Thirtieth Annual Hall of Fame Induction is history

On the evening of April 27th, the Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota was the scene of the thirtieth annual Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame Induction Banquet.

The day of honors began in the afternoon with a get-together at Wings of the North Aviation Museum at Flying Cloud, where guests got the grand tour of the Hall of Fame’s 200 plus award plaques honoring past inductees. The display is awesome and bears your visit – be sure to take that in during the summer.

Over 400 guests including Minnesota notables and aviation community members came together at the Doubletree to honor the newest seven persons who have become legend in Minnesota. Role models all, they were spotlighted at a pre-banquet social gathering where supporters could meet them in person.

Following a fine formal dinner, the program began with an award to the Best Minnesota Aviation Writer of the Year, Mr. Jeff Jorgenson, for his book “Open Air, How People Like Yourself Are Changing the Aviation Industry.” That was followed by the award for the Best Aviation Art by a Minnesotan for the year, given to Larry Grace, an outstanding aviation photographer.

Five scholarships were bestowed on young persons embarking on aviation careers. Scholarships presented were the Don Hinz Red Tail Scholarship, the Ken Dahlberg Family Scholarship, the General George Schulstad Family Scholarship, the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame Scholarship and the Liz Strohfus Scholarship.

All the recipients will soon be listed on the Hall of Fame website, mnaviationhalloffame.org.

Preceding each of the inductee awards were professionally-done video introductions.

Guest Emcee, Al Malmberg called up the inductees. First was Brian Addis who told the guests about his commitment to teaching young flyers. Lee Bradshaw’s award was accepted by his daughter, Rebecca Bradshaw. Accepting for Leon Frankel was his son, Mark, For inductee Dick Grace, his son Rene Grace accepted the award. Glenn Kinneberg received his award in person, as did Tom Schellinger. For Chuck Stone, family associate Ren Holland picked up the award.

Each inductee or family representative was given a beautiful plaque and each made their thank-you’s from the microphone. Their bios can also be found on the MAHOF website in the near future.

The evening was coordinated by Banquet Chair, Cheri Rohlfing and a staff of many. Thanks to her group and the staff of the Doubletree Hotel, the evening was a huge success.