Tag: Grasslands

The small eastern Indiana town of Hagerstown is the home of an annual small airplane ‘fly-in’. Home to one of the longest, nicest grass runways in America, it is the perfect stopping off point for the planes headed to the large show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

As we arrived and parked we passed by a number of vendor booths including this one manned by Bob, an elderly man who makes whirligig airplanes out of soda cans.

He is very skilled, and his touch includes having a picture on a can, if available to be the pilot.

When I was there he was making one out of Pepsi cans featuring Ray Charles – it was cool enough it now is proudly hanging in my garage!

But it was time to move on to the main display area. All of the planes were accessible to all who attended.

Many had open cockpits.

The pilots were on hand to answer questions about their planes.

All were magnificently restored.

It attracted photographers young and old.

The grass runway resembled a fairway on a golf course – bordered by the Indiana cornfields.

A sleek nose cone for the propeller.

They came in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The two bi-plane rides stayed busy throughout the afternoon.

With many excited and happy customers.

The weather was perfect, just a few puffy clouds far above where anyone was flying.

Some had creative designs.

While others looked like racing airplanes.

But eventually it was time to fly out of there. If you are an airplane fan, and can’t make it to Oshkosh, this is a good alternative much closer to home.