In this 1954 photo, Paul Poberezny (left) and Carl Walters build a prototype of a kit airplane that they planned to sell to home aircraft builders. His idea to form a club of airplane enthusiasts led to a worldwide organization.
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel Aug. 22, 2013
Paul Poberezny didn't have much money, but he wanted his own plane.
So he built one.
His buddies, fellow airplane nuts, would stand around his Hales Corners garage talking about their love of flying and watch Poberezny build his plane, one bolt, one rivet at a time. Eventually Poberezny decided to form a club of home-built airplane enthusiasts in 1953 and to call it the Experimental Aircraft Association.
He became EAA Member No. 1.
That small band of aviation aficionados has grown into an organization of 187,000 members and more than 1,000 EAA chapters around the world, with an annual convention that attracts thousands to what's known as the sport aviation mecca - Oshkosh.
And it's all because of one enthusiastic, forward-thinking guy from Milwaukee who believed that anyone who really wanted to fly his own plane could do it.
Poberezny, 91, died of cancer Thursday in Oshkosh.
It's not hyperbole to say Poberezny is the father of sport aviation. Without his vision, it's likely far fewer people would fly, own and build planes.
Two years after founding EAA, he wrote a three-part series published in Mechanix Illustrated explaining step by step how to build a plane. On the cover of the May 1955 issue was a red Corbin Baby Ace with white stripes and the headline: "Build This Plane For Under $800 Including Engine!"
Growing interest
With plenty of pilots and air crews home from World War II and Korea, and with a growing middle class and booming U.S. economy, the articles put EAA on the national radar of aviation enthusiasts. His mailbox soon began filling up with letters.
"He really sparked a passion that caused people to say 'Hey, I can do that, too,'" said EAA Vice President Sean Elliott, "and if you don't have those skills, EAA can teach them to you or put you in touch with people who can teach you."
With their newly formed club, EAA members decided to organize a fly-in at what's now Timmerman Airport on Milwaukee's northwest side. About 75 members turned out in September 1953 with 21 airplanes, mostly home-built and modified factory models. Three of those planes are in the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh and one - aviation pioneer Steve Wittman's "Buster" - is hanging in the Smithsonian.
The fly-in eventually grew in popularity, outgrowing Timmerman Field,
and was moved to Rockford, Ill. By the end of the 1960s, Rockford also was growing too small to accommodate the crowds, so EAA moved to Oshkosh.
Now AirVenture is one of the largest aviation conventions in the world, drawing thousands of spectators and more than 10,000 planes, making the Oshkosh airport the busiest in the world in the number of takeoffs and landings during several days of the week-long event.
"Oshkosh has long been legendary in aviation circles around the world, and to Paul's credit, he was the visionary that years ago in the basement of the Poberezny home crafted what would become this global community of not just pilots but aviation enthusiasts," said Ron Kaplan, enshrinement director of theNational Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.
Poberezny was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1999, joining other aviation luminaries such as Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong and the Wright Brothers, who Poberezny would always point out were America's first plane home-builders.
Poberezny grew up fixated on planes and flying, building tiny airports for his model airplanes in the garden of his Milwaukee home.
When he was 12, his mother told him a biplane had landed near their home in the fog. Scared because he'd never seen a plane up close, Poberezny carefully walked around it and eventually got a blanket to spread underneath the wing where he dreamed of someday flying, designing and building planes.
His high school history teacher encouraged his interest in aviation by offering to pay for the materials to rebuild a battered Waco glider that Poberezny restored and taught himself to fly in the same field where he glimpsed the grounded biplane. After more than 2,000 flights in his glider, he soloed in a 1935 five-cylinder Porterfield at the age of 17.
Poberezny would eventually log more than 30,000 hours of flight time in nearly 500 types of aircraft, including P-47 Thunderbolts, P-51 Mustangs and the F4U Corsairs as well as cargo planes in the military and numerous home-built planes.
He spent almost three decades in the military, serving as a pilot, test pilot and maintenance chief during World War II and the Korean War, and retiring from the Wisconsin Air National Guard as a lieutenant colonel.
Ron Wojnar of East Troy has known Poberezny since he was a young boy. Wojnar's father, Tony, was a mechanic and crew chief when Poberezny was chief of maintenance for what is now the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 128th Air Refueling Wing at Mitchell International Airport.
"Sport aviation throughout the world simply would not be what it is today without Paul's charismatic leadership. He had a talent and vision of how sport aviation could be better if people shared information about building and flying airplanes," said Ron Wojnar, 63.
With Poberezny and his father as his heroes, Ron Wojnar pursued a career in aviation and retired three years ago as the FAA's deputy director of aircraft certification. "My success is due to my EAA heritage, I'm probably one of hundreds of thousands who can say that."
An inspiration
Wes Schmid, 91, met Poberezny in 1956 when he read articles in The Milwaukee Journal about EAA. Schmid wasn't a pilot and didn't know a thing about planes but he was intrigued and contacted Poberezny. He eventually began volunteering with the organization and still volunteers in the forums area at AirVenture.
"I doubt I ever would have done that or even learned to fly without his encouragement. Building an airplane, when you take it piece by piece, isn't that difficult," said Schmid, of Wauwatosa.
Poberezny, who designed 15 different planes, was often seen at the fly-ins driving around in his bright red modified Volkswagen bug convertible dubbed "Red One." Despite failing health, he traveled in the vehicle at this year's AirVenture a few weeks ago.
Even though he was president of the organization - he retired in 1989
but continued to serve for many years on the board of directors - he was often seen on the sprawling Oshkosh grounds picking up trash. Wherever he went, he waved cheerily at spectators and frequently stopped to talk shop with anyone who wanted to discuss a home-built project or anything else on their mind.
Just like in his Hales Corners basement.
Paul Poberezny is survived by Audrey, his wife of 69 years; two children, Tom and Bonnie; and two grandchildren.
Jan Uebelherr of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
