OSHKOSH, Wis. -- The annual EAA AirVenture runs all week in Oshkosh.
The fly-in convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association is expected to draw more than 500,000 people to the Fox Valley.
AirVenture will turn Oshkosh's Wittman Regional Airport into the busiest airport in the world -- at least for this week.
"It really takes a town of about 67,000 people and brings in an enormous number of people from around the world," said Dave Chaimson, EAA Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. "We'll bring in people from about 80 different countries."
On Monday morning, people filed in bright and early to get a look at some of the planes on display, like a Boeing B-52 bomber and the various military aircraft displayed in "Warbird Alley."
Also among the sites at the EAA AirVenture 2017 is the New Shepard rocket, developed by commercial space company Blue Origin.
The reusable rocket is used as a booster to shoot capsules into space. It's flown and successfully returned to earth, landing vertically, five times already.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will be performing on Friday and Saturday, Chaimson said.
Many of the attendees at this year's AirVenture said they come back year after year because they enjoy aviation.
"We're building an airplane, so we're here to look at airplanes like what we're building," said Kim Schumacher, of Beach City, Ohio.
"I've flown airplanes for the last 67 years," said Roger Fetterly, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. "Everyone here, we're all friends. Because we all have something very much in common."
Admission to the air show is $33 daily for EAA members and $48 for non-members.
