Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 92
Minnesota is blessed with two great streams called Pine River. One originates in a chain of lakes in east central Minnesota, then flows north and east to join the Kettle River near Sandstone. The other, Pine River, joins the Mississippi near Crosby after rising in central Minnesota. Both are scenic rivers. They're excellent for canoeing, kayaking and tubing. The second one is better for pilots though, because there is an airport on it. The western river also includes the White Fish Chain,...
Aviation's golden age might have been the 1930s, but flying back then wasn't all that reliable. Equipment failures were common and many airlines used airplanes with only one motor. Emergency landing sites were needed. The economy wasn't exactly "golden" either. It was The Depression. People needed work! The US Government started a program to build airports for emergencies, which also created jobs. Willmar was on the proposed route from Minneapolis to points westward, making it an ideal...
East Gull Lake is a modest size town in central Minnesota. It was incorporated in 1947, but the community was there long before it became an actual city. About 2,000 people are full time residents. East Gull Lake is known throughout the upper Midwest for its resorts. In fact, the whole concept of a resort might well have been invented there. Just for the record, the City gets its name from being on the east side of Gull Lake. There is no West Gull Lake. Cragun's and Madden's are the two largest...
"A Solid Foundation" is the Dodge Center City motto. That's appropriate since the largest employer in town is Oshkosh Corporation, owner of the former McNeilus Truck factory. It's one of the largest manufacturers of Ready Mix concrete trucks in North America. McNeilus also makes trash-hauling equipment. That's garbage trucks, not cargo planes. The City got its name for being in the center of Dodge County. For some reason, the county was named after the Governor of Wisconsin, Henry Dodge. Dodge...
Even if you went to school 50 years ago in some exotic place like New York, there's a good chance your ring or year book came from Owatonna. Jostens (aka, Newell Brands) is probably the country's largest manufacturer of scholastic memorabilia. Founded in 1897 by Otto Josten, the company is just one of several that make Owatonna an economic success. Other local industries include tool manufacturing, insurance, and fabricating heating/air-conditioning equipment. One important reason for the...
Hector, Minnesota is named after a legendary warrior from Greek mythology. Hector, a prince of Troy, figures prominently in the story of the siege precipitated by the famous love affair between Helen and Paris. First told by Homer in the Iliad, the story has been less skillfully portrayed in several movies. The most recent was "Troy"' where Hector was played by Eric Bana. The Minnesota City comes by the name indirectly. Many of the early settlers came from Hector, NY and brought the name with th...
Backus Municipal Airport could easily be confused with an exotic wilderness retreat. The turf runway is 3,600 feet long and lighted. There are lots of tie downs.Hangar rentals are available for long term storage. A very nice log building has Arrival/Departure space, plus flight planning and a loft for meetings or quiet time. The building was constructed in 1996 and won the Project of the Year award from the Minnesota Council of Airports. Within walking distance of the airport are places that...
Cook County has only one City. It has three townships, eight "named communities," and a couple ghost towns, but only one incorporated City. If you only get one city, Grand Marais is the one to have. Once a commercial fishing port and logging center, Grand Marais is now the jumping off point for many wilderness adventures and a well know center for the arts. Getting to Grand Marais is an adventure by itself. One way to get there is to drive, following Highway 61 along Lake Superior to the extreme...
In Fosston, they work hard and accomplish a lot. A list of the talents displayed by the residents over the years would be rather long. Alphabetically, the first two things on the list of what they're good at are airports and basketball. Both aviation and hoops have a long and colorful history in this northwest Minnesota town. Fosston Municipal Airport has served the needs of General Aviation since 1946. The basketball story is a little longer, and begins in 1889. After World War II, a local...
In the spring of 1876, George Armstrong Custer was returning to Fort Abraham Lincoln after meeting with General Alfred Terry at Fort Snelling. He stopped in Hawley, possibly because another officer in the 7th Cavalry Regiment (Marcus Reno) had a cousin supervising railroad construction in the area. Incidentally, "Reno's Camp" was the first of six names the town had between 1871 and 1874. Custer went on to fame and notoriety at the Little Big Horn that sum- mer. Hawley grew into one of the most...
Milaca is a shortened version of Mille Lacs. The name, given to an area in Central Minnesota by 18th century French traders, translates as “Thousand Lakes”. Milaca is the seat of Mille Lacs County, but the County only has 34 lakes. The City is on a river that connects Lake Mille Lacs to the Mississippi. Water has an important role in the religion of Native Americans. The Dakota call it the “Spirit” or “Mystic” River. The French had a different kind “spirit” in mind and named it the Rum River....
"Morris is where agriculture and culture come together." That's how the City advertises itself, and it's very true. If you fly to Morris, the agricultural connection will be obvious. Some of the world's best farm land surrounds the Morris Municipal Airport. Morris has an airport with the "right stuff." That includes a 4,000-foot-long primary runway and a 2,600-foot-long turf "cross wind" runway. The main runway is paved, lighted, and features all the modern visual aids (REILs and PAPI). A VOR...
A Roman Legion consisted of about 5,000 disciplined and well trained soldiers. Two thousand years ago there were 30 legions in the Roman army, and they usually won their battles. Then, the Romans ran into a guy named Herman. In 9 AD, three Roman Legions were defeated in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest by a group known as the Cheruscans. Herman was the Cheruscan leader. He effectively kept the Roman Empire from expanding into a big part of what is now Germany. He is a national hero in Germany. A...
In 1948 the Church of Christ in Tracy got a new pastor. About the same time the city opened its new municipal airport. These events are related, how? Pastor Homer Dobson was also a pilot. For 53 years he attended to the spiritual needs of his congregation while working to improve and maintain the Tracy Municipal Airport. He served on the Airport Commission, and for many years was the Tracy Airport Manager. Pastor Dobson learned to fly in 1946 when he was working in Carthage, South Dakota. His pl...
If any two Minnesota Cities could be said to have a lot in common, it would be Virginia and Eveleth. They share a geographic location called the Mesabi Iron Range, or simply "The Range." Both started out as logging towns. Erwin Eveleth was an important person in the lumber business. The city was named after him. Many of the early lumber jacks moved to the area from Virginia. They named the other town after their home state. By 1900 the local economy had shifted from logging to iron mining. That...
Moorhead has always been a transportation center. Early in the 19th century the route between the Mississippi and the Red River of the North was serviced by ox carts. A settlement sprung up where the cart road met the river. River boats then connected to Winnipeg and points north. Ox drivers and riverboat crews were a rowdy bunch. The settlement soon developed a reputation as "sin city" with over 100 taverns, plus some other establishments that added to the notoriety. By 1871 railroads had...
"Back in the "good old days" pilots could walk into a Flight Service Station (FSS). Weather briefings were delivered "over the counter" by one of the staff. At various times there were 10 FSS sites in Minnesota and one of them was at the Redwood Falls Municipal Airport. In the old FSS, the walls were festooned with charts and the ambient sound was the clatter of the teletype. In the 1980's, the FAA consolidated the Minnesota system into a single Flight Service Station and closed the one in...
Tom Foster "Life is not a dress rehearsal." Both pilots and Irishmen are naturally philosophical, so it should be no surprise to learn that these are words of wisdom from Joe Dooley. Better known as the Flying Irishman, Mr. Dooley was a local pilot and long-time supporter of the Hutchinson Municipal Airport. He learned to fly in 1977, but got bored with just flying around so he taught himself aerobatics. That turned into a long airshow career. Dooley did over 500 performances in his stock Pitts...
During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Corps trained almost 200,000 male pilots. Less than 1100 female aviators became Air Corps pilots during that period. "Women Air Service Pilots" or WASPs wore military uniforms and flew military aircraft, just like the men. Disregarding those facts, the Defense Department insisted they were civilians and denied them veterans benefits. It took an act of Congress in 1977 to fix that nonsense. One of those pioneering women was Faribault native Elizabeth Wall...
Everyone agreed that July 31, 1966 was a great day for an airshow and Winsted was a perfect place to have one. To make a good day even better, Minnesota Flyer founder Sherm Booen was "Master of Ceremonies" for the first airshow at the Winsted Municipal Airport. After some "sky divers" did their act, Booen announced there would be a "fly-by" of a Northwest Airlines 707. Captain Spencer Marsh grew up in nearby Glencoe and had arranged for the airliner to come by Winsted during a training flight....
Bigfork likes to keep ahead of the trends. In 1944 aviation in the United States was focused on winning World War II and General Aviation was not getting much attention. But, in Bigfork the Village Council was thinking ahead to how an airport would benefit their town after the war was won. At the February 8th meeting a committee was appointed to keep the council and citizens "air minded." They did that and by November an application had been submitted to the Minnesota Commissioner of...
Lake Okabena figures prominently in the history of Worthington. Nineteenth century railroads needed a lot of water. Steam locomotives pulled the trains and the early ones needed to refill their water supply regularly. A 785-acre lake would make an ideal watering stop and the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad established Okabena Station for that purpose. By 1907, steam engine technology had improved and water stops weren't needed as often. The lake became more of a tourist attraction. Amelia...
Bagley is the "Gateway to Itasca." In 1832, Henry Schoolcraft found the headwaters of the Mississippi in what is now Minnesota's best known State Park. Schoolcraft spent two years exploring the upper reaches of the river. He had to contend with rapids and long portages. The last leg of his voyage from Big Sandy Lake in Aitken County to Itasca took over three months. You could still canoe up the Mississippi to Bagley, but getting there is a lot easier now because Bagley has a first class general...
In 1954 Edgar Hetteen took a much deserved vacation. He left "Hetteen Hoist and Derrick" of Roseau in the hands of his trusted employees. When he got back he discovered the workers had built a snowmobile. They used a grain silo conveyor belt for the track and made the skis from the bumper of an old Chevy. Edgar was not impressed and he needed money for the next payroll. He sold the machine for $465, but his employees were persistent. Eventually Edgar saw the light and in 1956 the first "Polaris...
William Alexander Aitkin was quite a guy. A native of Scotland who immigrated to the United States in the early 19th century, Aitkin became chief trader for the American Fur Company which was owned by John Jacob Astor. From his headquarters on Big Sandy Lake, Aitkin supervised a territory that included much of Northern Minnesota and North Dakota. After a falling out with Astor, he went in business for himself and operated a series of independent trading posts. He was reported to be one of the...
