About 30, T-34 aircraft made a stopover in Manitowoc this weekend on their way to perform at EAA Airventure in Oshkosh. Jon Russell from Calabasas, California spoke with SeehaferNews.com on Saturday at the Manitowoc County Airport. He explained that he “…came out with two others. We have a bunch of people coming up from San Diego that we routinely fly with.”
Russell, who is a commercial pilot for United Airlines, said they were doing simulated practice sessions with the T-34 airplane over the lakeshore area yesterday for what they hope to do at EAA today, tomorrow & possibly Wednesday.
The California resident said it’s his first trip to Wisconsin and he’s just getting back into general aviation and is following in his father’s footsteps. The aircraft he is flying was restored by his father. “I got the Double Zero, the red and white T-34. It’s a bravo model. Built-in 1957.” Russel explained. “My dad, when he retired from United Airlines, that became his project. He restored it. He had been doing formation flying since the mid-’90s, and he just hung it up two years ago…at the age of 87.”
EAA Airventure runs from today through Sunday at Wittman Field.
