Part of EAA AirVenture is celebrating the history and future of aviation.
And that pursuit can also be a career in Oshkosh - at Basler Turbo Conversions, a company that is eager to hire more workers.
"I've always wanted to be in aviation," said David Knowlton, who works at the company in Oshkosh.
"I couldn't afford flight training... so I decided go to mechanic school," said Knowlton, who works as an aircraft mechanic at Basler.
Basler takes planes that are part of the past and turns them into aircraft that can take off into the future.
"We take the C-47... really made during World War II... they made about 10,000 of [them]," said Joe Varkoly, the company president.
"We gut 'em, we strip 'em, and we totally rebuild them and turn them into effectively brand-new aircraft."
Varkoly said he would hire at least ten more workers right now "if we could find them."
Some new employees have two-year degrees (Fox Valley Technical College has a location right next door), but someone could also be hired without any formal training.
"We can also take someone right out of high school or someone without any experience that... is good with their hands... that likes to rebuild stuff," Varkoly said.
"We will teach them what they need to know."
Starting pay per-hour is in the low $20s, and goes up to about $40-per-hour, Varkoly said.
Basler sells the converted planes around the world. The aircraft are used to fight fires, make tough landings in Antarctica, and to help after disasters, Varkoly said.
"Our planes were used to go and survey the entire island" after a hurricane hit Puerto Rico, Varkoly said.
People on board could see "which roads were out, which bridges were out, where [to] deploy some of those resources."
Varkoly said that for missions like that, the converted planes can stay airborne far longer than helicopters.
The planes can also take people to remote areas.
"It can land on the polar ice caps, it can land on short, undeveloped runways, it can land literally in a farm field," Varkoly said.
The company gives decades-old planes new life for their next acts up in the air, and is looking for more people to help them get that job done.
