Brothers Kent and Kurt Van Galder donated two very special items with some incredible local history: A painting of their father, Russell, bailing out of an airplane – and the very same parachute that saved his life in that incident!

Many local aviators remember Russell Van Galder, a flight instructor who taught thousands of pilots for decades at the old South Beloit, IL airport and several other local airports. On October 17th, 1947, Russell was practicing aerobatics in a States B-3 monoplane when the wing buckled and gave way. Russell bailed out and landed safely thanks to his parachute. Thank you, Kent and Kurt, for this amazing piece of local history!

Join Kent, Kurt, and hundreds of others – donate now to support displays and preservation for treasures like this. http://app.theauxilia.com/…/alfred_lois_kelch_aviation…