Oskhosh Air Show is Full of Surprises

The Martin Mars, the world’s largest flying boat water bomber, takes a steady aim on Oshkosh Runway 18/36.

The Martin Mars, the world’s largest flying boat water bomber, takes a steady aim on Oshkosh Runway 18/36.

Ready, steady, go…It begins to drop a load of water on the runway below.

Bombs away! The full load of water drenches the target as up to 7,200 gallons of water leave the aircraft in just seconds.

As if nothing had happened, the Martin Mars rumbles innocently away from the saturation it left behind.

Kent Pietsch performs a comedy routine of crazy flying in his Interstate Cadet. The performance features a detached aileron and a wingtip-scraping pass down the runway. 

Greg Shelton has been performing in air shows since 1990; he’s here at Oshkosh with Ashley Key as wing walker in his 1943 Super Stearman. The airplane first served with the U.S. Navy as an N2S-3, and was later converted to a 450 hp crop duster in 1949. 

A time-honored finale: David Martin performs an inverted pass along the runway with both arms dangling from the cockpit.

World aerobatic gold medfallist David Martin performs a beautiful, slow and extremely skilful aerobatic routine in his 1936 Bucker Jungmeister, the ultimate aerobatic airplane of its time. He specializes in emulating the routines of the all-time greats who flew the German-made airplane through sequences that are still talked about today.

The AeroShell Aerobatic Team, flying four North American T-6 Texans, never disappoint. This year they are performing both day and night air show aerobatics at Oshkosh. 

The AeroShell Aerobatic Team pull out of a loop here at Oshkosh. They have been performing for more than 25 years.