Published in Midwest Flyer – August/September 2018 issue
MADISON, WIS. – Don Winkler of Madison, Wisconsin, will be inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame on October 20, 2018 at ceremonies to be held at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Winkler worked for Wisconsin Aviation, Inc. at Dane County Regional Airport as the company’s public relations chair from 1996 to 2014. He remains involved with fundraising for the company’s hangar dance and Madison’s Honor Flight.
Winkler has worked with the media to promote Wisconsin Aviation, aviation careers and aviation in general by coordinating school tours at Dane County Regional Airport.
As an employee of Wisconsin Aviation, Winkler has also coordinated special appearances of warbirds and aircraft groups flying to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and television coverage of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh by KIDTV, a cable television program in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
Prior to joining the staff at Wisconsin Aviation, Winkler was an air traffic controller in the U.S. Air Force from 1951-55, and later with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) in Madison. For the majority of his career, Winkler was a sales manager at Sears, Roebuck and Company, in Madison. He is a long-time pilot and passionate photojournalist and has been an active member of the Civil Air Patrol beginning in 1971.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation Bureau of Aeronautics presented Don Winkler with its “Carl E. Guell Aviation Education Award” in 2005 in recognition of his efforts to provide tours for more than 1,000 children at Dane County Regional Airport. Guell, who was a senior staff member with the bureau, founded the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2015, Winkler received the Wisconsin Airport Management Association (WAMA) “Lifetime Service Award” for his dedicated service to aviation in Wisconsin.
