Arthur Noteboom flew, fixed and sold planes

Arthur Noteboom, a Minnesota aviation pioneer who at age 13 washed airplanes to earn flight time, died March 1 in his hometown of Cook, Minn. He was 92.

The Minnesota Aviation Hall of Famer, who for many years lived in Minnetonka and South St. Paul, was among the first to fly private airplanes in Minnesota. In about 1930 in Mankato, he learned to fly a biplane.

He could rebuild airplanes others thought were doomed. And when he was an Army Air Forces pilot during World War II, he ferried all types of war birds and flew dangerous cargo runs.

In peacetime, working out of South St. Paul's Fleming Field and Eden Prairie's Flying Cloud Airport, he sold private airplanes to customers throughout the Upper Midwest.

Sherman Booen of Richfield, the founder of Minnesota Flyer magazine, said Noteboom was "a real pioneer" and "an exceptional" mechanic.

"He was highly respected by the hundreds of airplane customers who bought from him" because of his excellent followup service, said Booen.

After graduating from high school in Mankato, Noteboom joined the Army Air Forces. During the war, he flew across the Atlantic Ocean seven times and the Pacific three times, said his son Jimmie of St. Paul Park.

"He flew in every country in the world but 16," said his son.

After the war, he operated a resort near Mankato where he built an airstrip, hoping to entice fly-in guests.

He also rebuilt military aircraft for civilian use. He even got two aged B-17s running.

One had sat in a field near the Anoka County airport for 20 years. It had been vandalized and was missing half its instruments, but he got it running.

Noteboom also was a qualified helicopter pilot and sold copters, said Al Lange of Edina.

"He could get in a Beechcraft Bonanza or Cessna Skyhawk, and for him it was like putting on a shirt," said Lange. "He made it look so easy."

Although Noteboom reported to Lange when they sold airplanes at Flying Cloud Airport in the 1970s, Lange called Noteboom his mentor.

"He was a consummate aviator" and a salesman with "enormous integrity," said Lange.

Lange said Noteboom was the first to work with bankers to provide financing for airplane buyers in the early 1950s.

"He became one of the top airplane salesman in the United States," said Lange, adding that Noteboom had the ear of airplane makers seeking to improve their products.

He retired in the late 1970s, gaining more time to spend at his Lake Vermilion cottage and hang out with aviator friends in Cook.

He was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 2003.

His wife of 67 years, Zola, died in 2006. In addition to Jimmie, he is survived by another son, Arthur of Cook, a grandchild and three great-grandchildren.

Services have been held.