Aircraft Maintenance Technology - 22

COVER STORY

GENERAL AVIATION

Come 1964, a continually growing EAA
moved its headquarters from Poberezny's
basement to Franklin, WI, which lasted
for two years before EAA outgrew the
space. Growing too, the Fly-In moved to
Rockford, IL, in 1959, and in 1970 it moved
to its now familiar grounds in Oshkosh.
Not long behind, construction began in
1981 on the EAA's permanent home in
Oshkosh and in 1983 it was dedicated
- opening the EAA's international headquarters, aviation foundation, and the EAA
Aviation Museum.

COMPETITION TO BE
THE ORGANIZATION'S
HOME WAS STRONG
"At the time there was a big consideration to go to Burlington, WI," explains
Dick Knapinski, EAA's director of communications. "But then they never got an
agreement with municipal officials down
there where they wanted to do it. And so
that's when they started looking around
and found Oshkosh and this building [the
Kermit Weeks Hangar, EAA's primary restoration center] went up. The fly-in had
been here since 1970. Paul really wanted
to find a spot where he could put the

22 JUNE/JULY 2019

EAA STAFF and volunteers work on the
B-25 "Berlin Express" restoration at
EAA's Kermit Weeks Hangar.
EAA PHOTO/CONNOR MADISON

headquarters and the fly-in in the same
place. He and the board talked about it.
There were a couple places. I know St.
Louis, down in that area, was interested
in the EAA and there were some other
places as well, but the city fathers here
in Oshkosh got together and said we'd
love to have the headquarters here and
the museum and everything else. They
knew there was plenty of room to park
airplanes and cars and they've got a great
airport here. So, history took its course
from there on out."
From its origins in a Milwaukee basement, today the EAA is an international
organization with more than 900 chapters spread across the United States and
Canada. An eclectic aviation organization,
the EAA has its fingers in just about every
aspect of the industry - from youth flying programs, pilot training to the restoration of vintage and collector aircraft,
and touring aircraft and warbirds - EAA
does it all.

With an eclectic group of offerings,
the EAA needs to manage an equally
eclectic group of aircraft. John Hopkins,
EAA's manager of aircraft maintenance,
says the aircraft that EAA maintains can
be broken down into two groups: EAA's
touring aircraft and the aircraft used for
its Air Academy.

MAINTAINING TOURING
AIRCRAFT
On the touring side, EAA has a B-17, two
Ford Tri-Motors, and, the newest edition,
a B-25. Each plane required restoration
by EAA before being ready to fly around
the nation. Maintenance to the planes is
always ongoing but being on tour requires
on-tour maintenance.
"We've got to maintain all those four
to keep that program going and make
it successful," Hopkins says. "We pretty
much travel and maintain them on the road
wherever we're at. If the B-17 or one of
the Fords is within 500 miles of Oshkosh,
it's much more economical for us to take
our Aztec and a couple of mechanics, put
the tools in, any parts you need, and go.
We can be there in two, three hours. Even
from here to Denver, CO, that's a five-hour

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY

Aircraft Maintenance Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aircraft Maintenance Technology