Minnesota's 'Baron of Beechcraft' Closes Out Career

One of the great things about visiting Anoka County-Blaine Airport (KANE) is you never know what is hidden behind a given set of hangar doors.

It could be a Cessna 152, or something exotic like a YAK-18 or an Aero Vodochody L-29. You might even meet a Minnesota aviation legend like Don Rott.

On a cool October day, I had the great pleasure to sit down with Don and reminisce.

Before our meeting I did not know him, but after I had, I was a richer man for our conversation, after getting a glimpse into a 50-year career that touched many facets of Minnesota aviation.

The day was bittersweet in some respects because Don was having a hangar sale to close out a big chapter in his life. There were lots of memorabilia and memories from his long career which landed him the moniker "The Baron of Beechcraft."

The hangar was filled lots of aviation-themed books, a few model airplanes, and cars. Pilots and friends stopped by Don's hangar to chat, share a story, and reminisce about Don's past adventures.

My conversations provided a glimpse of what Don called "a great era" in aviation. I always enjoy hearing interesting stories and Don was able to share a few, including flying Miss Minnesota to Rochester and delivering passenger Dan Rowan (of late 1960s TV show Laugh-In fame) to a hunting camp.

Don had multiple aviation ratings including a helicopter/rotorcraft rating. After the 1965 tornado in Fridley and North Minneapolis, he flew Minnesota Gov. Karl Rolvaag around to survey the damage. Another time Don was called upon to help dry the baseball field at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington.

Over the years Don developed a great business with the Beechcraft company. He has flown everything from the T-34 to the 250 King Air. Don had many aviation firsts in his career, including selling the first "Duke in Minnesota" and the first "Baron in Minnesota." Don sold more than 400 of the latter type.

Later, he became a King Air sales demonstration pilot. One of his favorite jobs was to bring new planes from the factory to Minnesota. In 1969 Don hit an industry milestone, selling 29 planes valued at over $1 million, back in the day when a million dollars was something. As we sat and chatted eating cookies and drinking coffee, I learned about another chapter of Don's life. Besides his love of aviation, he was a champion slalom water skier. He qualified for nationals for 28 years and was often in the top ten. He held five national records for slalom waterskiing.

Don was successful for many reasons, among them, his of love of aviation and having a great woman at his side. His wife of 68 years, June, helped in the company business. She started working for Don in the early 1980s. Don and June were featured exclusively in a two-part Minnesota Flyer tribute to magazine founder Sherm Booen published during the summer of 2014.

The stories were written by Charlotte Swanson, former Flyer managing editor, who chronicled how a business relationship evolved into a lifelong aviation friendship.

In the 1960s, Don began working for Gopher Aviation, demonstrating and selling Beechcraft airplanes and Hughes helicopters.

Gopher Aviation was a sponsor of Sherm's television show. Sherm occasionally asked Don to be a guest on The World of Aviation. He also wrote about Don in the Minnesota Flyer.

"The World of Aviation program featured fly-in Canadian fishing trips and was far more successful than I think even Sherm realized," Don recalled. "Fishing and airplanes, no wonder so many people enjoyed that show!"

When Beechcraft would get a new airplane like Baron, Queen Air, or King Air, Don said Booen would take pictures of the airplane, and fly it, and feature it on World of Aviation.

As Don and June attended aviation related events with Mavis and Sherm they all grew increasingly close. "Sherm was everybody's friend," June recalled. "You could ask him questions and he'd take time to answer and explain. Anything you wanted to ask him, he was willing to talk about."

Don and June fondly recalled a humorous moment they shared

with Sherm and Mavis one evening as they all attended a Beechcraft fly-in event. Having already arrived, Don and June watched from under an umbrella as Sherm and Mavis stepped off the guest bus transporting people to the event. Mavis was wearing a long, full skirt.

"She flipped this skirt up and over Sherm's head so he wouldn't get wet while they walked over to the building," June recalled." Of course we were all laughing. I think Mavis got wet but she didn't care. She kept Sherm dry!" Another humorous memory involves a regional Beechcraft meeting at a lodge outside the Chicago area.

"I flew Sherm and some other people there," Don said. "There was a banquet where Beech recognized dealers and distributors, so it was a Beechcraft sponsored event.

"There was an entertainer there that night who was playing the piano and singing old songs like 'Fly Me To The Moon,' Don recalled. "Sherm got up, went over, and sang, 'Fly Me To The Moon' in a Beechcraft! It was a big hit!"