Minnesota Flyer - Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960

Before Sinclair Lewis made it to the big time, he was an aviation writer. His first published book was "Hike and the Aeroplane." He wrote it in 1912 under the pseudonym of Tom Graham. Literary...

Less than seven years after the Wright Brothers first powered flights the air age came to Springfield, Mn. A pilot who called himself Captain Foster (it's true, you cannot make this stuff up) arrived...

Charles Hallock was an author and publisher from New York City. He studied at Amherst and Yale, then edited the New Haven Register. Around the time of the American Civil War he owned the New York...

Like to see stage shows and maybe play a little "blackjack?" How about staying in a nice hotel, having some good meals and getting away for a few days? You could get an airline ticket to Las Vegas...

Ken Bresley was crazy about the bracing cold of winters in Walker, MN. Or maybe he was just crazy. Every February Ken would lead the "plunge." A group would cut a hole in the ice on Leech Lake, then...

Warren is the seat of Marshall County and the home of the "Settlers Square Historical Museum." It's a great museum with all kinds of exhibits including a 1977 Ford LTD. The old Ford is beat up. It...

Brooten is an industrious place. The City's economic success would be great for many towns but is remarkable for a smaller community like Brooten. One of Brooten's more interesting products is wood ba...

There must be a theme here. Piquadinaw is what the Ojibway called the area. That roughly translates as "it is hilly." European settlers saw the wisdom in that name and in 1910 Hill City was...

"Wells to go Dry" is a headline that could have happened. In 1913, seven years before the United States government enacted national prohibition, a local election prohibited consumption of alcoholic be...

Perham Municipal Airport is located just northwest of the city between the old and new versions of US Highway 10. In the "good old days" there was a popular drive-in movie theater on the old highway...

Once upon a time pilots training for their instrument ratings regularly practiced approaches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It's true, that really happened. MSP had the only...

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Dakota and Ojibwa frequently disputed who got to use the area around what is now the City of Benson in Swift County. A particularly gruesome chapter in that...

Henry Sibley was having a bad day. He was supposed to recommend a name for the town that was to be the "division point" for the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad to his fellow directors. General...

Grygla is "The Biggest Town of Its Size." It must be true, the slogan is on the city website and letterhead. It's also true of the Grygla Municipal Airport. Between the small-town ambiance and the...

When Hadrian was Emperor of Rome, a rather rowdy group lived north of the province of Britannia. Called the Caledonii, they were such a pain that Hadrian had a wall built across the island to keep...

Golf and airplanes go together very nicely. Aviation makes many more golf courses available and in a much greater variety. In most cases, ground transportation is needed from the airport to the club...

It's not fertile in Fertile. Well, that's not exactly true. The surrounding area is probably the best farm land in North America, but the town is built on a geological anomaly called the "Sand Hills."...

Boxing Day is a uniquely British holiday. The day after Christmas, aristocrats present servants with gifts (in boxes) and working folks get the day off. During World War II, U.S. Army's Eighth Air For...

Fairmont got its name because the original townsite was higher than the surrounding terrain. Before you pack your skis and head out, remember this is southern Minnesota. The mountain might be a little...

By some standards, there's not much to Bowstring. It's officially an "unincorporated" place, meaning there's an identifiable community, but without a formal city charter. The population is about 120...

Interstate Highway 90 connects Boston to Seattle. It's the longest road in the United States. Like the first transcontinental railroad, I-90 was constructed from both ends toward the middle. When the...

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd State of the Union. The new state's most populous county had about 13,000 residents, but it wasn't named after Louis Hennepin or Alexander Ramsey. That honor went...

Starbuck, what a great name for a great town! The City wasn't named after the first mate in "Moby Dick," or the fighter pilot in "Battlestar Galactica." The consensus is it got that unusual name from...

Litchfield has some great history. The City is named for E. Darwin Litchfield, whose brother was Egbert E. Litchfield, founded the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Darwin was a major investor in the...

Waseca (wasecha) is a Dakota word. The first Europeans to visit the area interpreted it to mean "rich" but the Native Americans who inhabited the Great Plains at the time had no concept of monetary...