Francis took his first air ride in 1939 and became a member of the U.S. Army in WWII. He learned to fly after the war. When International Falls Airport came up for sale, Francis and his brother, Jim, bought the property and its business. They ran the FBO offering flight-training, fuel, maintenance and sightseeing over the North Country. He flew many humanitarian missions in the wilderness, aided the University of Minnesota’s cosmic ray research program and lobbied the State and Federal governments to improve International Falls Airport.

I n the 1970s, Einarson purchased an aircraft and installed an incubator to transport premature infants.

Inducted 1998

Born on a farm near Montevideo, Minnesota, Erickson had his first airplane ride at age nine. He served in the US Navy as a navigator and navigator instructor at Pensacola, Corpus Christi and in the Hawaiian Islands. After the war, in the Naval Reserve, he continued teaching instrument flight to naval cadets. In 1951, he purchased a Link Trainer and opened his own training facility at Minneapolis Airport, Instrument Flight Training, Inc. He trained military, airline and corporate pilots and operated the school as a full-service FBO. He sold IFT to Van Dusen Air and acted as president of Van Dusen’s operations around the country. He served on the boards of the MATA, MBPA, NBAA and NATA.

Inducted 2006