T-34 MTW Pre-Osh Formation Practice
It's that time of year and once again as we plan to “invade” Manitowoc, WI (KMTW) for our pre-OSH formation practice. Join us Thursday, July 17th through Monday, July 21st, 2025 for MTW Formation Practice followed by mass arrival flight into KOSH Airventure on Monday, July 21st. If you plan to attend please complete the registration process by selecting "Register Now" shown on the right of your screen.
We will begin with knocking the rust off by flying 2, 3 & 4-Ship sorties on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Then we focus on the Mass Formation practice starting on Sunday afternoon in preparation for the KOSH Airventure Arrival and Warbird Shows. There will be some sorties dedicated to folks who are new or rusty at formation flying, but MTW is NOT the place to begin your formation training. If you have some exposure and just need the final push to get ready for that Wingman or Lead Patch, let Smitty know directly and he will build you a training plan.
Our KOSH Airventure flying this year will likely include the Arrival Show on Monday and the Warbird Show on Tuesday. These are the days we typically have the highest participation of T-34's so we are hopeful we can really crank up the numbers this year. We are including extra blocks on the registration process for you to indicate if you’re willing to fly on Wednesday, Friday, and/or Saturday just in case there are cancellations and we have an opportunity to fill the sky.
The EAA/MTW folks will be supporting us again this year with a place to brief as well as feeding/watering us. We would appreciate that you register early and use this system as it will really help us to nail down the amount of food/drink the EAA needs to serve and help keep our costs low. The registration / landing fee covers the cost of lunches, dinner one night, snacks, drinks, the rental van and our much important smoke oil. The registration costs will go up after July 1st and will be most expensive on-site. Register early and help us all.
Hotel:(We are confirming Room Rates now, please standby)
We are going back to the Inn on Maritime Bay. The hotel has been completely renovated and updated and we had a great time in 2023&2024. As you all know hotel rooms have been an ongoing challenge in MTW. The cutoff date for the block rate is June 15th but I would appreciate if you book early. They said they would make more rooms available to our group if we fill our existing block early.
Note: Hotel rooms continue to be a problem in MTW. Please BOOK NOW.
You can always cancel but there are rarely rooms available after May 1st.
** Insider Tip: Sign up for the Choice Hotels Rewards program before you make your reservation and you will simplify the registration process.
The Inn on Maritime Bay by Choice Hotels
101 Maritime Dr.
Manitowoc, WI 54220
PH: 920-682-7000
Or use this link to book your room at the negotiated rate of $TBD a night. https://www.choicehotels.com/reservations/groups/ZD99F1
Register Now:
If you plan on attending please register now. We would also like to know if you are planning to attend the OSH Airventure event, even if you don’t plan to fly in the show or attend MTW. We have a separate registration for OSH so head over and register for that event also if you plan on attending. We are hoping for a BIG numbers of T-34s this year and would like to ensure we have enough parking spaces for everyone. We want to have all the T-34s parked together but if you don’t tell us you’re coming you may not get to park on the T-34 row.
Additional Document and Reference Material:
Here are several additional reference documents to assist in getting ready for this Formation Flying event.
All documents listed on this page can also be found in the Document Library under T-34 Association / MTW.
Please attend if you can, your participation counts.
NOTE: Lot's can change between now and July. We are closely monitoring developments and will continue to provide updates via the T-34 Forum and this event page. If you are thinking of coming please register now. It will help us gauge interest in the event which will help us to develop a game plan as things move forward.