Aero-News has learned that six Wisconsin aviators will be
inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame at a banquet to
be held this fall. Robert Clarke, Robert Skuldt, Elwyn West, Ralph
and Robert Huggins and Capt. Lance Sijan will be recognized.
Robert Clarke has been a Designated Pilot
Examiner for over 35-years. He began flight training in 1948 and
became a flight instructor in 1955. He worked for nearly 20-years
as the Chief Flight Instructor and Chairman of the Flight and A
& P programs at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, WI.
Clarke was also a ground and flight instructor at Fox Valley
Technical College in Oshkosh. He has accumulated over 13,000 hours
of flight time in various aircraft.
Robert Skuldt grew up in Madison and became
interested in aviation after seeing Charles Lindbergh land in
Madison in 1928. Skuldt received his license to fly in 1940. He
became a flight instructor two years later, and taught US Navy
pilot trainees out of Morey Field in Middleton, WI. In 1943, Skuldt
received a direct commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Air
Corps. He flew 72 trips “over the hump” in World War
II. Skuldt returned to Madison after the war and became one of the
original officers in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. He retired
from the WI Air National Guard as a Colonel. Skuldt was the manager
of Dane County Regional Airport for over 34-years.
Elwyn West was born in Waupaca County, WI in
1901. He took flight instruction at Diggins Flight School in
Chicago. He purchased a WWI surplus aircraft and returned to
central Wisconsin. He barnstormed throughout the state and upper
Michigan. West was the manager of the first Appleton, WI
airport.
Ralph and Robert Huggins, brothers from Honey
Creek, WI, began flying together in 1919. In 1930, Bob became a
pilot and instructor for Waukesha Aviation Association, which
became the Waukesha Flying Club. Ralph worked as a mechanic and
pilot with his brother Bob. Bob was a flight instructor who
instructed many Wisconsin aviation legends.
Capt. Lance Sijan was born in Milwaukee in
1942. He was a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He
piloted an F4C Phantom and was assigned to the 366th Tactical Wing,
Da Nang AFB, Vietnam. On his 53rd mission, Sijan’s plane was
shot down. He ejected from the plane, and evaded capture for six
weeks in the jungle. Shortly after he was captured, he escaped,
even while suffering from head injuries and a broken leg. He died
as a prisoner of war in December 1968. Sijan was posthumously
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The inductees will be enshrined at a ceremony to be held in the
Eagle Hangar at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh on October 14, 2006.
Plaques will be presented to the inductees and then permanently
displayed in the Fergus Plaza at the museum. The public is
invited.
The Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame was organized in 1985. Over
70 men and women who have made significant achievements to aviation
in Wisconsin have been inducted. The goal of the organization 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 to future generations.
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