Tom Poberezny waves to the crowd following one of hundreds of performances with the Eagles Aerobatic Team.
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine October/November 2023 Digital Issue
OSHKOSH, WIS. – Tom Poberezny, who served as EAA’s president for more than two decades, and who was instrumental in the construction of the EAA Aviation Museum & Headquarters with his father, EAA Founder Paul Poberezny, and who was a world-class aerobatic competitor and airshow performer, was honored with a life-size bronze sculpture July 24, opening day of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023. Poberezny died July 25, 2022, from natural causes at age 75 – the opening day of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022.
Poberezny’s sculpture is located in the entrance atrium of the museum, adjacent to a sculpture honoring his father.
Poberezny chaired AirVenture from 1976 until 2010, a period that saw the event become one of the world’s preeminent aviation gatherings.
“Tom Poberezny was responsible for so many programs that engaged people in flight, including the growth of AirVenture, the creation of the Young Eagles program, and the introduction of the Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft categories,” said Greg Anderson, retired EAA executive vice president who led the private fundraising effort for the sculpture. “It is fitting that a permanent remembrance be placed in the EAA Aviation Museum – a facility that was his brainchild as a world-class home for EAA Headquarters when it moved to Oshkosh in the early 1980s.”
Paul Poberezny proposed the idea of the EAA Air Museum-Air Education Center in August 1958. In the late 1970s, Tom Poberezny began a campaign to raise money to build the museum, and move EAA’s headquarters from Hales Corners to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The museum and headquarters officially opened in 1983, and the Education Center, which includes a Pilot Proficiency Center, opened in July 2022.
The sculpture was created by famed sculptor George Lundeen, who has created remarkable likenesses of noted personalities over his 40-year career. It features Poberezny wearing his Eagles Aerobatic Team flight suit, looking up at the Christen Eagle biplane he flew as a member of the team.
The late Charlie Hillard formed the “Red Devils” aerobatic team in 1971 with Poberezny and Gene Soucy, and they flew three red Pitts Special biplanes. In 1979, they started flying Christen Eagle biplanes and renamed the team the “Eagles Aerobatic Team.” The Eagles performed throughout North America for 25 years, setting the record for the longest-running aerobatic team in the world, which included the same pilots. The team flew their final performance at Skyfest Daytona on November 5, 1995, in Daytona Beach, Florida.
A scholarship in Tom Poberezny’s name, created by former EAA executive and friend, Adam Smith, is focused on giving a former EAA Young Eagle an opportunity to further their flight training. More details on the scholarship will be announced as they are finalized. Contributions to the scholarship fund are welcomed by going to
EAA.org/Poberezny or by calling 888-500-5600.
