Three inducted into Aviation Hall of Fame

Three individuals were inducted into the Iowa Aviation Museum Hall of Fame Saturday, Aug. 23, in a ceremony that followed the fly in/drive in breakfast.

Inductees for 2025 were the late “Double Ace” Colonel James P. Hagerstrom, Ralph Storm and the late Elling O. Weeks.

Hagerstrom was born Jan. 14, 1921 in Cedar Falls. Having taken flight training during college, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Force Flying Cadet program just a few days before Pearl Harbor was bombed. By the end of World War II, Hagerstrom had flown 170 combat missions and became an ace by destroying six enemy aircraft. After WWII, he was an applied tactics instructor in P-47s in Florida. Now in Texas, Hagerstrom served in active duty again during the Korean War, flying 101 missions and netting another 8.5 kills. In all, Hagerstrom flew 270 combat missions during the two wars and another 30 over Vietnam.

Hagerstrom’s awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, air medal with 10 oak leaf clusters and the USAF Commendation Medal.

Storm was born Aug. 5, 1945. He began flying lessons while in high school in Mankato, Minnesota and enlisted in the United States Marine Reserves, leaving six years later as an E7 Gunnery Sergeant. In 1968, he and his wife Susan began Storm Flying Service in Iowa Falls, where he was also manager and fixed base operator for the local airport. They also were successful Piper aircraft dealers. Storm holds a commercial pilot certificate and is a certified flight instructor for airplane single and multi-engine and instrument. He logged over 44,000 accident-free hours as a flight instructor, charter pilot, spray pilot, check airman and pilot examiner. The Storms sold their business in 2013.

Weeks was born on a farm near Alleman in 1890, but moved a decade later to Eagle Grove. While working as a chauffeur for an auto livery company, Weeks took classes at night for auto racing and flying. A wealthy man sponsored him in building an aeroplane, which he made some brief flights with. He made his first solo flight as part of a flying club near Chicago in 1910. Four years later, he gave up flying at his parents’ request and went into the automobile business in Eagle Grove. He would later return to flying, building a tractor biplane, becoming a flight instructor during World War I and developing car and airplane carburetors that are still available today.

Weeks built more than seven airplanes and survived more than a dozen accidents. He was a member of the Early Birds of Aviation and is honored with a plaque in the Smithsonian Museum.

Weeks died in 1956.