Volunteer with Vintage
Have you been thinking about volunteering at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh?
There’s no better place to volunteer than with the Vintage Aircraft Association! We welcome people of all ages, backgrounds, and experience and have a wide variety of jobs available. Check out some of the opportunities listed below and click on the button that corresponds with the area (or areas) you’re interested in. One of our volunteer chairmen will contact you as soon as possible to answer any questions you might have or to let you know how to get involved.
Please know that we especially welcome first-time volunteers! You’ll quickly discover why so many people return year after year to volunteer in Vintage.
The Vintage Volunteer Center
This is your first stop to become a Vintage Volunteer. Located at the north end of Rose Plaza outside the Red Barn. Members of our Volunteer Center team will get you regstered and, if you haven’t already decided where you’d like to help out, share the various jobs you can have as a Vintage Volunteer. We track your hours and submit them to EAA at the end of convention so you receive proper recognition. If you love meeting people and want the best view of the airshows, tell them you would like to become a member of the Volunteer Center team.
Vintage Flightline
Our Flight Line has our overall greatest need for volunteers. More than 200 people from around the world volunteer each year on our flight line. Vintage manages nearly two miles of the AirVenture airshow flightline from Show Center to the far south end of the field.
Would you like the best view of the daily air show? Then being an airshow Crowd Control volunteer could be the perfect job for you
Want to have a close-up view of every Vintage Aircraft imaginable?
Then become a Plane Parker. Once you have been trained as a walking parker you can continue with bike training and eventually become a lead biker who parks airplanes.
Want to help but don’t like to walk or park airplanes? Become a flight line Crossing Guard. These lucky volunteers play an important role on Wittman Road, keeping pedestrians, vehicles, and airplanes from meeting each other unexpectedly. This job also comes complete with a little house to protect you from wind, rain, and sun. No experience is required, and you are in the middle of all the action.
Volunteer for Flightline here
Tall Pines Café – The Best Breakfast in Oshkosh
Do you like to cook? Do you like getting up early and watch the sun rise over the airport? Do you like to see the smiling faces of fellow pilots and their families as you serve them a great breakfast every day? If so, Tall Pines Café is the definitely place for you.
Each morning a dedicated crew of Vintage Volunteers gets up before the crack of dawn to prepare and serve hundreds of meals to pilots, families and friends in the Showplane Camping area of Vintage. Located midway in the Vintage area near the Ultralight runway, Tall Pines Café is one of the best kept secrets for Vintage campers.
Tall Pines Café opens the weekend before convention with a variety of delicious food for campers and volunteers. Tall Pines is operated as a camper service by Vintage Volunteers, and any excess funds go directly to improving and expanding Tall Pines.
More opportunities for ALL experience levels
Not interested in parking airplanes or serving breakfast? Not a problem! We have plenty of other volunteer positions available!
If you enjoy talking with people and would like to help them have a great experience while visiting Vintage Village, sign up to help in our Hospitality area. Jobs include working the information desk (don’t worry- we’ll give you the tools you need to answer questions), serving complimentary popcorn and lemonade, selling cold bottled water, and assembling and distributing pilot recognition plaques.
Help visitors find the perfect VAA souviner while working in the Vintage Red Barn Store or drive the Tour Tram past rows of spectacular vintage airplanes.
Serve breakfast, lunch, and snacks to VAA volunteers in our Volunteer Kitchen or sell books in our Bookstore (both these jobs offer air-conditioning!).
Or sign up new VAA members in our Membership Booth.
No matter what you do, you’ll get the chance to meet new people and earn great benefits!
To Volunteer for Vintage just click on one of the following buttons!
Where the FUN IS…
For years and years the wonderful ladies at Operation Thirst have prepared thousands and thousands of sandwiches, cookies and chips to feed the more than 6,000 volunteers on the field. While greatly appreciated, the sandwiches earned the name “Mystery Meat” – a slice of any variety sandwich meat and a slice of cheese on buttered bread. In 2015 Operation Thirst upgraded the quality and variety of sandwiches served.
But at Vintage we do more... Our hangar in Vintage Village includes our own Air-Conditioned Volunteer Break Area, staffed by dedicated volunteers led by Chairwoman Sue Eichman. We still offer Operation Thirst sandwiches every day, but we also have daily surprises – meatballs, hotdogs, hamburgers, ham, chicken, brats, homemade salads and desserts. Hot coffee in the mornings, our famous Tall Pines donuts (while they last) followed by cool water, lemonade and snacks in the afternoons. All with cool air 🙂
Located on the west side of the Vintage Hangar, the Vintage Volunteer Break Center is THE place to relax, enjoy some air conditioning and meet with other Vintage Volunteers. Another exclusive benefit of volunteering with Vintage.
Party After the Work is Done
Yes, we work hard but we love to have a good time. Often gatherings of Vintage Volunteers each evening are informal – we just gather around a campfire after the work is done and share stories of airplanes and people.
More formally, our volunteer teams often organize group dinners, escapes from the field, and sing-alongs.
Once each AirVenture every Vintage Volunteer is invited to join us at a free pizza party. It is our way to joke with each other and have fun, but most importantly it is how all of our members and our Board of Directors (all volunteers themselves) show our appreciation and thanks to all the other volunteers. Yes, we DO like to eat and party.
Collect your Volunteer Name Badges
Another advantage of Volunteering with Vintage is your personalized souvenir name badge. Each year we create a unique name badge which goes with the theme of the year’s AirVenture. No two are ever alike.
Vintage Volunteers proudly wear their badges – not only while volunteering, but as they travel the entire convention grounds, the City of Oshkosh, and throughout the Fox Valley. Our volunteers love to show off their Vintage Volunteer Pride.
