Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND003 - SHSND Foundation - Aviation Hall of Fame
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 00017
Title: Charles Klessig
Date: 1997
Creator:
Inscription/Marks:
Summary: Charles Klessig was born on a farm between Page and Galesburg, ND. He graduated from the North Dakota State School of Science aviation mechanics program in 1932 and stayed on as an assistant instructor until 1939. He acquired a commercial air transport pilot license in 1933. Charley barnstormed across Minnesota and North Dakota when school wasn’t in session. In 1941, Charley became the airport manager at Hector Field, Fargo, ND. He left to join the Canadian Air Force prior to United States involvement in WWII. He became a Captain in 1942 and served as a pilot until the beginning of 1946. After the war, Charley returned to Fargo and established a full service flight school. He also had a farming operation from 1948 to 1952. Charley became a “World Crop Duster” in the Federal AID Locust Control Program in 1952. He sprayed in this program for 11 years in Africa, Asia, Pakistan, and the Middle East. Charley spent many winters in Arizona and for a few years “aerial prospected” for the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine. Charley was a well known figure in the aviation community and would show up at fly-in breakfasts in a leather helmet, goggles, and white silk scarf. He was also a gifted musician, playing the saxophone or one of the fiddles he had hand-crafted. Perhaps less well known than his aerial exploits was Charley’s restoration of over a dozen airplanes. Seven of them are on display at the Aviation History Museum at Bonanzaville in West Fargo, ND, and a Curtis Wright Flyer hangs in the Hector Airport Terminal in Fargo, ND. His real pride and joy was a J1 Standard which he flew in many air shows and gave hundreds of free rides in. The J1 is currently displayed at the Experimental Aircraft Association Pioneer Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Charley authored the book “My Highway in the Sky”, recounting his childhood near Galesburg, obtaining his pilot license, spraying for locusts overseas, his time in the Canadian Air Force and his numerous, historic airplane restorations.
Red ID: FND_I_77366 Image ID: 509187 Image Notes: 10950 00003 00017

Collection: FND003 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - Aviation Hall of Fame
Date:

Summary: The North Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame honors those in North Dakota aviation who brought exceptional recognition to themselves during their aviation careers. A 12-member committee of the North Dakota Aviation Council judges the merits of nominees based on: - Major achievements in aviation in North Dakota - - Significant contributions to the development of others in aviation in North Dakota - - Special service to the State of North Dakota in aviation activities - - Activities that bring credit to North Dakota aviation either nationally or internationally - - Significant contributions to the local community or the state of North Dakota that are not related to aviation (service clubs, church related, political action, etc.) -

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.