OSHKOSH, WIS. – Five aviators, all with unique backgrounds, but bound by their love of aviation, were inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame October 26 at ceremonies held at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Jeff Baum, Walter Kohler, Sr., Arnold Ebneter, Ron Scott, and Bill Adams were honored for their aviation achievements.
Jeff Baum of Watertown, Wis., is known as one of Wisconsin’s most successful full-service fixed base operators as founder of Wisconsin Aviation, Inc. in 1981 with locations in three Wisconsin cities: Dane County Regional Airport (KMSN) in Madison; Watertown Municipal Airport (KRYV) in Watertown; and Dodge County Airport (KUNU) in Juneau. On December 3, 2002, Wisconsin Aviation built a $2.5 million, state-of-the-art, general aviation terminal on the east side of Dane County Regional Airport.
Baum serves on numerous committees with state and national aviation organizations, and he and Wisconsin Aviation have been recognized locally and nationally for unselfish contributions to the advancement of aviation. Wisconsin Aviation Business of the Year, Wisconsin Aviation Person of the Year, Best of Wisconsin Business, and Best Air Charter Company in Wisconsin are just some of the awards bestowed Baum and his company.
Wisconsin Aviation has grown from a partnership with one other individual in 1981 to more than 165 employees, today.
Inducting Baum was hall of fame board member, Chuck Swain of Beaver Aviation, Inc., Juneau, Wis., who repeatedly stated that it was Baum’s “confidence” in himself and in the people around him that has contributed to his success.
Arnold Ebneter of Monroe, Wisconsin, is a world record holder for the longest distance for a Class C-1a gross weight airplane of 2,327 miles, a coast-to-coast cross-country that took place in 2009 when Ebneter was 81. That feat earned Ebneter the “Louis Blériot Medal.”
Ebneter designed and built the aircraft named E-1. He conceived the project while in engineering training in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the 1950s. Ebneter was involved in a top-secret, high-altitude reconnaissance balloon project, and flew F-86s and F-100s in Vietnam.
Ebneter retired from the Air Force in 1974 and went to work for Boeing as an engineer. He has rebuilt a Piper Cub and still flies a B-35 Bonanza. He has amassed more than 20,000 hours.
The late Walter Kohler, known as Wisconsin’s “Flying Governor,” used an airplane in 1928 in his successful campaign for governor, logging about 7,200 miles throughout the state. He also used his airplane to promote the development of aviation, and in 1930 was honored on “Wisconsin Day” at the National Air Races for his “indomitable enthusiasm in the cause of aviation.” As the president of Kohler Company, manufacturers of kitchen and bathroom faucets, Kohler used airplanes for corporate transportation.
Ron Scott of Tomah, Wis., designed and built an aircraft called Old Ironsides from marine fiberglass from 1964-69, which is considered to be the first homebuilt plane to use fiberglass structurally in a skin-stressed application. He got involved with the Experimental Aircraft Association in 1960 and volunteered in air show communications. He served on the EAA Board of Directors from 1971-79, and coordinated EAA’s Spirit of St. Louis tour from 1977-80.
The late Bill Adams of Watertown, Wis., was a flight instructor, crop-duster, and beginning in 1952, an air show performer with the Cole Brothers Air Show flying a 450 Stearman. Throughout the 1960s, Adams operated Bill Adams Air Shows.
The Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame has inducted more than 100 men and women since it organized in 1985 under the leadership of the late Carl Guell of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Bureau of Aeronautics. The hall of fame’s mission is to collect and preserve the history of aviation in Wisconsin, recognize those who made that history, inform others of it, and promote aviation education for future generations.