Page 17 - Volume 16 Number 10

shoan estimated 508,000. International registrations numbered 2,078 from 71 nations, of those who chose to sign up at the visitor’s tent; no doubt many more unregistered off-shore visitors came and went. Nearly 2,500 show planes were on display,out of an estimated 10,000 aircraft that flew in.Maximum EffortAmong the international attendees was our friend Ian Seager, publisher of Flyer magazine in the U.K., who eschewed airline travel to fly himself to the U.S. in his Cessna Skylane. Safely back home, he flew 8,100 miles in 71 hours. Faced with longer legs across the Pacific, an enterprising New Zealander, George Richards, had his homebuilt Falco shipped across and reassembled in California, just so he could fly it into the Oshkosh gathering. The most impressive overseas commuter was a 1939 Junkers Ju-52 tri-motor, flown over fromGermany to promote the Rimowa aluminum luggageline, whose ridged metal suitcases were reportedly inspired by the corrugated skin of Dr. Junkers aircraft. It was the first Ju-52 seen at the show since Martin Caiden’s “Iron Annie” in the 1970s.There were numerous business and executive aircraft on hand. Cessna brought a Citation M2 prototype, bereft of interior but in full paint. The M2 is to fit between the Citation Mustang and the CJ series, at $4.25 million, offering a couple of more seats than the CE510 and 400-knot speed. On the turboprop stage, the Grand Caravan is receiving an engine upgrade; evidently, Cessna couldn’t resist one-upping the competition from modifiers retrofitting the 208B with big block motors, so it’s introducing the Grand Caravan EX, sportingOCTOBER 2012TWIN & TURBINE • 15