Kansas-born Hal Carr graduated from college with degrees in finance and industrial management. He worked for Trans World Airlines (TWA) from 1943 to 1947 and helped establish that carrier’s international route system. He then became executive vice president of Wisconsin Central Airlines. In 1954, after two years with a management consultant firm in New York, Carr became president of the ailing North Central Airlines (which succeeded Wisconsin Central). He got the airline back to financial health before being elected chair and CEO.

When North Central merged with Southern Airways to become Republic Airlines, Carr remained as CEO and chair until retiring from management in 1986.

Inducted 1997

Robert Ceronsky, a B-29 command pilot during World War II, participated in one of the longest combat missions of the war: a round-trip flight from Guam to Northern Japan lasting over twenty hours and covering more that 37,700 miles. After the war he joined Wisconsin Central Airlines and continued his career as senior pilot with North Central Airlines and Republic Airlines.

Inducted 2001

A native of Minneapolis, where his father was Chairman of the First and Security National Bank, Chamberlain joined the French Lafayette Flying Corps in June of 1917. He attended French school and was posted to Escadrille Spad 98. Slightly older than his squadron mates, he was often more reckless than the rest. During the German offensive in the spring of 1918, his squadron flew air superiority missions over the front lines and on 13 June, his group dove from 12,000 feet on some German aircraft. They had been lured into a trap and other German fighters attacked. Chamberlain was killed by machine gun fire from an enemy ship. He was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre. Wold-Chamberlain Field was dedicated in his honor in 1923.

Inducted 1989

Anders Christenson, born in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, joined the U.S. Army and served with the First Cavalry Division. He earned five Battle Stars and a Bronze Star during a two year combat tour in Korea. After his Army time, he gained a teaching degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, and also earned his pilot’s certificate. He acquired additional ratings and in 1958 became a flight instructor. In 1965 he became Chief Flight Instructor at Thunderbird Aviation at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie and in 1967 was designated a Flight Examiner. He spent 35 years in that capacity. He gave more than 7,000 check rides and has over 28,000 hours in his log book. During this time, he created the aviation course at Edina High School, teaching there and at Mankato State University.

Inducted 2001

From Winona, Minnesota, Conrad was a college athlete. He took up flying and opened his own flight school, operating from a farm strip that many years later would become the Winona city airport. During the pre-war years, he contracted with several colleges to run flight training in conjunction with their Civil Pilot Training Program (CPT). At one time he had seven of these programs. He started an airline between Rochester, the Twin Cities and Duluth, but found it impossible to maintain fixed schedules. He worked for the Honeywell Company as corporate pilot following World War II and began making deliveries of Piper aircraft around the world. Conrad eventually recorded well over two hundred solo ocean crossings, of both the Atlantic and Pacific, and began making record-breaking flights. His most ambitious trip was to include a flight around the world via the poles. His journey across the north pole went well, but he had to abandon his plane at the south pole when it suffered engine problems. Minnesotans grew to love this hard-working and intense individual and nicknamed him "The Flying Grandfather."

Inducted 1991

Born in Indiana, Coombs studied at the Spartan Aviation School of Aeronautics and took his first airplane ride in a Ford Trimotor in 1928. He became a Minnesotan in 1942 when hired to work in the Northwest Airlines mechanical department. Coombs was assigned to work in the Northern Region and while in Edmonton, he enlisted in the Army Air Force, and was based with the 1452nd USAAC Base Unit at Edmonton. As a C-47 crew chief, he was given a commendation for his role in the recovery of a crash-landed C-47 in Fox Lake, Alaska. Following the war, Coombs resumed his career as a mechanic at Northwest and retired in 1982.

Since a youngster, Coombs was interested in aviation photography. He purchased a series of fine cameras with which he began tracking the aircraft of both the military and airline aircraft at bases and airshows he visited. His record-keeping of the aircraft that graced the ramps of the local airports since the 1940s is a solid chapter of Minnesota history. Coombs is still active and his aircraft portraits are still the standard of aviation photography in this area.

Inducted 2005

Born in St. Paul, Croft was raised on the family farm across the road from the Curtiss-Northwest airport. Watching planes daily, got him enthused about flying. He opened an auto repair shop in St. Paul and gave visiting pilots low prices on their repairs. Croft barnstormed an OX-5 Travel Air and taught in the Civil Pilot Training Program and the War Training Service (WTS) at Wold-Chamberlain for Mac McInnis, and later at Rochester. With partners Art Hoffman and Henry Robinson, he started Gopher Aviation at Rochester. In 1943, Croft joined Mid-Continent Airlines and stayed with them after a merger with Braniff Airlines, retiring as a senior Captain. In post-war years, Croft helped major corporations, such as 3M, Pillsbury, and Peavey, set up flight departments.

Inducted 1992