Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame Honors Seven

The Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Induction Ceremony and Banquet honored seven Minnesota Aviation personalities Saturday, April 23, at the InterContinental Minneapolis – St. Paul Airport Hotel.

The gala was the 32nd annual induction ceremony for the non-profit. Each year, the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame selection panel meets to consider new candidates for induction. Selections are made from public nominations. Candidates are determined by panel research. In addition to this year's seven hall inductees, the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame (MAHOF) presented Aviation Writer of the Year awards to Minnesota Flyer contributing writers Tom Foster for 2021 and Tom Lymburn for 2022. The 2022 MAHOF Art Award was awarded to Terry Lundby, who has commissioned prints and aviation artwork displayed on four continents.

The Class of 2022 Inductees include the following individuals, who have been profiled in previous issues of the Minnesota Flyer: Tim Callister – Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot and retired MSP airport director; Ben Curry (Pioneer) – Pioneer aviator and engineer with Northwest Airlines in the 1940s and 1950s; Duane Edelman – Retired Northwest Airline pilot and founder of Aircraft Data Fusion; Ray Johnson – Corporate pilot, flight instructor, Charles Taylor Master mechanic and Wright Brothers Master Pilot; Dale Klapmeier – Co-founder of Cirrus Aircraft, aircraft designer and producer, and 2018 Collier Trophy winner; Martin Knutson – Retired U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot and NASA Administrator; and Kathy Vesely – who worked 41 years with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, including 19 years of service as MnDOT's assistant aeronautics director. Coverage of this year's MAHOF Scholarship Recipients will run in the June issue of the Minnesota Flyer.