Aviation

They will fly in from all over the world, hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts in tens of thousands of aircraft, for the event described as "The World's Greatest Aviation Celebration."

The 58th EAA AirVenture OshKosh, which begins July 26, is the culmination of a packed fortnight for aviation enthusiasts, which has seen the Royal Air Tattoo and the Farnborough Air Show in England - although the scale of this event far outstrips any other aviation gathering.

OshKosh is set to turn the normally quiet Wittman Regional Airport in Wisconsin into a festival of flight, with over 10,000 aircraft in attendance of all shapes and sizes.

In the past, AirVenture has welcomed aviation luminaries such as Concorde, the F117 "stealth fighter," the Airbus A380, Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne (the predecessor of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo) and Richard Branson's WhiteKnightTwo, along with thousands of other military and civil aircraft of interest.

This year, aircraft highlights will include the world's loudest airplane, a rare reproduction of the twin-engine Sikorsky S-38 amphibious aircraft, a homemade helicopter from France and the only flying Supermarine Seafire XV fighter in the world, which has not been seen in public since being taken out of service in 1950.

In fact, so many pilots and aircraft will attend the EAA AirVenture OshKosh every year that air traffic controllers have been drafted in from across America to staff the control tower, which will handle up to 300 aircraft movements every hour during the event - that's roughly five every minute and far busier than the world's busiest airports (Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta and London Heathrow).

No wonder then, that OshKosh is known as the Super Bowl of air traffic control, but it also welcomes pilot celebrities too - this year Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeff Skiles, who were in the cockpit of the "Miracle on the Hudson" flight 1549 in 2009, will be talking about their experiences and signing books.

If all of the aviation leaves visitors longing for firm ground, evening entertainment from Gary Sinise, the Lt. Dan band and Asleep at the Wheels should bring visitors back to earth, along with a screening of Pearl in the Ford Fly-In Theatre.

Children can take part in activities at KidVenture, including a flight simulator, a gallery and activity area to construct model rockets and balsa wood planes.

The EAA AirVenture 2010 begins Monday, July 26 and runs through Sunday, August 1 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, US.

http://www.airventure.org