Tom Poberezny

Who is Tom Poberezny?

Tom Poberezny, has been the Chairman of the annual Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In and Convention from 1977 to 2011, and president of EAA from 1989 to 2010. Tom succeeded his father Paul Poberezny who founded EAA in 1953.

Poberezny graduated from Northwestern University and became interested in aviation soon after. He joined the US National Unlimited Aerobatic Team and was part of the team that won the World Championship in 1972 at Salon, France. In 1973 he won the individual US National Unlimited Aerobatic Championship. In 1971, Tom Poberezny, Charlie Hillard, and Gene Soucy formed the aerobatic team of The Red Devils and went on to perform at airshows until the Daytona Skyfest in 1995. This makes the Eagles the longest-performing aerobatic team with one group of members. Poberezny also appeared as a pilot in the movie Cloud Dancer in 1980.

Tom Poberezny has been the chairman of the EAA Fly-In Convention since 1977. This annual event takes place in Oshkosh, WI and attracts over 750,000 visitors with 10,000 aircraft from 68 countries. In the late 1970s, he led the campaign to build the present-day EAA AirVenture Museum at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, WI.