The Heat Is On | The AirVenture Cup's 25th race to Oshkosh 

I was at Oshkosh in 1998, the first year they had this race. Most people (including myself) didn't even know there was a race. My father and I were walking the flight line and watching a Hawker Sea Fury taxiing in after landing. My father was on an aircraft carrier in the Royal Canadian Navy, which had Sea Furys onboard, and although he worked on Grumman Trackers, he knew the Sea Furys well. We watched the pilot shut down and jump down from the airplane. A couple people asked him a question or two, then my father asked him very specific, technical question about the Sea Fury he had just landed. I don't recall the question, but it made it very obvious that my father knew a great deal about the Sea Fury. The pilot turned all of his attention to my father, and after determining that he had served on a carrier and knew the Sea Fury intimately, he peppered my father with questions about the plane, and the two of them spent about 15-20 minutes deep in conversation about the technicalities of the plane. Occasionally people would walk up and ask for a photo or an autograph, which I thought was odd, but the very gentlemanly pilot very politely posed for photos or signed his autograph. I did ask him if it was his plane, and how he came to be flying it, and he told me that it belonged to a friend, and that he "flew it as part of a race here to Oshkosh." After monopolizing his time for a good 20-30 minutes, we said goodbye, and went on our way. It was only quite a bit later that I realized that in fact we had spent a great deal of time speaking with famous astronaut Hoot Gibson, and that the landing we watched him perform before taxiing in and talking to us was him WINNING the race. And immediately after winning this race, his response was to talk about airplanes for almost half an hour to two people who had no idea who he was. I never even got a picture - so all I have is the memory. BUT - I did get to meet and speak with Bob Hoover, and I have pictures with him. Another absolute gentleman.

Awesome

Are we gonna have live stream of the EAA 24 this year?