FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — At the Fond du Lac County Airport, the skies may not be filled with as many planes as Oshkosh during EAA AirVenture.
But it serves as an alternative spot for a lot of other activities.
Joe Ries is a part of EAA chapter 572 based in Fond du Lac and says people may not know about the airport at first. But it starts to grow on them.
"Many times people come to Fond du Lac because they were diverted here," Ries said. "But then they find out Fond du Lac is the easy way to EAA and they come back year after year."
And that cult following has grown into people parking their planes at the airport and even camping next to them as well.
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But for Mark Richards with CAF Air Base Georgia he and his crew of volunteers fly historic WW2 planes to Fond du Lac each year and give people the chance to ride in living history.
"We just have a blast coming up here," Richards said. "And sharing these very rare aircraft with the public."
And thanks to Richards and his team 20-year-old Zofia Sielaff of Waukesha got to live out a dream of flying in a Douglas SBD Dauntless.
Currently there are only five planes left that are still airworthy.
And there's only one in the world you can pay to ride in.
She says getting the opportunity to experience it was incredible.
"There is nothing that beats that hum of the plane," Sielaff said. "Like when he first turned it on, you just felt it in your soul."
The festivities at the Fond du Lac County Airport, including the WW2 era plane rides will be going on until Saturday.
