Born: 03/12/1894
Died: 11/27/1929
Inducted: 10/13/2001
Roy Larson fell in love with flying as he watched
airplanes soar above his trench while on the front in France during
World War I. He came home to the family farm near Larsen in
Winnebago County aching to get into the air. The eldest of six
children of a widowed mother, Roy had to defer his dream until 1922,
when he acquired his first airplane, a Curtiss Canuck. The following
year, he bought two Standard J-1s, mowed the hayfield on the family
farm, built a hangar and created the Larson Airport.
Located
a few miles west of Neenah, Larson's became a Mecca for Wisconsin
aviators in the 1920s. In regular use until the 1970s, Larson's
became the oldest airport in Wisconsin and is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. Roy was also a flight instructor, air
show manager and barnstormer. He died in a crash with a student at
the stick in 1929 leaving his fierce love for flying as a legacy to
future generations of Wisconsin aviators.
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Roy at the controls of a Standard
J-1
(Photo courtesy Betty Eckstein
Standards at the Larson airport early
1920s
(Submitted photo)
Lt Roy Larsen flew Senator Bob LaFollette's
aircraft to various campaign stops
(WAHF photo)
Historical marker at the Larson
brothers airport
(WAHF photo by Rose Dorcey)
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