Gallery: Thousands Descend On Oshkosh's North 40 For AirVenture 2024

The North 40 campground along Runway 09/27 is for people who fly into AirVenture and camp alongside their aircraft.

The Pirates are a friendly bunch of buccaneers who fly in as a group and then spend the week eating, drinking and talking as much as they want about airplanes, since no one who is going to tell them to change the subject. “When the Pirates ask you to join, you don’t say ‘no,’ “ said Donna Wood of Charleston, South Carolina (seated at center). She attended her first Pirates party last year.

Jeremy Bennigton flew his M20M Mooney Bravo into Wittman Regional Airport for EAA’s AirVenture 2024 as part of a group known as the Pirates. Each year, members of the group camp together on the field, sharing food, drink and many stories. Bennington likes to cook dinner for the Pirates.  

“We love airplanes,” Bennington says.

After the event, the Pirates store their supplies and equipment in a storage locker in Oshkosh. At AirVenture, Bennington will host a learning session on GPS spoofing, a growing problem for pilots. Outside AirVenture, he develops enhancements to GPS technology.

The Pirates number about 100 from many corners of the nation. Their main activity is getting together at AirVenture, although some also meet up during the year. Many are from Maryland, but they also hail from Kansas, California, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Indiana and elsewhere. 

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in July is often hot and sometimes rainy, but for many pilots has become an annual tradition as the lettering on this fuselage indicates.

Patrick Stoddart and David Gyuro kicked back beside a Maule M-7-260 fitted with vintage 1963 Edo floats. Asked what attracted him to AirVenture for a second time, Gyuro said: “I’d say community. It’s a bunch of people who love talking about airplanes and the only thing they love more than talking about airplanes is flying them.”

The campers who parked their airplane here are determined to add a homey touch with pink flamingos and other lawn decorations.

Mark Goldman, a sport pilot with the TSS Flying Club in Gaithersburg, Maryland, jumped at the opportunity to accompany the club for his first AirVenture. “I’m absolutely loving it,” Goldman said. “I’ve been intending to get out here for years.”

Chris Liebl of Los Angeles, right, was an electrician working on B-52D bombers during the Vietnam War. He worked for companies exhibiting at Oshkosh for year before being invited to join the Pirates. “I’m the only one in this group that is not a pilot. The airplanes are secondary. It’s about the people,” he says. Fellow Pirate Larry Scurlock of Arlington, Virginia, has flown into Oshkosh many times with the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based TSS Flying Club.

Don Nelson camped next to his Cessna 182, which he flew to Oshkosh from Denver. Nelson said pilots who choose to rough it at AirVenture have all the amenities they need, including an on-site market. “This is so convenient,” he said. “You have the shower house right there and the airshow is close.”