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Gone West, EAA Founder Paul Poberezny
Experimental Aircraft Associations Website ^ | 8/22/2013 | EAA

Posted on 08/22/2013 4:25:11 PM PDT by taildragger

You can't be a success if you don't love people."

Paul Poberezny came from humble beginnings, yet he created one of the world largest aviation organizations and emerged as one of the 20th century's greatest aviation leaders, creating a worldwide aviation organization and the world's largest annual fly-in event, EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Read more about EAA Founder Paul H. Poberezny:

Paul's Early Years Into the War Setting the Stage for History Building an Aviation Movement A Leader and Visionary Elder Statesman of Flight Paul Poberezny's Legacy

Select excerpts courtesy of "Poberezny ... The Story Begins"

He died on August 22, 2013, in Oshkosh after a career that spanned more than 70 years of flight at the controls of more than 500 different types of aircraft.

Paul is survived by his wife, Audrey; one son, Tom (Sharon) Poberezny of Brookfield, Wisconsin; one daughter, Bonnie (Chuck) Parnall of Oshkosh; two granddaughters, Audra (Michael) Hoy of Oshkosh and Lesley Poberezny of Brookfield, Wisconsin; and one great-granddaughter born in 2012, Charlotte "Charley" Hoy.

Paul Poberezny often said that there was not a day that went by that he didn't say the word "airplane." His flight experiences began as a high school student and continued through service in World War II and the Korean conflict. Between the wars, he began his hands-on approach to aircraft design and building that would direct his future and his legacy.

In January 1953, he organized about three dozen aircraft builders and restorers in a local Milwaukee, Wisconsin, club that was named the Experimental Aircraft Association. Later that year, the first EAA fly-in gathering formed the foundation of what has become EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Paul Poberezny's life and career was a shining example of vision, self-reliance, and leadership. He is regarded as one of the individual giants of aviation’s first century, with an influence that reaches beyond a single flying accomplishment to affecting tens of thousands of people who have dreamed of flying. This site is a small glimpse of the man who will forever be connected with the personal freedom of flight.


TOPICS: Announcements; Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; aviation; eaa; obituary; paulpoberezny; poberezny
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To: taildragger

CAVU, Paul ... thanks for all you’ve done for GA.


21 posted on 08/23/2013 10:17:30 AM PDT by Fast Moving Angel (A moral wrong is not a civil right: No religious sanction of an irreligious act.)
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To: taildragger

Thanks for the notice. Many of the great ones are now at very advanced ages, but it still doesn’t make their passing less sorrowful. Last year it was Carroll Shelby who was pretty regular at Air Venture. Paul has earned a different set of wings, and may his earthly legacy continue to inspire and motivate those who love aviation.


22 posted on 08/23/2013 10:26:21 AM PDT by wita
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To: Seaplaner; All
Truly a sad loss.

I started subscribing in High School and became a member, same time the Vari-Eze hit the scene. The hay day of true American Tinkerers and Dreamers with a can-do Spirit. None of this you didn't build that, They did with Wood, Fabric, 4130 Chrome-Moly Tubing and so much more.

Paul and EAA have been a fixture and a postive influence in my life and has given me life long friends and the opportunity to meet some the legends in aviation and aircraft design. I shutter to think what I could have glomed onto other than aviation in my youth that would have been much worse.

With EAA and it's airshow is one of the last bastions of Patriotism, that also was a postive influence in my life but by osmosis helped me become a Conservative as well.

The thanks I owe to Paul's dream, his love of flight ( that many of us share here ) I cannot measure, it is too large. But he knew, I told him when I met him what EAA meant in my ( and so many others) lives.

We are a greater dreamers / pilots / Americans not because of Paul, but because like Reagan he in a quieter way said we can do it.

Boy can we use a coach like that today, perhaps another one is in the wings, no pun intended.

23 posted on 08/23/2013 1:11:28 PM PDT by taildragger (The E-GOP won't know what hit them, The Party of Reagan is almost here, hang tight folks....)
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To: taildragger

rest in peace, Pope Paul


24 posted on 08/28/2013 6:57:20 PM PDT by Kevmo ("A person's a person, no matter how small" ~Horton Hears a Who)
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To: taildragger

Just heard this...

Still have my pic with Paul from 1976, in front of “Lake Poberezny”, a huge mud bog in front of our group’s campers, near the Red Barn, and the sign we CAP kids made for it.

Gear up, Flaps up, Mixture to full, Paul...


25 posted on 08/28/2013 7:01:28 PM PDT by tcrlaf (Well, it is what the Sheeple voted for....)
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