Raised in Tracy, Minnesota, Rawlings attended Hamline University in St. Paul before entering the Air Corps, receiving his commission in 1930. He served at bases in Hawaii and Texas, becoming an administrative officer. After Pearl Harbor, Rawlings commanded the Aircraft Production Section of the Air Material Division. In 1947 he became the first Air Force Comptroller as a 2-star General. In 1951 he became Commander of the Air Material Command, retiring in 1959. He was the youngest 4-star General in the Air Force at age 40.

Inducted 1992

John Rice learned to fly at Hector, Minnesota in 1937. He became a flight instructor at Rochester, teaching primary and secondary CPT training. He then taught the same programs at Grand Forks and at Northport, Minnesota before joining the Air Force as a Texas-based flight instructor.

In 1945 Rice established Willmar Air Service, an FBO offering maintenance, instruction, crop-spraying, and Mooney aircraft sales. It became the most successful Mooney dealership in the United States. During this time and after his retirement, he rebuilt several antique aircraft. The Rice family still operates the business.

Mary Jane Rice
1919 -

Mary Jane Rice became interested in flying as a high school student and got her license in 1940. She became one of the first six licensed women pilots in the state of Minnesota. She joined the 99s, a national women’s pilots’ organization, in 1940 and is still a member. She met John Rice and married him in 1946.

Mary Jane Rice took over as secretary-treasurer of Willmar Air Service, the FBO that John had established in 1945, and saw the business flourish. Although she and her husband retired in 1983 from active participation, the family still operates the business.

Inducted 1994

Howard Lake native Bertram Ritchie soloed in 1929 while a student at Northwest Airways flight school and later became a steward for Northwest. The time he put in at the aircraft controls and in flying his own aircraft helped him to qualify as a co-pilot.

Ritchie flew all of the early Northwest airliners, including the Ford Trimotor, Hamilton, Lockheed 10A and 14H, DC-3, DC-4, DC-6 and DC-7 aircraft. He flew routes to the Pacific Northwest and created his own detailed drawings of the radio range navigation beacon signals before there were any published charts.

During World War II Ritchie tested B-24 bombers at the St. Paul bomber modification center at Holman Field. His logbooks describe hundreds of test flights, often two a day. Later he gave many interviews about these early adventures and about the various weather-related situations through which he flew during the “Golden Age of Flight.”

Inducted 1994

A member of the family which owned the Minneapolis Gas Company, he joined the Lafayette Flying Corps in World War I. Rand returned to Minnesota, and in 1929 invested in the Mohawk Aircraft Company, becoming the company's receiver when it went into bankruptcy in 1931. Rand owned the last few Pinto aircraft built by the company, and sold them off to pay the bills. Rand was associated with the Universal Air Lines Corporation. He built the Rand Tower office building in downtown Minneapolis in the 1930s and was a Regent of the University of Minnesota. He was a State Commander of the American Legion and officer of the Minneapolis Gas Company. During World War II, he served as Executive Officer in charge of security at a bomber base in England and was one of the twelve founders of the Air Force Association.

Inducted 1993