length and likely travel required but the payoff is exceptional.

Now is the time to start planning. EAA AirVenture returns on July 21-27 2025. I’ll see you there.