STOUGHTON, WIS. – Roger W. Amundson, 96, of Stoughton, Wisconsin, may have passed away June 17, 2014, but the aircraft he built and restored over his lifetime, live on.
Amundson developed a lifelong love of aviation beginning at age 8 after seeing barnstormers over Stoughton’s main street. He paid 50 cents for his first airplane ride shortly thereafter during the community’s annual Norwegian celebration, Syttende Mai.
Amundson built his first aircraft, the “Puddle Jumper,” for $40 while still in high school. He was too young to fly the airplane, then, so he just taxied it around town on pontoons or skis.
Amundson later constructed two award-winning aircraft – a Wittman Tailwind and a Steen Skybolt – and built and restored a number of other aircraft over the years either on his own or with friends at Matson Field.
Amundson moved to Los Angeles in 1938, where he worked for Lockheed Martin and made his first solo flight in an Army Air Corps Stearman. During World War II, he instructed glider pilots in Wickenburg, Arizona, and trained pilots at an airbase in TwentyNine Palms, California. After the war he worked as a crop duster in the south before returning to Stoughton to manage the local airport and operate “Roger’s Flying Service.”
Amundson flew for the Ossit Church Furniture Company of Janesville, Wis. for 27 years, and was also a flight instructor in Stoughton.
On February 12, 1948, Amundson and a friend made headlines when they landed their airplane on a frozen Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago, backing up traffic for miles on Lakeshore Drive. The two pilots were arrested at the Museum of Science and Industry, but were released after the police could not find anything to charge them with. Amundson’s charm, humor, intellect and wit, combined with the sheer fascination of flight, surely helped in getting their speedy release.
Amundson married Barbara Pfundheller in 1952, followed by, not surprisingly, a 4500-mile honeymoon flight to California and the Pacific Northwest. The couple had two sons, Bill and Jim.
Amundson is survived by his son, Bill Amundson, and daughter in-law Anita James-Amundson. He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara; son, Jim; and sister, Virgene Bellin.
On June 21, 2014, friends and family enjoyed a celebration of life in memory of Amundson at the Matson Airport in Stoughton.