JOSEPH — Wallowa County got a sky full of unique aircraft Saturday and Sunday, July 12-13, during the Wallowa County Fly-In at the Joseph State Airport.

Among the unique aircraft was an L39 Albatros, formerly of the Czechoslovakian military flown by Phil Fogg of Aurora. The Albatros, a trainer for the Czech pilots, certainly was the fastest aircraft on display. Fogg is a former helicopter pilot who flew in Vietnam.

Shay Mann, director of the event this year, said one of the highlights was the West Coast Ravens, who specialize in formation flying. They regularly roared over the airport with the Wallowa Mountains in the background.

Mann couldn’t say yet how many people attended, but there were 185 at the catered Friday-night dinner and another 550 who came Saturday morning for a pancake breakfast.

The event usually raises $15,000 to $25,000 and gives scholarships valued at $25,000 to $30,000 to aviation programs such as the one at Joseph Charter School and others in Northeastern Oregon. The Fly-In is put on by the North East Oregon Aviation Foundation, a collaborative and supportive team of aviation professionals, pilots, educators and local residents who come together to promote all facets of aviation.

Other aircraft on display, on the runway or in the sky above it, included a 1943 Howard DGA-15P single-engine plane appropriately christened “Lemon Tryst” in its bright-yellow paint. There also was a Beechcraft Debonair, a 1938 Ryan SCW, a Bellanca CH-400  (Miss Veedol), a Boeing N2S3, a T-28, a T-34 and a Staggerwing biplane.

Miss Veedol was a replica of the plane that made the first trans-Pacific crossing flying from Osaka, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington in 1931 in 41 hours.

“Everybody talks about (Lindberg’s) trans-Atlantic flight,” Mann said, but this was a bigger aviation achievement.

Miss Veedol’s flight spanned 5,500 miles, compared to 3,610 miles in 33 hours, 30 minutes four years earlier.

The number of dinners sold Friday was about par for previous years, while the number of breakfasts was down, Mann estimated. He’ll know for sure when all the tallying is compete.

The U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard were on hand to solicit recruits and showcase what the modern air defenses are like. A simulator took about 12 people at a time and gave a realistic virtual presentation of an air-sea rescue of hostages held by terrorists. The simulation took participants from the runway to outer space to a parachute jump to speedboats that landed near a concrete bunker where the hostages were held. After a door was blown open, the hostages were led safely out.

Mann said the Fly-In continues to grow in popularity, though he was unable to say how many people turned out.

“The last 10 years, it’s really blown up,” he said of the 20-year-old event. “We’re at capacity and not set up for anything more.”

But Mann said there already are plans for another Fly-In next year. It’s scheduled for July 10-11, 2026.

For more information on the event and the foundation, visit info@neoafoundation.org or neoafoundation.org.