Eastern Iowa's Aviation Heritage

Iowans embraced aviation from its very beginning. In the late 1800s, Keokuk's Baldwin brothers headlined Lee County Chautauqua festivals with balloon ascensions. Two decades later, early powered—flight daredevils like Lincoln Beachey, Glenn Messer, and Eugene Ely thrilled huge crowds along the Mississippi River from Decorah to Fort Madison. Dubuque's Clifton Ole Oleson barnstormed from Oelwein to Mount Pleasant and in communities in between. Visionaries like the Livingston brothers from Ced...