Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND003 - SHSND Foundation - Aviation Hall of Fame
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 00039
Title: Edward Skroch
Date: 2006
Creator:
Inscription/Marks:
Summary: Edward Skroch was born in Courtney, ND. His lifelong involvement with aviation began in 1928 when he soloed and earned his Student Pilot Certificate at the Minot Airport. He earned a Transport Pilot rating in 1932, an Engine Mechanics License in 1933, and in 1940, he became a CAA Designated Flight Examiner. Ed founded Minot Airways and provided charter and air ambulance service, emergency food and medicine drops to snowbound small communities and farm families. He contracted with the North Dakota State Game and Fish Department to do aerial seeding of grass and sweet clover over abandoned strip mining areas. Ed also conducted predator control and game surveys. Mr. Skroch was the Minot Airport manager from 1935-38. Ed moved to Grand Forks, ND in 1938 and became a flight instructor and flight examiner in a fledgling CAA aviation program at the University of North Dakota. In 1941, he and Harry Faleide, another UND flight instructor, moved to Fargo and established the Fargo Flying School, a government and civilian World War II flight training program. Founded in 1945, Skroch Flying Service of Fargo provided charter, sales, maintenance instruction and aerial application services. Ed became a CAA Designate Maintenance Inspector in 1946 and received an Air Charter certification. He also began offering post WWII GI Bill flight training in Fargo and founded the Bismarck Flying School. In partnership with Ralph Yoder, an ambulance company owner in Fargo, the Yoder-Skroch Air Ambulance Service was formed, which was the first air ambulance service to a large area of Eastern North Dakota and Western Minnesota. Ed is credited with many innovations that increased safety and improved the performance of small aircraft. Among them were a simplified aircraft snow ski, ice detectors, and an innovative aerial seeding hopper and dispenser. Mr. Skroch was actively involved in Skroch Flying Service until 1972 when it was sold to his son, Edward Skroch, Jr. During his long career, Skroch logged over 30,000 hours and trained over 500 students, many of them going on to pursue notable careers in aviation. Entrepreneurs like Ed led the way in the North Dakota’s aviation industry.
Red ID: FND_I_77388 Image ID: 509209 Image Notes: 10950 00003 00039

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.