When Warbird HQ found out they were going to come into possesion of the old Zaugs Camp Store building in the Warbird area, WB17 volunteered to come up and assist with the renovation.  After coordinating with Peter Moll, Executive Director of WOA, WB17 organized a “Tiger Team” and headed North.

The trip was very pleasant. After a stop in Rochester Indiana (RCR), an airport we can highly recommend as an interim stop to anywhere, and a “taxi up” lunch at Laura’s Family Diner, we continued on to OSH.  We were treated to excellent weather and a sight seeing tour of the Chicago Skyline.

Having landed at OSH and finally making our way to the EAA Warbird area, we got the trusty Arrow and 310 taken care of for the weekend. You cannot imagine what this place is like when it is not Air Venture.

Peter Moll met us at the “Camp Store” with the basic plan and already had change requests.  Peter had worked hard with his people, but was only able to get an agreed upon floor plan as late as the morning we launched. He had to cost, order and arrange for delivery of everything while we were in the air. Well, you can never do enough planning, or maybe plannings not worth doing. We’re not certain.  When we got there, the building was in a little different perspective than we had imagined.

Needless to say, we had less to work with and more to do than we thought. Undaunted, we began. Having arrived at the building at 4:00pm, taken a quick assessment, we started in.

By 8:30p that evening, we had removed 2 full length walls, unhooked, disassembled and removed 4 commercial grade, remotely powered and refrigerated produce coolers and framed up the preliminary stud walls for the judges office and operations rooms of the new facility.  It was time for nourishment & refreshment.  Someone had obviously called the Chamber of Commerce as the Acey Deucy was closed for renovation.    Yeah Right!  We ended up at a great place where Peter knew the owner. They’ll never let him in there again. Although, I do have to say the Georgia Boys were on their better behavior this night. Don’t know if it had anything to do with flying all day, working for 4 straight hours and then slamming down the best Hamburger, Fish and Coldest Beer in Oshkosh or not. Thanks to everyone at “Players” that took care of us that night.

The WB17 Team consisted of Mark & Walt Grater, (Walt is visiting from Oregon), Duane Roberts, Ed Kobs, Al Drew, Rich Petersen and Bill Johnson.  Mark, Walt & Duane are all builders & carpenters. Ed is an engineer, so the rest of us worked hard to keep those guys in motion. It was a sight to behold. Other than Peter having to run to Menards (Local Lowes) every 1/2 hour or so, we really got some work done.

By the end of the day Saturday, we had the offices walled in, ceilings nailed up and power  and light installed in most of the area.

We couldnt figure out why Walt kept cussing the electricians for holding him up  - - - Until we found out he is afraid of the dark!!   :-)

Work progressed throughout the day. Peter Moll, Don Jowett and his lovely wife were there to help us when we needed it. Jan Streblow checked on us from time to time to make certain there were no medical emergencies and

everyone worked hard to see that we had everything we needed to get the job done.  By Saturday evening, we had essentially completed all that we had set out to do plus some. We had a few things to do in the morning and were out of material so we knocked off at 7:00pm. After a quick shower and change of clothes we headed out for Fratellos, Fox River Landing where we had the best food and even better service. Our server actually asked us to request her when we came back to Air Venture. Silly Girl!!.

Weather was looking a little challenging Sunday morning, so after some preliminary work and final efforts we launched the Arrow towards home around 1:00pm. The 310 crew stayed a little later, got the air conditioner in, power to Don’s workbench and some other odds & ends and headed south as well.

We all had a great time and got a lot accomplished for Warbird Headquarters.  We cant wait to see what the finished product looks like. If you havent volunteered up at Oshkosh before, it can be a lot of fun. (If you go with us.) On top of everything else, Wisconsin treated us to a very nice Sunset Saturday night.

             The Team (L-R)
Duane Roberts, Ed Kobs, Bill Johnson, Walt Grater, Rich Petersen, Al Drew & Mark Grater.

Thanks to all you guys who went up there and did such a fine job. You did a fine service to WOA and made quite a statement on behalf of WB17.