Marbird Winners Oshkosh 2016??

[JohnTerrell]

All one has to do is look back at the results of last year's judging to know that the amount of original factory-produced material remaining in the restored aircraft has no bearing on the judging score (the 2015 WWII Grand Champion is almost entirely new-build, where as the Reserve Grand Champion is very much original to 1944 production, including even a number of skins (one of the main things usually replaced)). With so many high-level restorations in recent years, it seems to often simply come down to the "difficulty" factor points for the individual restorations determining the "standings" (whether or not it would have changed anything, I personally don't think the L-1 should be grouped in the same category as an L-2 or PT-19 restoration, gaining only 1 point out of 10 for difficulty).

The Tri-State P-40M is a fantastic restoration - when reading about it, it reads like the "Warhawks Inc." P-40 restorations (which really says a lot!), and there is no doubt why it won the WWII Grand Champion award.

[EW439]

Is there a list of all warbird award winners some place online.

[JohnTerrell]

Preservation Award - Aeronca L-16A N9325H (Recipient: Richard P. Wallin)
Preservation Award - Aeronca L-16A N1143V (Recipient: Pat Devine, Jim Johnson, Bob Vasquez, Charles Grott)
Preservation Award - Taylorcraft L-2B N47727 (Recipient: Mike LeTrello)
Preservation Award - Boeing PT-17 Stearman N59293 (Recipient: Michael Porter)
Preservation Award - Beechcraft T-34 Mentor N343ZM (Recipient: Greg Scileppi)
Preservation Award - De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk N26JH (Recipient: Steve Buchelt, Jim Read)

Judge's Choice: L-19 - Cessna L-19 Bird Dog (Recipient: Kevin Miller)
Judge's Choice: O-2 - Cessna O-2A Skymaster N815D (Recipient: David MacDonald)
Judge's Choice: Jet - Aero Vodochody L-39C N580LL (Recipient: Four Echo X-Ray LLC)
Judge's Choice: Chipmunk - De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk N5UK (Recipient: Danny Linkous)
Judge's Choice: T-6 - North American AT-6F Texan N4708C (Recipient: Robert A. Parcell)
Judge's Choice: Stearman - Boeing PT-17 Stearman (Recipient: John Ladley)
Judge's Choice: L-5 - Stinson L-5 Sentinel N67039 (Recipient: David Anderson)

Best L-5 - Stinson L-5 Sentinel N60190 (Recipient: Jim & Jean Busha)
Best Jet - Mig-17PF Fresco N620PF (Recipient: Jon Blanchette)
Best Fighter - Republic P-47D Thunderbolt N767WJ (Recipient: Rod Lewis)
Best Primary Trainer - Fairchild PT-26 Cornell N79307 (Recipient: Timothy Trimble)
Best Harvard (SNJ/Texan) - Canadian Car & Foundry Harvard Mk.IV (Recipient: Hannu Halminen)

Phoenix Award - Stinson L-1F Vigilant N1377B (Recipient: James P. Harker)
Phoenix Award - Fairchild PT-26 Cornell N79307 (Recipient: Timothy Trimble)

"Keep'em Flying" Award - Beechcraft T-34 Mentor (Recipient: Floyd's Aero Inc.)
"Spirit of Oshkosh" Award - North American P-64 N840 (Recipient: Rick Siegfried, pilot)

Reserve Grand Champion WWII - Stinson L-1F Vigilant N1377B (Recipient: James P. Harker)
Grand Champion Post WWII - North American/Temco TF-51D Mustang N551CF (Recipient: The Collings Foundation)
Grand Champion WWII - Curtiss P-40M Kittyhawk III N5813 (Recipient: Tri-State Warbird Museum)

[Taigh Ramey]

The question I have is: Does the judging make the distinction between "accuracy" and "originality" - with accuracy being when the parts are as of the same type (i.e. same part number) that were on the aircraft at the time of its operational life, and originality being when the parts are the same exact ones (i.e. same serial number) that were on the aircraft at the time of its operational life.

I would think that if major components were original to the specific aircraft it would certainly help with the scoring. How many aircraft are flying with the engine that it had from the factory? A few I could think of but that's pretty rare. If this was presented to the judges then I believe that it would and should help the score. The more of these kinds of details will certainly make a difference but remember the judging staff is quite diverse so what tickles one judge may not have the slightest effect on others.

As an example the Tri State P-40's trim knobs caught my attention for their chromic acid anodize finish. Chromic acid anodize is hard to reproduce these days so I asked Paul about it. He said they were new old stock which explained why they still carried that finish. I loved that they left the original finish instead of the restoration route.

So these trim assemblies were possibly replaced with new parts new from the factory instead of being the restored original pieces (lots of assumptions here like maybe the trim assys didn't even come with the project etc). The NOS trims look great to me and I appreciate their authenticity.

Here is a photo of the Tri State P-40's trim knobs as seen last week:



And here is another P-40 that came though OSH years prior for comparison. Presumably the trim knobs were restored but in lieu of the chromic acid anodize they went with silver paint possibly because of the difficulty in reproducing the original finish.



For me the replaced NOS parts with factory finish are preferable to the painted original ones since it portrays what they actually looked like. Are they original to the specific aircraft? No, but it is a lot more authentic than the repainted ones in my book. Once again this little detail tickled me but other judges will be excited or turned off by their own individual observations. This is why the scores are averaged out and this is what determines the winners.

Sometimes, like this year, the competition is very close in some categories. this is very cool for me as it comes down to the little details to make the difference. other years there is little competition which isn't nearly as much fun. Sometimes it's hard to see the top point aircraft get an award simply because of the complete lack of competitors. In those lean years we often will not give an award in order to preserve the integrity of the EAA Warbird awards as it is really the premier judging event for these aircraft that we love so much.