Emily surrounded by her father, Harvey Jr., sister Kaitlyn, mother Susan, and brother Harvey Bushby III. Photo by Mariano Rosales

Emily Bushby of Channahon, Illinois, is only 17, but EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010 will be her 19th visit to the annual fly-in and convention.

At first glance, the math doesn’t seem to add up, but it does when you factor that she was practically born on the grounds on August 4, 1992, and that in subsequent years the date of the convention was moved up so her birthday no longer coincides with the convention’s dates. She’ll turn 18 three days after AirVenture ends.

Her mother’s doctor had advised them not to attend Oshkosh in 1992, since her due date was only three weeks away, Emily said. So her parents, Susan Gehris and Harvey Bushby, decided to go for one day vs. the usual week. But they picked the date that Emily decided to be born.

“My mom’s labor was only two hours long, and we just made it to the hospital,” Emily said. “I was breach, and it was the first breach birth they’d had in 12 years.”

Emily’s birth was videotaped and later shown on the 10 o’clock news.

Not surprisingly, Emily’s family has a lot of history with AirVenture and aviation. Her great-uncle and grandfather built an airplane, and her great-uncle is in EAA’s Hall of Fame. Her grandmother was a long-time volunteer during the convention, going back 46 years when the convention was held in Rockford, Illinois. The family has a rock on Compass Hill, a family brick in the EAA AirVenture Museum, and a brick at the Brown Arch. Each year the family brings their motor home and stays in approximately the same location in EAA’s Camp Scholler.

But one other thing stays the same, too. AirVenture—literally—is a family reunion for Emily. “I see some of my family members only once a year at Oshkosh. Some live in Georgia, some in Indiana and the rest in Illinois. But each year it’s also a reunion of friends from around the world.”

Besides being with family and friends, one of Emily’s favorite memories of AirVenture has nothing to do with airplanes. “I celebrated my golden birthday there on August 4, and I got a bike!”